The Golf Channel to become exclusive cable carrier of the Champions Tour
PGA TOUR staff
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The PGA TOUR's Champions Tour and The Golf Channel Friday announced that The Golf Channel will be the exclusive cable carrier of Champions Tour tournaments in 2004-2008.
In 2003, 26 Champions Tour events will receive all-round coverage on cable. The Golf Channel is expected to televise all rounds of a similar number of tournaments in 2004. The network makes its 2003 Champions Tour debut next week when it televises the Tour's official season-opening MasterCard Championship at Hualalai Golf Club from the Big Island of Hawaii.
"This announcement is great news for the Champions Tour," said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. "In making this five-year commitment, we have established a foundation which will allow our players to display their talents week-in and week-out in front of golf's most enthusiastic and dedicated audience.
"At the same time, it provides the perfect long-term vehicle to extensively promote the Champions Tour and put significant focus on its distinct platforms of game-improvement and bringing fans inside the ropes. Champions Tour players are among The Golf Channel's biggest fans and they are very excited about our future with The Golf Channel and prepared to do their part to ensure the relationship reaches its maximum potential."
"As golf's channel, being the exclusive cable provider for the Champions Tour fits perfectly with our overall programming strategy for tournament golf, and we're very excited about taking our viewers 'inside the ropes' with some of the greatest personalities in the game," said Golf Channel President David Manougian. "The Champions Tour will headline and strengthen our live tournament lineup of more than 100 events every year, which is more than all other networks combined."
Beginning in 2004, all Golf Channel telecasts of Champions Tour events will be produced by The Golf Channel. Details regarding talent and other personnel will be determined later in 2003.
The 2004-2008 agreement will feature:
•A minimum of 7 1/2 hours of coverage per event (2 1/2 hours per day)
•All events will be replayed the same day, with the majority of events enjoying prime-time replay windows; final rounds will be replayed a second time
•Consistent air times with the majority of events airing live at either 1:30-4 p.m. or 5-7:30 p.m.
•An extensive promotional commitment via tune-in promotions and regularly-scheduled Golf Channel programming such as Golf Central, Pre-Game and Post-Game shows and Golf Talk, plus significant off-channel promotion
•Weekly on-site reporter at each event
•Inside The Champions Tour, a 30-minute weekly series that will be replayed twice
•Ancillary programs such as Road To The Champions Tour Championship, season preview, season midyear and season review specials, and a one-hour Champions Tour Learning Center special
The Golf Channel, co-founded by Arnold Palmer , is available throughout the United States, Canada and Japan through cable, satellite and wireless companies. It is available in more than 50 million U.S. households and more than 57 million worldwide. The network features a programming schedule that includes more live golf coverage than any other network, as well as news, instruction and original specials.
In addition to the Champions Tour, The Golf Channel is the exclusive television provider of the Nationwide Tour and European Tour, and carries an extensive blend of LPGA, USGA, PGA of America, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour of Southern Africa competition.
In 2003, the Orlando, Fla.-based network will broadcast all rounds of 17 events, and provide early-round coverage of nine CNBC events. In late August, the 8-year-old network will air four-round coverage of its first major championship, the JELD-WEN Tradition from The Reserve Vineyards & Golf Club in Portland, Ore. It will also air all four rounds of the official season-ending Champions Tour Championship in late October.
The Champions Tour is one of the PGA TOUR's three professional golf tours -- PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour -- and features the world's premier golfers age 50 and up. Known as the Senior PGA Tour since its inception in 1980, it was renamed the Champions Tour this year as part of a rebranding in which the three Tours were aligned more closely under the umbrella of the PGA TOUR.
All three Tours of the PGA TOUR and their tournaments have contributed nearly $700 million to charity since the first recorded donation was made in 1938. In 2002 alone, almost $70 million was donated to charity.
