Open on Sky from next year !!

lowelife

Well that's just ****

http://www.randa.org/en/RandA/News/News/2015/September/BBC-requests-release-from-contract.aspx

alxmorgan

http://www.skysports.com/golf/the-open/news/14866/10011787/sky-sports-to-begin-live-coverage-of-the-open-in-2016

Mantis Toboggan

So are the BBC gone for next year?

alxmorgan

Dennis Reynolds wrote: »

So are the BBC gone for next year?

Yes...highlights only. Asked to be left out of the contract early. Bizarre decision

Mantis Toboggan

alxmorgan wrote: »

Yes...highlights only. Asked to be left out of the contract early. Bizarre decision

Yeah pity but it was only delaying the inevitable unfortunately.

NFH

Great! Really looking forward to an extra major with Sky Sports so I can watch their commercial intro/outro jingle another 400 million times, all their lovely adds, reduced live coverage of the Open, and this genius



...and all a whole year early...brilliant!

And because BBC thought they were doing another Open they didn't really have much of a send off for Alliss at the last Open, which is kinda **** I think.

PropJoe10

Absolute disaster, I hate Sky's golf coverage. The Open should be a listed event and should always be available on terrestrial TV. This is no good for the game of golf.

alxmorgan

To be fair the Beebs decision re starting broadcast time for the Monday was bordering on crazy.

I guess their thinking is that given they have lost it anyway there is no point ploughing money into it this year.

Keano

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Absolute disaster, I hate Sky's golf coverage. The Open should be a listed event and should always be available on terrestrial TV. This is no good for the game of golf.

The BBC have no interest in golf and that is glaring obviously by how much air time golf gets in any given year.

bustercherry

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Absolute disaster, I hate Sky's golf coverage. The Open should be a listed event and should always be available on terrestrial TV. This is no good for the game of golf.

Won't make any difference as real fans would already have sky subscriptions anyway. Pointless crying about not being able to see 1 event while not watching any other events all year.

It's subjective on coverage but from a personal standpoint I am delighted. The coverage this year was pathetic and they really put zero into it like most of their live sports coverage.

Speak Now

That's disappointing, I was hoping for one last year of Peter Alliss. He obviously didn't know this was coming as he kept pointing out this year at St.Andrews that BBC had one more year of live coverage.

Tones66

Aliss' commentary I thought was always dreadful...commentates as if it's a friendly inconsequential game in the park. There are plenty good golf commentators who build up the atmosphere and competitive tension of a major more appropriately.

Kevinmarkham

bustercherry wrote: »

Won't make any difference as real fans would already have sky subscriptions anyway...

The coverage this year was pathetic and they really put zero into it like most of their live sports coverage.

Um, no and... no. I don't have Sky and have no interest in paying for it. I don't need the endless ads and usual Sky bull, thank you very much. The commentary is dreadful.

As for BBC's coverage, Alliss, Brown and the rest are a love/hate kind of thing. I enjoy their relaxed approach to the golf. Personally, I think that's exactly how it should be done.

Jerry Seinfeld

Jerry Seinfeld wrote: »

That's disappointing, I was hoping for one last year of Peter Alliss. He obviously didn't know this was coming as he kept pointing out this year at St.Andrews that BBC had one more year of live coverage.

Yeah very disappointing we didn't get one last year for old times sake

BigChap1759

NFH wrote: »

Great! Really looking forward to an extra major with Sky Sports so I can watch their commercial intro/outro jingle another 400 million times, all their lovely adds, reduced live coverage of the Open, and this genius



...and all a whole year early...brilliant!

And because BBC thought they were doing another Open they didn't really have much of a send off for Alliss at the last Open, which is kinda **** I think.

I quite like Radar

HighLine

Kevinmarkham wrote: »

Um, no and... no. I don't have Sky and have no interest in paying for it. I don't need the endless ads and usual Sky bull, thank you very much. The commentary is dreadful.

But if you don't have Sky, how can you be such an expert? Yes, there are ads and that is annoying. As for the commentary being dreadful... I just completely disagree and I should know because I do actually watch it.

There is always so much moaning on here about Sky's golf coverage but over the last few years they have really stepped up their game and put on a great show of every single tournament on both tours. Yes I will miss elements of BBC's Open coverage but much of it was dated and tiresome.

Thargor

Ads ruin a round of golf on tv, and Sky are the worst of the worst. Constant repetition of their ads for their own content like Chinese torture every ad break aswell.

bustercherry

HighLine wrote: »

But if you don't have Sky, how can you be such an expert? Yes, there are ads and that is annoying. As for the commentary being dreadful... I just completely disagree and I should know because I do actually watch it.

There is always so much moaning on here about Sky's golf coverage but over the last few years they have really stepped up their game and put on a great show of every single tournament on both tours. Yes I will miss elements of BBC's Open coverage but much of it was dated and tiresome.

Agreed, I can't see how people can have such strong opinions on players/courses/tournaments/tours when they don't actually watch it.

charlieIRL

What would you do if sky stopped showing the golf? Bad and all as he adds are its better than nothing.

NFH

BigChap1759 wrote: »

I quite like Radar

I dunno, he's fairly odd and a bit creepy. Haven't liked him ever since he basically hinted live on air that Harrington his thick.

For me, The Open was different to the rest of the majors, it was the only one where you could take a day off work, get up early and literally plant yourself in front of the golf for 8 hours straight, and during that time I loved listening to the absolute nonsense falling out of Alliss. You definitely felt more rapped up in the history of the game watching the BBC's coverage of The Open compared to Sky's coverage of the other majors. But a major point is the adds. Like after the Ryder Cup last year, because I like to watch live and not on a delay, I could literally recite every add verbatim, and that feckin Sky Golf intro tune, jesus!

Kevinmarkham

HighLine wrote: »

But if you don't have Sky, how can you be such an expert?

bustercherry wrote: »

Agreed, I can't see how people can have such strong opinions on players/courses/tournaments/tours when they don't actually watch it.

My dad has Sky, so I've been going up and watching the big events/days with him for years. No, I'm not an expert, but it doesn't take more than an hour to come to a conclusion as to whether you like/dislike something.

Some people love Sky's coverage; I'm not one of them.

Speak Now

Tones66 wrote: »

Aliss' commentary I thought was always dreadful...commentates as if it's a friendly inconsequential game in the park. There are plenty good golf commentators who build up the atmosphere and competitive tension of a major more appropriately.

But it's going to Sky not the golf channel

BigChap1759

charlieIRL wrote: »

What would you do if sky stopped showing the golf? Bad and all as he adds are its better than nothing.

I'm sure I heard something about an agreement by Sky that their adverts wouldn't be as regular on The Open coverage, but I may have dreamed this!

Are people who don't like the Sky coverage saying they would rather not watch The Open than watch it on Sky??

As stated above I think they've really improved this season - Rich Beem has been a great addition.

sky88

I always thought the coverage on BBC to be terrible. The commentary was fine but the camera work and time were shocking at times. Not coming on early on the Monday was a terrible decision too.

Speak Now

BigChap1759 wrote: »

I'm sure I heard something about an agreement by Sky that their adverts wouldn't be as regular on The Open coverage, but I may have dreamed this!

Are people who don't like the Sky coverage saying they would rather not watch The Open than watch it on Sky??

As stated above I think they've really improved this season - Rich Been has been a great addition.

Yeah Rich is great as is Butch and Osterhuis the odd time his on.

Hopefully they'll bring Ken Brown back.

Wouldn't be a fan of McGinley, Murray and Critchley.
That's just my opinion as I know some people like Murray.

vienne86

sky88 wrote: »

I always thought the coverage on BBC to be terrible. The commentary was fine but the camera work and time were shocking at times. Not coming on early on the Monday was a terrible decision too.

BBC provided coverage ALL DAY. They didn't have the luxury of an ad break or a lunch break to put together some of the slick sequences that Sky can do.

Golfgorfield

Im not a fan that the Open is gone this direction, but look at it this way.
How much live golf would we see if sky weren't doing it?
Their coverage is responsible in a way of the game being grown to the size it is now, the Tiger era, shown by sky sent the game through the roof all over the world.

So for all the bad they do, they add in a bit of good as well.


Hon Rupert

bustercherry

Golfgorfield wrote: »

Im not a fan that the Open is gone this direction, but look at it this way.
How much live golf would we see if sky weren't doing it?
Their coverage is responsible in a way of the game being grown to the size it is now, the Tiger era, shown by sky sent the game through the roof all over the world.

So for all the bad they do, they add in a bit of good as well.


Hon Rupert

Agreed. Hell would freeze over before the BBC would show live Solheim Cup in place of Saturday kitchen.

For all the moaners on here, irrespective of whether you don't like their commentary/adverts/etc.... as golf fans should count ourselves lucky on the amount of live golf (and other golf programmes) broadcast by them.

bustercherry

Kevinmarkham wrote: »

My dad has Sky, so I've been going up and watching the big events/days with him for years. No, I'm not an expert, but it doesn't take more than an hour to come to a conclusion as to whether you like/dislike something.

Some people love Sky's coverage; I'm not one of them.

Thats the problem, I like watch sport including quite a bit of live golf. I'm happy out watching the ladies european tour events or trilby tour highlights as well as the big events. Golf commentary is subjective and people are entitled to their opinions but I think there is a bit of mass hysteria over the ads to be honest (especially as it's mostly out of Sky's control).

Also I don't get the I'm not watching Sky's coverage mob nonsense. Apart from mostly coming across as condescending and cutting of your nose to spite your face; ultimately it's secondary to what is the live broadcasting sporting event. That's why I don't believe these people are real fans.

Paulzx

Irrespective of the merits of Sky coverage versus the BBC it's absolutely ridiculous to use the arguement that because a person does not have Sky Sports means they are somehow not real golf fans.


There are many reasons why people don't have sky sports including financial. There is no doubt that Sky coverage has increased the profile of the tours.

However going by that rationale someone who plays golf 3 times a week but never watches it is not a lover of the game sounds a bit off to me

bustercherry

Paulzx wrote: »

Irrespective of the merits of Sky coverage versus the BBC it's absolutely ridiculous to use the arguement that because a person does not have Sky Sports means they are somehow not real golf fans.


There are many reasons why people don't have sky sports including financial. There is no doubt that Sky coverage has increased the profile of the tours.

However going by that rationale someone who plays golf 3 times a week but never watches it is not a lover of the game sounds a bit off to me

None of the arguments put forward ever say, I simple cannot justify the cost or cannot afford it. This is perfectly acceptable but thats not an argument to prevent Sky from buying the rights to unprotected sporting events. Most of the objections are down to hysterical nonsense regarding the ads or "I hate monty" :rolleyes:

It is a possible to partake in a sport and not be a fan of the professional game.

Rikand

I'm a huge fan of Peter alliss, but he really was starting to show his age in the last couple of years. Alex Hay had the good grace to retire, Peter should have done the same.

I will miss Ken Brown though. I think he did a fantastic job

dublinman1990

The reason why the BBC gave The British Open contract to Sky a year early is that BBC Sport had to make financial cutbacks from within it's department.

http://www.a516digital.com/2015/09/bbc-hands-over-rights-to-live-open-golf.html

They decided that it was too expensive to show the event for one last time and gave it to Sky to relieve themselves of the costs for the event.

kazamo

All 4 majors on one TV package...that sounds like a monopoly.

Maybe some EU mandarin will go after sky like that did re the Premier League tv rights in 2007.

PARlance

kazamo wrote: »

All 4 majors on one TV package...that sounds like a monopoly.

Maybe some EU mandarin will go after sky like that did re the Premier League tv rights in 2007.

I'm all for a monopoly.
Much better than Sky having two Majors and having to fork out more money to a Setanta Golf and/or BT Golf for the other two.

Dbu

PARlance wrote: »

I'm all for a monopoly.
Much better than Sky having two Majors and having to fork out more money to a Setanta Golf and/or BT Golf for the other two.

Agreed, but I fear that BT will muscle its way into this equation somewhere.
Heineken cup looks like a 50-50 split, so I can see the golf going the same way...streaming of course

moycullen14

PARlance wrote: »

I'm all for a monopoly.
Much better than Sky having two Majors and having to fork out more money to a Setanta Golf and/or BT Golf for the other two.

So true. The arsing around with rugby has ruined the Heineken Cup. Better by far to have it all on one channel.

Now if Sky would do a Sky Golf subscription so I didn't have to pay for all the Soccer, WWE, etc that I never watch, that would be great.

Whatever your feelings about the commentary and the ads, Golf is now the only reason I have Sky Sports. For the PGA tour alone, it's worth it. I really enjoy watching an hour or two late in the evening.

Will miss the marathon coverage by the BBC. The 10 hours in front of the box on the Saturday and Sunday is great fun. Wouldn't want to be doing it too often though or the divorce courts would be calling.

vienne86

Dbu wrote: »

Agreed, but I fear that BT will muscle its way into this equation somewhere.
Heineken cup looks like a 50-50 split, so I can see the golf going the same way...streaming of course

That would be my fear. I have Sky and BT at the moment, but I am letting the BT go.....not worth keeping for a couple of rugby matches, and I don't like their style ayway.

I think this splitting between two pay channels will only encourage streaming.

PARlance

Dbu wrote: »

Agreed, but I fear that BT will muscle its way into this equation somewhere.
Heineken cup looks like a 50-50 split, so I can see the golf going the same way...streaming of course

Always a possibility but I think there's much less of a risk as golf isn't on the same in terms of overall interest and the fact that unlike football or rugby, there is only really one show in town each weekend (PGA). There are plenty of matches to be spread among those.

Pay per view for Majors... now that might be something that might be in store for us.

rrpc

You could clearly see that the BBC were already semi-detached with their coverage of the Open this year. Not enough cameras, they only started showing the Monday golf from almost 3pm and constantly missing stuff.

There may have been no ads, but sometimes you'd wish for a break so that they could catch up on things they'd missed.

alxmorgan

PARlance wrote: »

I'm all for a monopoly.
Much better than Sky having two Majors and having to fork out more money to a Setanta Golf and/or BT Golf for the other two.

Agreed. Competition supposed to be good for consumers. Definitely not the case for Sky and BT. Same price for Sky with less stuff to watch

Wichita Lineman

It will all end in tears.

How many kids (or adults for that matter) know who is doing what in the Heineken Cup since it was sold to Sky?

Sky think millions will switch to watch their golf coverage and I'm no marketing guru but I don't think they will.

Tom.D.BJJ

I prefer the Sky golf coverage. I dont think the amount of ads is down to Sky, but from the American networks who control the feed. Sky can then either take an ad break, or go to the studio as they often do. If you compare the European tour coverage to PGA tour coverage you'll see less ads on Sky.

Anyway, Wayne Riley is fun on the course but the absolute star this year has been Rich Beem. I really like the Europrotour guy John Morgan too.

People complaining about ads is fair enough, but it's not as if any other channel is covering the golf, is it?

First Up

BigChap1759 wrote: »

I quite like Radar

Riley makes interesting and usually accurate observations about shots. Boxall is OK and Coltart is a good addition. I'm not a fan of Murray or of Sky's over hyping style but you can turn the sound down and at least we can be confident they won't break off coverage of tournaments to show Armagh V Tyrone or similar.

benny79

It doesn't bother me that sky have it. As the only reason I have sky sports is for the golf! And would love a subscription just for the golf as I am constantly telling them when my renewal is up and I'm haggling .

But if they start making the Majors Pay per view, which I think they will eventually do! That will pee me off...

PARlance

Wichita Lineman wrote: »

Sky think millions will switch to watch their golf coverage and I'm no marketing guru but I don't think they will.

I really doubt that was their rationale at all.
They bought an event that will be highly viewed, as a result they can charge an advertising premium during the 4 days... and in the lead up.

They may obviously hope/expect to get a few more subscribers but I'm not sure it would ever make sense for them to purchase the rights on that basis.

Mantis Toboggan

benny79 wrote: »

It doesn't bother me that sky have it. As the only reason I have sky sports is for the golf! And would love a subscription just for the golf as I am constantly telling them when my renewal is up and I'm haggling .

But if they start making the Majors Pay per view, which I think they will eventually do! That will pee me off...

You could go the now tv route and just buy sky for the weekend!

First Up

PARlance wrote: »

I really doubt that was their rationale at all.
They bought an event that will be highly viewed, as a result they can charge an advertising premium during the 4 days... and in the lead up.

They may obviously hope/expect to get a few more subscribers but I'm not sure it would ever make sense for them to purchase the rights on that basis.

Agreed; Sky already has virtually everything else in golf so almost all serious golf watchers are already subscribers or have some reason not to be. Adding the Open (and taking it off FTA) will piss them off but is unlikely to persuade many of them to change their minds.

I'll suspend judgement until I see it. As I understand it, they have already agreed the amount of time to be devoted to ads with the R & A as a condition of getting it and given their infrastructure and experience, I am hopeful Sky's coverage won't disappoint - in fact I would expect them to make it a showpiece.

It was interesting to watch the Walker Cup on BBC and compare how they did with Sky's coverage of the Ryder Cup. I have to say, Sky won hands down in terms of keeping track of matches, graphics etc. Of course I'll miss Alliss but he was going anyway. I can tolerate Critchley and I'll just grit my teeth for the smarmy Ewan Murray.