Sky and BBC pull out of bidding to show USPGA

Britain is facing a TV blackout of next month’s USPGA Championship, the season’s final major and the forerunner to this year’s Ryder Cup.

Sky Sports and BBC are understood to have withdrawn from bidding to screen the action from Bellerive Country Club in St Louis.

There is a chance that BT Sport, Eurosport or another terrestrial channel could pick up the rights, but it is more likely to be shown on a streaming service such as Amazon Prime or Apple or a social media site, such as Facebook or Twitter.

The other possibility is for the USPGA to air the four days on its website. It would not officially comment but a source last night assured The Daily Telegraph that “it would widely distribute” the action – but, as yet, would not reveal where.

What is certain is that Sky Sports will not be resuming its coverage after controversially losing the rights 12 months ago after first hosting the USPGA in 1992.

A financial disagreement between Sky and IMG – which has a contract until 2021 to distribute the international broadcast rights for the US PGA – saw the negotiations break down, leaving the BBC to make an unlikely return to live golf, paying an 11th-hour fee which one insider described as “a pittance”.

However, its coverage from Quail Hollow, which was mainly Britishstudio based, was panned by critics and the BBC was apparently reluctant to go back in this time around, with an inevitable hike in the price.

In the past decade the corporation has dramatically scaled back its live coverage, apparently because of its quest to cut the budget. Two years ago, after 60 years, the BBC handed over the live rights to the Open Championship to Sky with barely a whimper.

It was widely expected that Sky would complete golf ’s grand slam again and sign up for this year’s USPGA, but despite the company’s dedicated golf channel, it is adamant that it will not pay above what it believes to be a fair rate. The annual figure being asked could be beyond $10 million (£7.5 million).