Pay-television broadcaster Sky New Zealand will not renew a rights deal for coverage of various golf events.
According to the Stuff news website, Sky’s bid for the rights to the US PGA Tour for the next three years was turned down.
The broadcaster also failed to retain the rights to the European PGA Tour and Asian Tour. The terms of these bids were not disclosed.
The report added that the broadcaster believes it was not outbid for the rights, but rather the operators of the golf events wished to trial a direct-to-customer approach in New Zealand, possibly through an online platform.
Sky is also yet to negotiate a deal with a different distributor for the rights to the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour beyond the end of 2014.