It's Masters week hooray! But wait a minute, for those of us not lucky enough to be there, what does that really mean? Well let's start with our friends over at the Golf Channel.
[Live Update: As I write this 'Live at the Masters' is broadcasting on the 'all-golf all the time' channel. Notah Begay is the current expert talking head, he is billed as a 'Two time Masters participant', yes really.]
Scratch the surface of the Golf Channel's Masters coverage and you will quickly discover that it has almost nothing to add to the build up of this wonderful event. All the evidence would suggest that their contract precludes almost any actual coverage of the live action early in the week at Augusta. Occasionally we are given furtive glimpse of the practice ground in the background at which point, all ones mental powers are then required to work out who is hitting balls in the distance and the thoughts of the on-air 'talent' are ignored. So the coverage may be live but it is so merely so GC can say it has 1000 hours [this is a made up figure] of live coverage during Masters week. But do we really want 'complete Masters coverage' with an hour of analysis from Fredrik Jacobsen or Jodie Mudd?
[Live update: Our 'live' coverage now features a pre-packaged feature on Ernie Els]
The strict control of the broadcasting rights at Augusta make all of this somewhat understandable. The fact, however, that regular tour events are restricted to 4 hours of afternoon coverage on Thursday's and Fridays, on the specialist channel solely dedicated to the sport, is beyond baffling. As a fan of the game and a relative newcomer to the USA, I simply cannot get my head around the lack of live PGA Tour action on a channel specifically created for the purpose. Is it too much to ask for coverage of an entire days play on a golf-only channel?
SPEED TV, the dedicated motorsports channel, has recently developed programming for the NASCAR demographic as opposed to the actual motor racing fan. This includes NASCAR based cooking and talent shows. Is this the future of the Golf Channel? Will we soon see shows about changing the oil on your Lear Jet or get 'specials' on how to get chateau neuf du pape stains out of your Bentley's upholstery?
The Masters Commitee has a incredibly tight grip on all broadcast coverage and commercial exploitation of its magnificent event. Augusta's own online event coverage is quickly becoming the benchmark for the future of sports broadcasting. There is no doubt that it will only grow in popularity as broadband HD delivery improves and the platforms on which we can receive it expands. We really cannot be too far away from a time when the fan can get live streaming Hi Definition coverage, of whatever pairing they chose, delivered straight to his or her Blackberry or iPhone/Pad.
This growing trend for rights holders to take control of the delivery of their events, and accompanying message, is raising some red flags within the Networks. There is a genuine concern amongst the Networks that they are paying huge sums of money for a diminishing number of actual rights. The NFL, NBA and MLB will no longer be able to justifiably charge eye popping amounts for live rights to their events when they now have their own dedicated Networks. As this trend continues, we could end up with networks having extremely limited live rights with tight restrictions on what they can show and can't show.
Despite the evidence below, Sky Soccer Saturday is a ground breaking live show that delivers a lively results and up to the second reports service on all of the professional soccer played on Saturday afternoons in the UK. In order to promote live attendance at games, the games governing body, the FA, does not allow any live coverage of games that kick off at 3pm. The best the network can offer is a tantalizing view of the crowd and occasionally a blank corner of the pitch as a background to the frantic and always upbeat live reports. Except in this case, now watch closely, this could well be the future of 'live golf' on The Golf Channel.
[Live Update: As I write this 'Live at the Masters' is broadcasting on the 'all-golf all the time' channel. Notah Begay is the current expert talking head, he is billed as a 'Two time Masters participant', yes really.]
Scratch the surface of the Golf Channel's Masters coverage and you will quickly discover that it has almost nothing to add to the build up of this wonderful event. All the evidence would suggest that their contract precludes almost any actual coverage of the live action early in the week at Augusta. Occasionally we are given furtive glimpse of the practice ground in the background at which point, all ones mental powers are then required to work out who is hitting balls in the distance and the thoughts of the on-air 'talent' are ignored. So the coverage may be live but it is so merely so GC can say it has 1000 hours [this is a made up figure] of live coverage during Masters week. But do we really want 'complete Masters coverage' with an hour of analysis from Fredrik Jacobsen or Jodie Mudd?
[Live update: Our 'live' coverage now features a pre-packaged feature on Ernie Els]
The strict control of the broadcasting rights at Augusta make all of this somewhat understandable. The fact, however, that regular tour events are restricted to 4 hours of afternoon coverage on Thursday's and Fridays, on the specialist channel solely dedicated to the sport, is beyond baffling. As a fan of the game and a relative newcomer to the USA, I simply cannot get my head around the lack of live PGA Tour action on a channel specifically created for the purpose. Is it too much to ask for coverage of an entire days play on a golf-only channel?
SPEED TV, the dedicated motorsports channel, has recently developed programming for the NASCAR demographic as opposed to the actual motor racing fan. This includes NASCAR based cooking and talent shows. Is this the future of the Golf Channel? Will we soon see shows about changing the oil on your Lear Jet or get 'specials' on how to get chateau neuf du pape stains out of your Bentley's upholstery?
The Masters Commitee has a incredibly tight grip on all broadcast coverage and commercial exploitation of its magnificent event. Augusta's own online event coverage is quickly becoming the benchmark for the future of sports broadcasting. There is no doubt that it will only grow in popularity as broadband HD delivery improves and the platforms on which we can receive it expands. We really cannot be too far away from a time when the fan can get live streaming Hi Definition coverage, of whatever pairing they chose, delivered straight to his or her Blackberry or iPhone/Pad.
This growing trend for rights holders to take control of the delivery of their events, and accompanying message, is raising some red flags within the Networks. There is a genuine concern amongst the Networks that they are paying huge sums of money for a diminishing number of actual rights. The NFL, NBA and MLB will no longer be able to justifiably charge eye popping amounts for live rights to their events when they now have their own dedicated Networks. As this trend continues, we could end up with networks having extremely limited live rights with tight restrictions on what they can show and can't show.
Despite the evidence below, Sky Soccer Saturday is a ground breaking live show that delivers a lively results and up to the second reports service on all of the professional soccer played on Saturday afternoons in the UK. In order to promote live attendance at games, the games governing body, the FA, does not allow any live coverage of games that kick off at 3pm. The best the network can offer is a tantalizing view of the crowd and occasionally a blank corner of the pitch as a background to the frantic and always upbeat live reports. Except in this case, now watch closely, this could well be the future of 'live golf' on The Golf Channel.
Don't forget that there are still 50 (that's fifty) Stiletto Green Tools to be won right now.
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