Periscope, the recently launched live streaming application of social media website Twitter, will be prohibited at the 2015 US Open golf major in Washington next month.
Media rights holders at major sporting events have recently raised concerns over spectators’ use of Periscope and rival live streaming app Meerkat infringing upon their broadcast contracts.
Periscope co-founder Kayvon Baykpour played down the prevalence of its use at the world welterweight title fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao on Saturday following threats of legal action by Todd DuBoef, president of boxing promotional company Top Rank, against companies that carried illegal streams of the boxing event.
The United States Golf Association in August 2013 agreed a 12-year deal with the Fox Sports division of US network Fox for the broadcast rights to the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Open Championships.
The agreement commences in 2015 and runs through 2026, granting Fox major championship golf for the first time ever. Spectators and members of the media will be unable to use Periscope or Meerkat on the fairways when the US Open takes place from June 18-21.
"Violation of the above policy may result in immediate expulsion and loss of ticket privileges for the remainder of the championship," tournament guidelines from the USGA said.
The USGA’s ruling comes after golf blogger Stephanie Wei was last week stripped of her media credentials after streaming a live video of Masters champion Jordan Spieth (pictured) during his practice round at the World Golf Championship. PGA Tour chief marketing officer Ty Votaw told Sports Illustrated that Wei was “stealing”.
Sarah Hirshland, senior managing director of business affairs for the USGA, told the Bloomberg news agency the time may come when fans or media are allowed to stream video, but a policy change would have to take multiple factors into consideration, mostly protecting the broadcast rights of media partners.
“It's not as simple as simply saying 'hey, we saw this person doing this thing and it was really cool so let's just let them do it,'” Hirshland said. "We've got to really be deliberate and think about implications over the long term and think about the positive and the negative. I'm not so sure it's as simple as black and white."