NEW YORK and LONDON, June 4,
2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Discovery and the PGA TOUR today
announced plans to form a pioneering strategic alliance to create a
new international multi-platform home for golf,
delivering the sport's most exciting moments, players and
championships to passionate fans around the world on every screen
and device. The alliance will seek to benefit the game
worldwide, helping to drive golf's fan base and grow the sport
around the world.
The unprecedented 12-year relationship, to begin in 2019 and
carry through 2030, would include global multi-platform live
rights, outside the United States,
to all PGA TOUR media properties, totaling nearly 2000 hours of
content per year, including the six Tours operating under the
PGA TOUR umbrella and nearly 150 tournaments annually, including
THE PLAYERS Championship, the FedExCup Playoffs, and the Presidents
Cup.
In addition to live linear rights in 220 markets and
territories, the alliance will include the creation of a dedicated,
PGA TOUR-branded, OTT video streaming service, that will capitalize
on Discovery's direct-to-consumer product and platform expertise as
home to the Eurosport Player. Discovery expects to invest more than
$2 billion over the course of the
alliance, including licensing of the PGA TOUR's international media
rights and building a global OTT platform available outside
the United States, with a gradual
increase of annual investment during the term.
Building on a heritage of world-class coverage and storytelling,
Discovery will broadcast the PGA TOUR on its portfolio of pay-TV
and free-to-air channels, digital and short-form platforms, and
will work with the PGA TOUR on how to capture all access to the
action and its extensive non-live and library rights for all media
platforms.
David Zaslav, President and
CEO, Discovery, said: "Today is a fantastic day for golf fans
around the world as Discovery proudly partners with the PGA TOUR to
create something that has never been done before. The long-term
partnership between the PGA TOUR and Discovery will create the new
global Home of Golf, including delivering over 2000 hours of live
content year-round and this prestigious sport's greatest moments,
stories and athletes. Following our successful first Olympic
Games in PyeongChang, Discovery will contribute its strong global
distribution and promotional infrastructure, in-market
relationships, global sports expertise with direct-to-consumer
platforms and brands to create a valuable new long-term Home of
Golf offering in every market outside the US."
Jay Monahan, Commissioner,
PGA TOUR, said: "This is an
exciting next step for the PGA TOUR, which presents a tremendous
opportunity to accelerate and expand our media business outside
the United States, better service
our international broadcast partners, and drive fan growth with a
deeply experienced strategic global partner. This partnership
aligns very well with the opening of PGA TOUR offices in
London, Tokyo and Beijing in recent years and will support our
long-term objectives of growing the game of golf. It also will
deliver more value to our sponsors as it presents a tremendous
opportunity to engage new and diverse audiences around the
world."
Since 2007, the PGA TOUR has negotiated all of its non-U.S.
broadcast rights deals on its own. The alliance between Discovery
and the PGA TOUR will capitalize on the two organizations'
expertise in managing international multi-platform rights and
launching the new digital service. Working together, the
parties expect to execute on a robust international distribution
and broadcast partner strategy for the portfolio of some of golf's
most prestigious tournaments featuring the world's greatest
players, optimizing reach across free-to-air, pay-TV and
digital.
The collaboration brings together two highly complementary
global brands and storytellers with a rich heritage in sports,
uniting the PGA TOUR's rich content, production assets, media
rights and worldwide media partner associations with Discovery's
deep expertise and relationships in local media markets worldwide,
its vast marketing and promotional platforms globally and its
proven record in maximizing multi-platform engagement around the
biggest and most watched sports events.
The business will be led by Discovery's Alex Kaplan, President and General Manager of
the new Discovery and PGA TOUR venture. Kaplan previously was EVP,
Commercial for Eurosport Digital where he helped grow the Eurosport
D2C business to over 1 million subscribers. Prior to joining
Discovery, Kaplan was Senior Vice President, Global Media
Distribution, for the NBA, responsible for global
direct-to-consumer strategy and business operations. Prior to the
NBA, Kaplan spent 10 years at DIRECTV/AT&T, where he led the
organization responsible for DIRECTV Sports and oversaw Revenue and
Entertainment products and services. The full management team
will be announced in due course and include the PGA TOUR's
Thierry Pascal as Senior Vice
President and Head of Distribution.
Kaplan said: "I am incredibly excited to work with
David Zaslav and JB Perrette to take
international coverage of PGA TOUR golf to the next level. We
can't wait to get started and build a worldclass global platform
and long-term distribution strategy to turn the vision of this
partnership into a reality. By joining forces with the
outstanding PGA TOUR team, led by Jay
Monahan and Rick Anderson, we
have a unique opportunity to build an amazing product that will
serve the fans with the golf content they love on every
screen."
Discovery has demonstrable experience in managing global sports
rights, optimizing viewership and engagement on its own and partner
platforms. For example, Discovery is the Home of the Olympics in
Europe and, through its leading
sports brand Eurosport, shows premium and fully localized sports
coverage all-year-round on TV and Europe's number one OTT streaming service,
Eurosport Player in 54 markets. Discovery provides world-class
expertise in the international sports rights and distribution and
is the European gatekeeper for all TV and multimedia rights for
four Olympic Games (2018 – 2024).**
For the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, Discovery
established more than 40 free-to-air broadcast partnerships,
delivering every minute of the Olympic Games via OTT for the first
time across Europe. It also struck
innovative social media partnerships to reach younger audiences,
such as establishing Snapchat's first Olympics collaboration in
Europe. Discovery delivered
record-breaking TV and digital viewership for the Games, including
63% of the population in Europe
interacting on Discovery's own free-to-air, pay-TV and digital
platforms and those of its broadcast partners.
Conference Call Information:
David Zaslav, Discovery President
and CEO, and Jay Monahan, PGA TOUR
Commissioner, will hold a media conference call today, June 4, 2018 at 9:30 a.m.
ET to discuss. To join the call, dial 866-638-4435 (US) or
+1 850-429-1388 (International).
Notes to Editors:
*Rights in all markets (excluding the United States) to be managed by Discovery
through the strategic alliance with PGA TOUR by 2024. The
rights starting dates by territory are shown below:
Date
|
Markets
|
2019
|
Australia, Canada,
Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain
|
2020
|
Poland, South
Korea
|
2021
|
Belgium, China,
Germany, South Africa
|
2022
|
Denmark, Finland,
India, Norway, Sweden, UK
|
2024
|
France
|
**Discovery's Olympic Games agreement excludes France
2018-2020. Excludes Russia. Official Broadcaster in the
UK 2018 and 2020.
About Discovery, Inc.
Discovery, Inc. (Nasdaq:
DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is the global leader in real life
entertainment, serving a passionate audience of superfans around
the world with content that inspires, informs and entertains.
Discovery delivers over 8,000 hours of original programming each
year and has category leadership across deeply loved content genres
around the world. Available in 220 countries and territories and 50
languages, Discovery is a platform innovator, reaching viewers on
all screens, including TV Everywhere products such as the GO
portfolio of apps and Discovery Kids Play; direct-to-consumer
streaming services such as Eurosport Player and Motor Trend
OnDemand; and digital-first and social content from Group Nine
Media. Discovery's portfolio of premium brands includes Discovery
Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Travel
Channel, Turbo/Velocity, Animal Planet, and Science Channel, as
well as OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network in the U.S., Discovery Kids in
Latin America, and Eurosport, the
leading provider of locally relevant, premium sports and Home of
the Olympic Games across Europe.
For more information, please visit corporate.discovery.com and
follow @DiscoveryIncTV across social platforms.
About PGA TOUR
By showcasing golf's greatest players,
the PGA TOUR engages, inspires and positively impacts our fans,
partners and communities worldwide. The PGA TOUR co-sanctions more
than 130 tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Web.com
Tour, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, and
PGA TOUR Series-China. Members of the PGA TOUR represent the
world's best players, hailing from 25 countries (85 members are
from outside the United States).
Worldwide, PGA TOUR tournaments are broadcast to more than 1
billion households in 226 countries and territories in 23
languages. Virtually all tournaments are organized as
non-profit organizations to maximize charitable giving. In
2017, tournaments across all Tours generated a record of more than
$180 million for local and national
charitable organizations, bringing the all-time total to
$2.65 billion. The PGA TOUR's web
site is PGATOUR.COM, the No. 1 site in golf, and the organization
is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach,
Florida.
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SOURCE Discovery, Inc.