golf

Because the [itvt] editorial team has been on the road the past few weeks, we are covering stories in this issue in round-up/summary format. We anticipate that it will take us several days to catch up with all the recent news: so if your company has sent us a press release or briefed us on an announcement, and you don't yet see your news covered in this issue, please bear with us.

Because the [itvt] editorial team has been on the road the past few weeks, we are covering recent news stories in summary/round-up form. We anticipate that it will take a few days for us to catch up with all the recent news: so if your company has sent us a press release or briefed us on an announcement, and you don't yet see your news covered in this issue, please bear with us. We apologize for any inconvenience to our readers.

DirecTV is teaming with ESPN to offer interactive TV coverage of the British Open Golf Championship. Dubbed the Open Championship Golf Experience, the coverage will be available (in HD) July 15th through 18th, and will center on a multiscreen "Mix" channel that will offer four video feeds: 1) ESPN's main network feed; 2) coverage of holes 1 and 18; 3) coverage of the 17th hole; and 4) "International View," a BBC-produced feed featuring commentary from the corporation.

AT&T has announced plans for multiplatform coverage of the 2010 Masters Golf Tournament on its Microsoft Mediaroom-powered U-verse TV IPTV service, on mobile phones, and on its AT&T Fan Zone and AT&T Entertainment Web sites. The company says it will provide golf fans with over 110 hours of live coverage and on-demand content, and that it will be the only wireless carrier delivering live and on-demand Masters programming to mobiles--via the AT&T Mobile TV, MobiTV and AT&T Mobile Video services.

DirecTV contacted [itvt] Monday to let us know that it will be offering the "Masters Experience," an interactive TV service providing coverage of the 2010 Masters Golf Tournament. According to the company, the service, which will be offered in HD and free of charge, will include one of its signature four-in-one mix (multiscreen mosaic) channels, as well as a range of other interactive features, during ESPN's coverage of the tournament's first two rounds (April 8th-9th) and CBS Sports' coverage of its final two rounds (April 10th-11th).

CBS contacted [itvt] last week to let us know that its CBS Sports arm and professional golf's Masters Tournament are once again teaming to offer live, online video coverage of the Masters Tournament from the Augusta National Golf Club, and that the coverage will include new features this year.

The PGA Tour and Turner Sports--which have been in a partnership to produce the PGAtour.com Web site since 2006--on Monday launched a free iPhone/iPod touch PGA Tour application. According to the partners, the new app will leverage PGAtour.com's live video streaming and live scoring capabilities to provide an "enhanced experience" to iPhone/iPod touch users for each of the four PGA Tour playoffs for the FedExCup tournaments, starting with The Barclays (August 27th-30th). Following the playoffs, the partners say, the app, which is sponsored by Nike Golf, will be available through the PGA Tour fall series and beyond.

Turner Sports on Monday released usage figures for the interactive broadband video coverage of the 2009 PGA Championship that it provided on PGA.com last week as part of a long-running deal with the PGA of America (note: for an extensive overview of the coverage, including its various social and interactive elements, see the article published on itvt.com, August 17th). According to the company (citing figures provided by Omniture):

Turner Sports offered a range of interactive and social features to supplement its coverage of last week's PGA Championship, including the broadband video coverage that it offered on PGA.com as part of its long-term deal with the PGA of America (note: the Turner Sports-PGA partnership, which was formed in 2002, was recently extended through 2019).

US satellite-TV provider, DirecTV, plans to offer interactive TV coverage of the British Open golf championship's first two rounds this Thursday and Friday (July 16th and 17th). The company intends to offer interactive TV coverage of all the four "major" golf championships this year--the others being the US Open, the Masters and the PGA Championship.

The PGA of America and Turner Sports announced Thursday that they have extended their broadcasting and interactive media agreements covering the PGA Championship, the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, and the PGA.com Web site through 2019. Among other things, the extended deal will see Turner's Cartoon Network Enterprises arm serving as the PGA's licensing agent for the youth market, and will see Turner and the PGA collaborating on a number of interactive/social media initiatives designed to increase the PGA's brand recognition among key audiences and to introduce new, younger audiences to learning, playing and following golf.

Among the extended partnership's interactive media-related elements:

US satellite-TV provider, DirecTV, says that it will provide expanded and exclusive interactive TV coverage of golf's US Open Championship this week and this weekend, via a four-screen "HD Mix" mosaic channel and a red-button service.

--Says its Olympics ITV Services Proved Highly Successful
--Offers Multiscreen ITV Apps for US Open Tennis, PGA Golf Championships