The longstanding relationship between Turner Sports and The PGA of America, while most visible this week as Turner celebrates its 20th consecutive year of televising the PGA Championship here at Whistling Straits, extends far beyond the 20 hours of exclusive, comprehensive coverage that viewers will experience on TNT over the four rounds of the Championship.
In addition to TNT airing a combined 14 hours of the first two rounds – there is an extra hour added to each day this year – along with early coverage of the third and final rounds, Turner Sports will again offer “PGA Championship LIVE” on PGA.com, the official site of The PGA of America that is also managed by Turner Sports. With PGA.com featuring more than 120 hours of bonus coverage from the course via multiple broadband channels, the website’s award-winning mobile coverage once again brings fans closer to the action through multiple, simultaneous live video streams, including marquee groups and par- 3 coverage, coupled with several interactive components and social media integration.
These offerings are a continuation of
PGA.com’s technological breakthroughs at
the PGA Championship, which has been
the first major golf event to be available
across five platforms – television, Internet,
video-on-demand,
TN T) will provide exclusive
coverage of the PGA Grand Slam of
Golf for the 20th consecutive year,
this coming October from
Bermuda.
Still, there is much more ahead for this partnership. Through an agreement signed in 2009, Turner’s Cartoon Network Enterprises and The PGA will work together to help introduce new, younger audiences to learning, playing and following the game.
“Turner’s partnership with The PGA of America reflects our continuing strategy to provide the most compelling television sports coverage, managing the best digital content and offering innovative mobile applications to follow the action from anywhere. Our expanded relationship takes advantage of Turner’s expertise in licensing, digital media and event marketing and will create opportunities to better serve golf fans around the world while providing growth and new opportunities to enhance the PGA brand,” says David Levy, president of sales, distribution and sports for Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
PGA of America-Turner relationship also spans two decades
TN T announcers (from left): Ian Baker-Finch, Billy Kratzert, Ernie Johnson
mobile and Podcast – and the first to offer multiple live video streams.
The response among consumers has been telling, with TNT’s coverage of the 2009 PGA Championship earning significant television ratings increases on each of its four days of coverage and leading PGA.com to its most successful four days in PGA.com’s four-year history of providing live video streaming for the PGA Championship.
What’s more, PGA.com recently was re-launched, with a focus on an enhanced community where users are able to connect with friends, family, other golfers and PGA Professionals to organize a round, schedule a lesson, track their playing statistics and plan their next golf vacation.
And, as has also
Frank Chirkinian, who served as producer and director for CBS Sports’ golf coverage until he retired in 1996, produced the very first PGA Championship broadcast in 1958. He received the 1996 PGA Distinguished Service Award.
broadcasting world since that ’ 91 PGA Championship, including most of the team. Nantz succeeded Summerall, while former Masters and Open champion Nick Faldo sits where Venturi offered insights for more than 30 years.
Chirkinian employed 18 cameras in 1991, which was nearly double the number he used for coverage of regular PGA Tour events. This week Barrow will have nearly 40 at his disposal, and 10 of those will be remote frequency (RF) cameras, small hand-held packs that can reach any corner of the golf course at Whistling Straits. The hand-held models in 1991 were still tethered to cables. Among the hard cameras is a crane-operated device that brings in sweeping overhead shots.
Videotape machines are better and more powerful, and high-speed video has been developed to take slow-motion shots to provide uncanny replay detail on golf swings. Graphics, audio, animation and other visual tools bring the kind of in-programming enhancements that today’s tech-savvy viewers expect and appreciate.
“The technology has changed a lot but so
has the reach of the broadcast,” Barrow
points out.
170 THE OFFICIAL PROGRAM OF THE 2010 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP