Discovery, the media group and owner of pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport and subscription streaming service Dplay, will broadcast the first live golf since before the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown in seven nations across Europe.
The TaylorMade Driving Relief match will be streamed globally (except the US market) on Discovery’s GolfTV OTT platform, but the media group is aiming to maximise exposure by exploiting the charity skins match on Eurosport and Dplay.
Live coverage will be available on Eurosport’s linear channel and the Eurosport app in Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal, while it will also be broadcast on Dplay in Denmark and Norway. Eurosport will also broadcast the final two hours of the event in Poland.
The match will be broadcast across platforms on Sunday, May 17 from 8pm (CEST).
The GolfTV OTT service went live at the start of 2019 following Discovery’s 12-year, $2bn (€1.85bn) international rights agreement with the PGA Tour (excluding USA). GolfTV also began streaming live coverage of European Tour events in selected markets at the start of last year.
The skins match was announced on May 4 and will see Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson face Rickie Foiwler and Matthew Wolff at the Seminole Club in Florida.
It is being broadcast on NBC, The Golf Channel and NBCSN in the United States and on Sky Sports in the UK. PGA Tour Entertainment is handling production of the event.
In October, GolfTV offered global streaming of a charity match organised by Discovery Golf in Japan and featuring McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama.
UnitedHealth Group has pledged $3m in support of the American Nurses Foundation and CDC Foundation, while Farmers Insurance has pledged an additional $1m to Off Their Plate, a charitable organisation helping coronavirus healthcare workers and impacted frontline shift employees.