Discovery and the PGA Tour have announced their first sublicensing deal since agreeing a 12-year joint venture to exploit the Tour’s international rights in June.
Japanese pay-television broadcaster Golf Network, the country’s top golf broadcaster, has acquired linear and digital simulcast rights to the PGA Tour, Players Championship, the Fedex Cup Playoffs and the Presidents Cup from 2019 onward in a multi-year deal.
Golf Network is owned by Jupiter Telecommunications, which also owns pay-television operator J:COM. PGA content will be exploited across Jupiter’s linear platforms.
US media group Discovery Communications and the PGA Tour’s joint venture OTT service, GolfTV, will retain live and on-demand digital rights to all PGA content. A press release says GolfTV will show over 2,000 hours of live PGA content each year.
The joint venture runs for 12 years, from 2019 to 2030. The two companies will not have a full inventory of international rights until 2024 due to existing pay-television deals.