GOLF CHANNEL President Page H. Thompson and George O’Grady, chief executive of The European Tour have announced an agreement that will make GOLF CHANNEL the exclusive home of European Tour events telecast in the United States, Canada and Japan until 2014.
GOLF CHANNEL, which featured a European Tour event (Dubai Desert Classic) as its first-ever tournament telecast in 1995 and has played a major role in bringing the Tour to prominence in the United States, will continue to televise a minimum of 32 European Tour events each year under the new agreement, which commences immediately.
For 2008 the players will compete for annual prize money that exceeds $190 million, and with the recently announced “Race to Dubai” – commencing in November 2008 and its $10,000,000 Bonus Pool, – The European Tour is creating an entirely new and exciting way to watch golf.
“We’re extremely pleased to be continuing our great relationship with The European Tour,” said Thompson. “Our viewers love the top-quality golf, the exotic locales, and the distinctive announcing style of Renton Laidlaw and the rest of The European Tour team. Whatever hour you want to watch, you can find it on ‘Golf’s home’.”
Viewers also love that European Tour events on GOLF CHANNEL typically air in the morning, giving them more golf without conflicting with the PGA TOUR, the LPGA Tour or any other tour telecasts.
George O’Grady said, “These are exciting times for The European Tour and this announcement further endorses our desire to work with an outstanding partner who shares our appetite for broadening the global appeal of the game. We launched our partnership in 1995 with Joe Gibbs, the co-founder of The Golf Channel, and Bob Greenway; continued the strong relationship with David Manougian and today we are delighted to congratulate Page Thompson and all members of his staff for their continued commitment.”
The new partnership also gives GOLF CHANNEL additional European Tour content rights for Internet and wireless applications, as well as exclusive broadcast rights in Japan to the 2010 and 2014 Ryder Cups. GOLF CHANNEL also has the option to air the popular magazine-style show, European Tour Weekly.
GOLF CHANNEL www.GolfChannel.com
The European Tour www.europeantour.com