The NBC Sports Group division of media company NBCUniversal has expanded an existing deal with the PGA of America sanctioning body to show live coverage of the 2014 Ryder Cup international golf tournament.
The deal covers live coverage from Perthshire, Scotland, marking the first time that an overseas edition of the team tournament will be shown live in the US. Coverage of the Ryder Cup, when it has been staged outside the US, has previously been shown on a tape-delayed basis.
Under the deal, NBCU’s pay-television broadcaster Golf Channel has acquired exclusive rights for the 2014 tournament’s match-ups on Friday, September 26. According to the New York Post newspaper, Golf Channel acquired the rights in a sublicensing deal with pay-television sports broadcaster ESPN.
The NBC network will show live coverage of the contests on Saturday, September 27 and Sunday, September 28.
NBC and Golf Channel will provide a total of 26.5 hours of live coverage. All of the live coverage will be available for authenticated streaming via the NBC Sports Live Extra and Golf Live Extra online services.
The Ryder Cup has been shown by NBC Sports Group since 1991. In October of 2013, the NBC Sports Group extended its rights deal for the Ryder Cup for 16 years, through to 2030.