NEW YORK and LONDON, Dec. 13,
2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Discovery and the European Tour have
announced a new partnership that will see GOLFTV continue to expand
its portfolio and move towards becoming the established 'digital
home of golf' for fans around the world.
The wide-ranging agreement includes international multi-platform
live rights, in selected territories,* to all European Tour events
and the next two Ryder Cups**, as well as Discovery collaborating
to further grow the European Tour's digital platforms, showcasing
the Tour's innovative content worldwide.
The partnership will bring coverage of the European Tour and
Ryder Cup together under GOLFTV, the global live and on-demand
video streaming service launching in January
2019. Fans will be able to follow all the world's greatest
players, week in and week out, with a growing portfolio of content
that will make GOLFTV an unmissable destination for golf
entertainment worldwide.
GOLFTV will carry more than 40 European Tour events
per year starting in January*. These events will include:
- Every Race to Dubai event throughout the
season.
- All Rolex Series events, including the Abu
Dhabi HSBC Championship, Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, Aberdeen
Standard investments Scottish Open, BMW PGA Championship, Italian
Open, Turkish Airlines Open, Nedbank Golf Challenge and
season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
- All World Golf Championships (WGC)*** events,
including the Mexico Championship, the Dell Technologies Match
Play, the FedEx St. Jude Invitational and HSBC Champions.
- Golf Sixes and the Hero Challenge.
- The European Challenge Tour and Staysure
Tour.
Following Team Europe's victory in Paris in September, live coverage of the next
two Ryder Cups from Whistling Straits, Wisconsin, in 2020 and Marco Simone Golf &
Country Club, Italy, in
2022 will be available to fans in selected territories through
GOLFTV**.
Alex Kaplan, President and
General Manager, Discovery Golf, said: "Welcoming the
European Tour and The Ryder Cup into the GOLFTV world is a
significant step in our journey to becoming a premier global
destination for golf entertainment. To offer
fans the chance to watch some of the biggest tournaments of the
year week in and week out, featuring the world's greatest players
and their national heroes, is the perfect foundation of must-have
content that fans can't live without."
"To become the true 'digital home of golf,' we know we must
think differently and go further than anything that has been done
before," Kaplan continued. "Forging a deeper
relationship with the European Tour to help develop and grow its
digital assets is a perfect example of that, and it highlights our
long-term aim to build a true ecosystem around golf, leveraging
Discovery's global presence and expertise to achieve this at
scale."
Keith Pelley, Chief Executive,
European Tour, said: "Discovery has a very a strong vision
for GOLFTV as a multi-platform destination for golf and we are
delighted to be combining our global reach in 2019.
"Our partnership with Discovery, combined with our other
broadcast deals, means that every fan in every territory will now
be able to watch the European Tour. This new partnership is
therefore an exciting move for us, allowing us to showcase the
stars of the European Tour and our innovative content to a new
audience," Pelley concluded.
From January 2019, Discovery will
hold live European Tour rights in the following markets (please see
Notes to Editors for full market list):
- Exclusive linear and digital rights in markets
including Italy,
Romania, Russia, Spain
(sublicense agreed with Movistar+), Turkey;
- GOLFTV digital streaming rights in Germany,
Austria and Switzerland. Portugal, Balkan countries, Eurasia,
India, Latin America, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and a number
of territories in Asia;
Moving beyond a traditional rights agreement, Discovery will
partner with the European Tour on the operations of its digital
platforms from 2019. Leveraging Discovery's proven record in
maximizing multi-platform engagement and commercialization around
the world's biggest and most watched sports events, the partners
will work together to grow the European Tour's digital assets,
including the global website, the European Tour apps, and
exploration of new local websites and local European Tour social
media accounts, helping to showcase the Tour's innovative digital
content to a global audience.
Discovery will focus on developing and optimizing key aspects of
the European Tour digital operation, such as technology,
monetization and advertising. The European Tour will continue to
provide content and editorial services for the digital platforms,
and service its existing news and media clients.
Under the agreement, Discovery will also have the ability to
sublicense TV and digital coverage, in the markets for which it
holds exclusive rights, as part of a broader strategy to grow
viewership of the European Tour. These markets, pending activation
date of the full live rights, include Albania, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Malta,
Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain
(sublicense agreed with Movistar+), Turkey and Ukraine.
GOLFTV's portfolio, which already includes the PGA TOUR, was
boosted by a separate announcement last month which saw GOLFTV
strike an exclusive global content partnership with 14-time major
champion Tiger Woods. GOLFTV will collaborate with Woods on a
wide range of content creation opportunities, including deep-dive
instruction to help players improve their game, and exclusive
access into Woods' tournament preparation. The unique content will
offer fans an authentic and regular look into the life, mind and
performance of the game's ultimate icon.
Further information regarding GOLFTV programming and content
will be announced in due course.
*Excludes Australia, Canada,
China, Denmark, Finland, France, Japan, New
Zealand, Norway,
South Korea, sub-Saharan Africa
markets including South Africa,
Sweden, United States, UK & Ireland.
**Ryder Cup rights relate
to European markets only. Excludes European markets listed
above (Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden, UK & Ireland) and Germany, Austria, Switzerland.
*** WGC's relate
to European and Middle East
markets only (excluding European markets listed above:
Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden, UK & Ireland).
NOTES TO EDITORS
GOLFTV is a digital video streaming platform and will be
available in all international markets (excluding China and South
Korea) from January 2019. It
will feature a wide range of premium programming and content,
including the PGA TOUR's Featured Holes and Featured Groups live
streams.
In addition, full live coverage will be rolled out market by
market in accordance with rights activation dates. The full
live rights starting dates by territory are shown below for
Discovery's separate agreements with the European Tour and PGA
TOUR.
European Tour:
Rights
|
Commencing
|
Markets
|
Exclusive Broadcast
and GOLFTV Digital Streaming Rights
|
2019
|
Albania, Cyprus,
Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Romania, Russia, Spain (sublicense
agreed with Movistar+), Turkey, Ukraine.
|
2020
|
Iceland,
Poland.
|
2021
|
Belgium,
Netherlands
|
GOLFTV Digital
Streaming Rights
(TV rights-holders
retain right to simulcast linear coverage on their digital
platform)
|
2019
|
Balkan
markets, Bulgaria, Estonia, Eurasia markets (Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan), India, Indonesia, Latin
American markets, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Portugal, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand.
|
2020
|
Vietnam.
|
2021
|
Hong Kong.
|
2022
|
Czech Republic,
Pan-Middle East, Slovakia.
|
GOLFTV Digital
Streaming Rights
(Excluding Ryder
Cup)
|
2019
|
Germany, Switzerland,
Austria.
|
PGA TOUR:
Date
|
Markets
|
2019
|
Australia, Belgium
(Flemish), Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan,
Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Portugal,
Russia, Singapore, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam.
|
2020
|
Hungary, Iceland,
Indonesia, Latin America, Poland, South Korea, Thailand.
|
2021
|
Austria, Belgium
(French), Balkan markets, China, Czech Republic, Germany,
Switzerland, South Africa, Taiwan.
|
2022
|
Finland, India, New
Zealand, Sweden, UK & Ireland.
|
2024
|
France, Middle
East.
|
About Discovery
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 www.corporate.discovery.com and follow
@DiscoveryIncTV across social platforms.
About European Tour
The European Tour celebrates men's
professional golf on a global stage, combining innovation,
diversity and world-class golf.
In 2019, the European Tour International Schedule will feature a
minimum of 48 tournaments in 31 countries, including eight Rolex
Series events, all part of the Race to Dubai.
Celebrating the global connectivity of the European Tour and
Dubai, the Race to Dubai is a season-long competition to crown
the European Tour's Number One player, an honour which in 2018 went
to Italy's Francesco Molinari for the first time, and
which, since 2009, has also been achieved three times by
Rory McIlroy, twice by Henrik Stenson, and once each by Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Luke Donald and Tommy
Fleetwood.
Since its formation in 1972, the European Tour has witnessed 28
Members celebrate a total of 54 Major Championship titles between
them, enjoyed 11 Members attaining the pinnacle of World Number One
and has celebrated its diversity as players from 36 different
countries have won on the Tour.
The European Tour also manages the developmental Challenge Tour
and the Staysure Tour (formerly known as the Senior Tour) which is
the men's professional golf tour for members aged 50 and older.
The European Tour is also the Managing Partner of Ryder Cup
Europe, the body which, alongside the PGA of America, administers
golf's greatest team contest, The Ryder Cup. In 2018, the 42nd
staging of the biennial contest between Europe and the
United States of America took place at Le Golf National,
France, from September 28-30. Europe were the victors with a score of
17.5-10.5.
The European Tour broadcasts live coverage of its tournaments to
more than 490 million homes in more than 150 countries every week,
generating in excess of 2,200 global broadcast hours for each
event. It also enjoys the support of many of the world's leading
business brands with Rolex, BMW, Dubai Duty Free, Emirates, Hilton
and Titleist as Official Partners.
About GOLFTV
GOLFTV is the new 'digital home of
golf' for the global fan community. At the heart of GOLFTV is
a live and on-demand video streaming service, showing every moment
of the PGA TOUR, featuring the world's greatest players, to a
global audience every week. Established with innovation at its
core, GOLFTV brings new drive, creativity and immersive technology
to the world of golf. It aspires to offer fans a new way
to consume, watch, play and engage with the game every
day. GOLFTV is part of Discovery, a global leader in
real-life entertainment with an extensive portfolio
of direct-to-consumer platforms. Visit GOLF.TV and follow
@GOLFTV on Twitter for the latest updates.
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