C More left frustrated after golf rights mix-up

Pan-Nordic pay-television broadcaster C More has hit out after an error by the Lagardère Sports agency meant it will not be able to broadcast European Tour golf tournament the Scandinavian Masters in its home market of Sweden.

Earlier this month, C More announced that its new C More Golf channel would broadcast the tournament, known as the Nordea Masters for sponsorship reasons, in parallel with Swedish public-service broadcaster SVT.

The 2016 Nordea Masters will be held at the Bro Hof Slott course in Stockholm from June 2-5, but will now not be shown by C More. 

Marcus Dunér, communications manager at Lagardère Sports, said: “We take full responsibility for this. We have overlooked that our agreement with the European Tour has not had the right to grant broadcasting to a pay service, but only to the so-called free-to-air broadcasters.”

Johan Cederqvist, program director of sports for C More, said Lagardère Sports had “committed a big mistake”, adding: “We are both frustrated and disappointed, this kind of thing should not be done.”