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97-658: The unit has its origins in Comcast Sports Group, a division which oversaw Comcast's Golf Channel and Versus cable networks, as well as the regional sports network chain Comcast SportsNet . In February 2011, Comcast completed its acquisition of a majority stake in NBC Universal . Following the acquisition, plans were unveiled for the three networks to be subsumed by the NBC network's existing division NBC Sports , under

194-527: A sportscast ) is the live coverage of sports as a television program , on radio , and other broadcasting media. It usually involves one or more sports commentators describing events as they happen. Sportscaster's environment is usually in booth, sets, and radio and television studios. Depending on the sportscasters specific job it is a time sensitive job, especially when depending on a play by play, they cannot miss any action, and due to their job they have to be flexible with schedule. Sports broadcasters have

291-449: A MW opt-out on BBC Radio 2 , The launch of Radio 5 in 1990 saw a huge increase in the level of coverage on BBC Radio. Radio 5 became BBC Radio 5 Live in 1994 and the station, which combines live news and sport, provides round-the-clock coverage of sport through both live commentary and sports news and discussion. Live cricket commentary is broadcast on 5 Live's digital sports channel BBC 5 Sports Extra. This includes cricket coverage which

388-538: A Minneapolis-based provider of digital services for youth and amateur sports organizations. The unit was renamed SportsEngine. The group purchased the All-American Bowl high school all star game in February 2019. In February 2020, it was reported that Golf Channel would re-locate its operations from Orlando to Stamford over the next 12 to 18 months. In January 2021, it was announced that NBCSN will cease operations by

485-460: A basic cable channel, it had developed a stable of sports broadcasts ranging from major leagues to oddities. ESPN has since grown into a massive multiplexed network, with several channels and a large news bureau that has led to the network bestowing the title of "Worldwide Leader in Sports" upon itself. Cable, and later digital cable and satellite, greatly expanded the number of channels (and, by extension,

582-508: A consolidated case, also noting that the constitutional basis for such a law had not been proven. No such laws have been passed since. Since then, sports have been a lucrative source of revenue in the U.S. pay television industry, including mainstream networks such as ESPN , as well as channels devoted to specific sports, leagues, and college sports conferences. These networks receive revenue from both advertising and carriage fees charged to television providers (and passed onto consumers as part of

679-428: A few companies provide the service. In 1911, more than 1,000 people gathered in downtown Lawrence, Kansas to watch a mechanical reproduction of the 1911 Kansas vs. Missouri football game while it was being played. A Western Union telegraph wire was set up direct from Columbia, Missouri . A group of people then would announce the results of the previous play and used a large model of a football playing field to show

776-640: A field sport anywhere in Europe was when Paddy Mehigan covered the All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final between Kilkenny and Galway on 29 August 1926. This game is credited with being the first mainly because the BBC was prevented from broadcasting sporting events before 7.00pm as a means of protecting British newspaper sales. Originally there was no sports department for Irish radio. Gaelic Games and live commentary were very popular with Irish radio. One prominent figure

873-570: A fixture of Canadian television since the CBC's debut in 1952. From 1962 (one year after the debut of CTV ) through 2007, there were two separate CFL contracts: one for CBC, and one for CTV (or a sister channel such as cable outlet TSN ). Terrestrial television broadcasts of CFL games ended in 2008, when TSN acquired exclusive TV rights to the league. American sports broadcasts are widely available in Canada, both from Canadian stations and from border blasters in

970-516: A football game, that were trying to learn of a play via telegraph, but wasn't official because no one was present. Ten years later in 1921 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the first radio broadcasting event occurred of a boxing match. Then the first televised sporting event occurred 1939, which was the summer olympics in the United States. In 1951, the first sports color telecast was a baseball game between

1067-409: A joint venture between former national telecommunications monopoly BT Group and Warner Bros. Discovery . There is also a dedicated UK version of Eurosport , called British Eurosport, and Viaplay Sports , which replaced Premier Sports in 2022, also broadcasts live and recorded sports coverage. National and local media both serve major roles in broadcasting sports in the United States . Depending on

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1164-460: A locally broadcast high school football game can be heard worldwide on any device with an audio output and an Internet connection. Individual leagues (including major ones) all have subscription services that allow subscribers to watch their sporting events for a fee. One of the first live sporting events in the U.S. to be streamed was the Ohio State spring football game in 2001 by WBNS-TV . The game

1261-584: A new logo, implemented in May 2014 to coincide with the 2014 Players Championship . The new logo replaces the "swinging G" emblem that had been used since the network's launch with a wordmark alongside the NBC peacock. The new logo was meant to provide a unified brand across Golf Channel's associated properties and services. That month, it also partnered with Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio to feature audio simulcasts of its studio programming. In 2014, Golf Channel acquired rights to

1358-479: A part of researching their sports history and knowing game statistics. Studying sports and using facts is needed in their job and making the games exciting and entertaining. Perhaps the first sports broadcast was by Guglielmo Marconi , who broadcast the 1899 America's Cup from New York Harbor . The first ever prerecorded sportscast occurred in 1911 in Kansas. The first recording had a group of people recreate plays of

1455-421: A reputation for carrying a large number of college football bowl games in an era when televised college football was highly restricted. Modern syndication networks still exist for sporting events, such as Raycom Sports and American Sports Network , both of which specialize in college sports. The debut of ESPN in 1979 revolutionized the broadcasting of sports events. Within several years of ESPN's founding as

1552-683: A telegraph line was connected to the Victoria Rink in Montreal to update fans in Winnipeg of the Stanley Cup challenge series between Montreal and Winnipeg ice hockey teams. In 1923, the first radio broadcast of an ice hockey game took place on 8 February, with the broadcast of the third period of a game between Midland and North Toronto of the Ontario Hockey Association . Later that month,

1649-405: A variety of sections to deliver footage and their job can provide postgame coverage and interviews with athletes and coaches. Sports casting is a big industry throughout the United States and worldwide. Anything sports related, whether it's reading, watching, and hearing is a type of way sports broadcasting is in media. Sports broadcasters do more than just voice over plays and matches, they must be

1746-516: Is aired by Golf Channel, which marked the first time ever that Golf Channel had ever broadcast one of the four Men's major golf championships . On May 3, 2016, NBC announced that Golf Channel would air the bulk of the men's and women's golf tournaments for the 2016 Summer Olympics , covering up to 300 hours of the tourney, with 130 of those hours live. In 2016, Golf Channel acquired the World Long Drivers Association, organizer of

1843-481: Is also aired on the long wave frequencies of BBC Radio 4. BBC Local Radio provides extensive coverage of sport, giving more exposure to second-tier football clubs which would otherwise receive limited national coverage. The BBC's main commercial rival is Talksport , but this has not acquired anywhere near as many exclusive contracts as Sky Sports and instead dedicates much of its airtime to sports discussions and phone-ins. The first sporting event to be televised in

1940-609: Is also broadcast on terrestrial TV in Canada, while the CFL no longer is (the CFL is broadcast only on cable in the United States); the simultaneous substitution benefits are not extended to cable stations. For the purposes of regional sports broadcasting , the Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Raptors both claim all of Canada as their "territory", allowing Blue Jays and Raptors games to be broadcast nationwide. The first live commentary on

2037-539: Is available on a delay to a free-to-air broadcaster. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission attempted to introduce similar restrictions on cable broadcasts of specific sporting events and recent films as to not cannibalize broadcast TV. In 1977, these restrictions were deemed to be invalid when a federal district court ruled that the FCC did not have the authority to make such decisions in

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2134-649: Is co-branded with elements of the PGA Tour logo. Golf Channel is the pay television rightsholder of the PGA Tour , broadcasting live coverage of early rounds, and early window coverage of weekend rounds prior to network television coverage. Some events (particularly, late-season events such as the former Fall Series , and additional events) are broadcast in their entirety by the network. Golf Channel airs primetime encores of each round during PGA Tour events, including network television broadcasts from NBC or CBS where applicable. If

2231-586: The 1958 NFL Championship and the later establishment of the American Football League in 1960. Monday Night Football , NFL on Fox , and NBC Sunday Night Football have changed the landscape of American football broadcasts, including the scheduling of the Super Bowl , transforming it from an afternoon broadcast into a primetime spectacle. The price for the NFL's broadcast rights has increased steadily over

2328-613: The 2019 Players Championship . The Latin American version of the Golf Channel was launched in 2006 as a DirecTV joint venture, and was acquired from DirecTV by former DirecTV executives Jason Markham and Evan Grayer together with Inversiones Bahia in 2018. The channel broadcasts professional tournaments from the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Latinoamérica, European Tour and LPGA Tour with Spanish-speaking journalists, as well as Golf Central and other English-language shows. In 2019, Discovery bought

2425-669: The BBC on 29 March 1926, a British featherweight title defence by Johnny Curley , and 6 October 1927, when Teddy Baldock lost his claim to the British version of the World bantamweight title to South African Willie Smith. The first outdoor sports event broadcast in the United Kingdom was a Rugby Union international between England and Wales , broadcast from Twickenham in January 1927. Two weeks later

2522-560: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission . While it mostly airs the American feed, live events coverage is subject to blackouts due to TSN holding many of its broadcasting rights domestically. Contrarily, the Canadian feed carries coverage of some events (particularly early round coverage of The Open Championship) whose rights are not owned by a Canadian network (TSN only holds rights to NBC's network coverage of

2619-646: The Dubai Desert Classic , held January 19–22. Originally a premium channel with limited subscribers, it retooled in September 1995 to be part of basic-tier pay TV to reach more viewers, and ratings rapidly increased. In 1996, Fox Cable Networks acquired a minority stake in the channel for $ 50 million. From 1999 to 2001, Golf Channel held part of the PGA Tour 's cable rights for early-round coverage. To boost their availability, Golf Channel reached an agreement with Fox Sports Networks (FSN) to air simulcasts of

2716-627: The European Commission disapproved of. Following warnings of legal action to stop the monopoly, an announcement was made that an alternative structure would be in place when the contract ended in 2007. In the United States , team sports are broadcast by networks usually only in "game of the week" or championship situations, except for the NFL (see NFL on television ) and motorsport. Other sports are broadcast by sports channels , and are limited by who can view them based on various rules set by

2813-859: The FIFA World Cup , Summer Olympic Games , Cricket World Cup , UEFA Champions League , UEFA European Championship , FA Cup , Tour de France , Rugby World Cup (rugby union), State Of Origin (rugby league), Indian Premier League , Wimbledon , NBA Finals , Stanley Cup , Super Bowl , World Series , and the FIA Formula One World Championship. TV Rights of the UEFA Champions League, per country. Season 2009-2010 , according to FootBiz. In some countries, broadcast regulations referred to as " anti-siphoning laws " exist in order to ensure that coverage of major sporting events of national importance—often covering major events such as

2910-656: The NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal , a subsidiary of Comcast . Founded in Birmingham, Alabama , it is currently based out of NBC Sports' headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut . The channel focuses on coverage of the sport of golf , including live coverage of tournaments, as well as factual and instructional programming. It is the cable television rightsholder of the PGA Tour , LPGA Tour , and PGA European Tour , and also holds rights to selected USGA tournaments and

3007-613: The NCAA Division I golf championships. Since 2016, it has also participated in NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympics , focusing on its golf competitions. Via the Golf Channel unit, Comcast also owns other golf-related businesses, including the course reservation service GolfNow , online golf instruction provider Revolution Golf, and the World Long Drive Championship . Some of these associated properties operate from

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3104-479: The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship . In 2015, it also began to broadcast the NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships . In 2017, Golf Channel extended its rights to the tournaments through 2029. On June 8, 2015, it was announced that NBC Sports had acquired rights to The Open Championship beginning in 2017 under a 12-year deal; after former broadcaster ESPN opted out of the final year of rights, NBC began coverage in 2016 instead. Early round coverage

3201-462: The Times Mirror Company ) to launch the network, which was among the first subscription networks developed to cover one singular sport. Announced in February 1993, the launch date was targeted for May 1994; and it was launched on January 17, 1995, as The Golf Channel with a ceremonial flip of the switch by co-founder Arnold Palmer . The first live tournament the channel televised was

3298-498: The Tribune Company , giving it full ownership. In January 2007, Golf Channel became the exclusive cable broadcaster of the PGA Tour as part of a new 15-year contract, replacing ESPN and USA Network . The contract included early-round coverage of all official money events, and 13 events per-season carried exclusively by the network. By then, Golf Channel had carriage in 75 million homes. It also simplified its branding, dropping

3395-529: The WGC Match Play Championship , when NBC's golf telecasts took on the Golf Channel branding as " Golf Channel on NBC ", in a similar manner to ESPN's co-branding of sports output on ABC . NBC Sports personalities could now appear on Golf Channel, and former NBC Sports senior vice president Mike McCarley took over as the network's new head. The network also adopted an amended logo featuring the NBC peacock . In December 2013, Golf Channel unveiled

3492-709: The World Long Drive Championships ; coverage of its events were subsequently added to the network. In 2017, Golf Channel acquired Revolution Golf, an online provider of golf instructional materials. January 14, 2018, broadcast technicians represented by IATSE went on strike affecting tournament coverage for the Sony Open in Honolulu, Hawaii, Web.com from the Bamahas and Diamond Resorts Invitational in Orlando. Ten days later

3589-546: The article The from its on-air name. Concurrently, Comcast also launched Versus/Golf HD , a 1080i high definition channel featuring programming from Golf Channel and sister network Versus . Golf Channel programming was broadcast during the daytime hours, and Versus programming was broadcast during the evening and primetime hours. This arrangement ended in December 2008, when both networks launched their own 24-hour high-definition simulcasts. In March 2008, Comcast acquired

3686-630: The "Newfoundland" portion after the dominion confederated into Canada in 1949) all the way to CBC's first national television broadcast (the first actual broadcast was on closed-circuit in Maple Leaf Gardens in Spring 1952) of Hockey Night in Canada in October 1952. Today it is consistently among the highest-rated programs in Canada. Broadcasting of the Canadian Football League has been

3783-484: The 1960s. For this reason, as well as the regional nature of the sport, televised NHL games have struggled to gain a foothold on American television for the past several decades, trailing the other leagues in ratings. After several decades of bouncing around various networks (and a stretch from 1975 to 1994 when the league had no permanent broadcast partner), the NHL established a stable broadcast partner in 2004, when NBC and what

3880-446: The 1990s) allowed the carriage of these networks' sporting events across the country. However, with the increased availability of sports to broadcast came increasing rights fees, which could be recovered by the newly authorized practice of collecting retransmission consent fees from cable subscribers, which has led to numerous disputes and the dropping of channels from cable lineups. Individual leagues began launching their own networks in

3977-403: The 2000s; specialty networks of other sports have had varying levels of success. One of the first live high-definition sports broadcasts in the U.S. took place in September 1998 in which a football game between Ohio State and West Virginia , aired on WBNS-TV . The station claims this to have been the first locally produced HD broadcast in the U.S.; however, as several other stations throughout

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4074-621: The 22 October 1939 game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Brooklyn Dodgers . The same year, the first nationwide radio broadcast of an NFL championship game was carried on the Mutual Broadcasting System . While the NFL had weak television deals that ranked behind college football and even the Canadian Football League in the 1950s, the broadcast rights of the NFL would go on to become an important property following

4171-399: The BBC played a dominant role in televising sport, providing extensive high-quality advertisement free coverage and free publicity in exchange for being granted broadcast rights for low fees. ITV broadcast a smaller portfolio of events, and Channel 4 broadcast a few events from the 1980s, mainly horse races and so-called "minority sports". In the early 1990s this arrangement was shaken up by

4268-466: The Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves. As years went by more options were given to the public and the more popular sports broadcasting became. The first voice broadcasters happened, live broadcasting happened, and professional broadcasting happened. More media options became available to the public whether it be on newspapers, radio, or television. As the number of people tuning in increased, so did

4365-603: The CFL's decision, and additional plans have the College Football Playoff National Championship Game returning to broadcast in 2027. Several sports teams in the United States have their own channels, or own shares in other sports networks. For example, the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins own New England Sports Network , which retains the New England area television broadcast rights for

4462-523: The Kansas/Missouri game, distributed in telegraph code but was open to anyone listening to the station. The first voice broadcast of a sporting event took place on 11 April 1921 when Westinghouse station KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania broadcast a 10-round, no decision boxing match between Johnny Dundee and Johnny Ray at Pittsburgh's Motor Square Garden . The event was reported by Florent Gibson,

4559-529: The Olympics, FIFA World Cup , and national team events in culturally-significant sports—are available on free-to-air, terrestrial television, rather than exclusively on pay television. Some larger events (particularly the Olympics) may be covered under rules allowing a portion of the event to be televised by a pay TV partner if a specific minimum of coverage is broadcast free-to-air, or if an extended highlights package

4656-515: The Open), but became unavailable in the country due to their move to USA Network and/or Peacock. Golf Channel Poland ( Polish Golf Channel Polska) is licensed version of the network owned by MWE Networks launched on March 18, 2017. A British version of the channel called Golf Channel UK was operated by sporting goods retailer JJB Sports , and was available on the BSkyB satellite service. It broadcast many of

4753-469: The PGA Tour. That November, it was announced that early-round coverage of the Open Championship, U.S. Open (which moved to Golf Channel after NBC re-acquired the rights to USGA tournaments in 2020), and their women's counterparts, would move to USA Network in 2022. At the 2022 Players Championship , Golf Channel adopted a special logo used on-air during PGA Tour telecasts and studio programming, which

4850-637: The Summer Olympics by covering its golf competitions . It has also carried coverage of the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup alongside NBC, and the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's golf championships. Since its integration with NBC Sports, Golf Channel has been infrequently used as an overflow channel for non-golf programming, including two games of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs (due to programming conflicts with USA Network and CNBC ), and as part of NBC's " Championship Sunday " effort to televise all matches on

4947-470: The UK was an international boxing tournament between England and Ireland from Alexandra Palace on 4 February 1937. The United Kingdom saw the first live television broadcast of a football match, with the BBC showing a specially arranged fixture between Arsenal and Arsenal Reserves on 16 September 1937. The British media is dominated by national outlets, with local media playing a much smaller role. Traditionally

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5044-423: The United States has been a fixture of the major networks on a continuous basis since that time. The NCAA severely restricted broadcasts of college football from the 1950s until a judge ruled that the action was a violation of antitrust rules in 1984 , which allowed for a much greater expansion of college football broadcasting. NBC broadcast the first televised National Football League (NFL) game when they carried

5141-448: The United States. In order to protect Canadian broadcasters' advertising, broadcast stations can invoke simultaneous substitution : any cable or satellite feed of an American station broadcasting the same program as a Canadian broadcast station must be blacked out and replaced by the Canadian feed. This rule is part of the reason the NFL, which is broadcast on terrestrial television in the United States but has no direct presence in Canada,

5238-623: The arrival of pay-TV in the form of BSkyB and its sports channel Sky Sports . Their dedicated sports channels have since become the only place for some major sports to be seen. Starting in 2006, the Irish company Setanta Sports emerged as a challenger to Sky Sports' dominance of the British pay-TV sports market; however, Setanta's UK channel went into bankruptcy administration and off the air in 2009. Between 2009 and 2013 ESPN made an attempt to challenge Sky Sports before its British operations were bought out by Sky's current main competitor, TNT Sports ;

5335-404: The availabilities of where to hear and watch the broadcastings. Sports broadcasting also had an impact to the rise of American citizens being interested in being entertained. As more demand occurred from more sports broadcasters, the programing networks got more advanced with the technology as well. Broadcasting of sports started with descriptions of play sent via telegraph in the 1890s. In 1896,

5432-443: The channel, but continues to license the brand and service marks for Golf Channel from Comcast. Sports television The broadcasting of sports events (also known as a sportscast ) is the live coverage of sports as a television program , on radio , and other broadcasting media. It usually involves one and more sports commentators describing events as they happen. The broadcasting of sports events (also known as

5529-786: The cost of service), and can provide an outlet for expanded coverage of "niche" events with dedicated audiences. By the mid-2000s and early 2010s, most major U.S. sports leagues (barring the National Football League , which has historically stipulated that all games be shown on terrestrial television in at least the markets of the teams involved) had begun to steadily decrease their presence on broadcast television, and allow more of their content (including post-season coverage in many cases) to air on cable networks, and more recently, digital-only outlets. The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and national championship games in college football have also largely moved to cable (since 2016,

5626-504: The country also lay claim to this distinction, the veracity cannot be verified. It is widely considered the first ever live sports game in HD in the U.S. produced using a production truck and transmission vehicle from NHK , Japan 's national public broadcasting organization . The Internet has also allowed greater broadcasting of sports events, both in video and audio forms and through free and subscription channels. With an Internet broadcast, even

5723-565: The coverage. In 2002, Golf Channel lost its rights to the main PGA Tour, but gained rights to the developmental Buy.com Tour . In 2001, Fox sold its 30.9% stake in Golf Channel, as well as its stake in Outdoor Life Network , to minority owner Comcast as part of a larger transaction by Fox to acquire Comcast's stake in Speedvision . In December 2003, Comcast acquired the remaining 8.6% stake of Golf Channel it did not already own from

5820-402: The end of the year, and that its programming was slated to be moved to USA Network and Peacock . In August 2021, it was announced that NBC Sports' technology and digital operations would be re-aligned under the new division NBC Sports Next. Golf Channel Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply "Golf" or "NBC Golf") is an American sports television network owned by

5917-628: The event. In the United Kingdom , Sky UK based its early marketing largely on its acquisition of the broadcast rights of the top division of the English league football , which as part of the deal with The Football Association broke away from The Football League to become the Premier League . This prevented the footage of any major Premier League football game being shown on free-to-air television until much later that evening as highlights, something

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6014-402: The final matchday of the Premier League soccer season. Golf Channel uses a number of people for tournament, news and instructional programming. For the month of October 2013, Golf Channel averaged a daily viewership of 84,000. The Golf Channel is also available in Canada on most cable and satellite providers, as it is authorized for carriage as a foreign cable television service by

6111-476: The first American football game, a college contest between Fordham and Waynesburg College was broadcast on television. The first nationwide broadcast of college football, which was also the first live sporting event seen coast-to-coast, was a game between Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh that was televised by NBC on 29 September 1951. The broadcasting of college football games on television in

6208-530: The first broadcast of a football match took place, with the BBC covering Arsenal's league fixture against Sheffield United at Highbury . Listeners to the broadcast could use numbered grids published in the Radio Times in order to ascertain in which area of the pitch (denoted as "squares") the action was taking place due to a second commentator reading out grid references during the match. The BBC broadcasts almost all major sports events. Initially broadcast as

6305-608: The first full-game broadcast took place in Winnipeg. That same season, hockey broadcasting pioneer Foster Hewitt made his first broadcast. In 1933, Hewitt called an olympic games -wide radio broadcast of an NHL game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs . Always starting the broadcast with "Hello, Canada, and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland !"; this phrase stuck around (albeit without

6402-414: The first sports broadcaster. The first radio broadcast of a baseball game occurred on 5 August 1921 over KDKA from Pittsburgh's Forbes Field . Harold W. Arlin announced a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies . Two months later, on 8 October 1921, from the same Forbes Field, Arlin announced the first live radio broadcast of a college football game on KDKA when he gave

6499-433: The founding of the National Basketball Association , and has been aired on television ever since. College basketball, on the other hand, was much later in gaining a television foothold. Although the NCAA Tournament has aired since 1962, it was not until the mid-1970s that regular-season college basketball games would air on major network television. Outside of the networks, the only other source for national sports television

6596-609: The group. In June 2011, NBC Sports Group purchased back the Alli Sports share held by MTV Networks Music Group in June 2011 and previously sold by NBC Sports to them in 2008. On January 1, 2012, Versus was renamed NBC Sports Network . On December 9, 2012, Yahoo and the NBC Sports Group announced a content and promotional deal combining Yahoo Sports’ original reporting expertise, coverage of big events, Rivals’ college content and popular fantasy sports products with NBC Sports Group's growing digital assets, and significant television promotion and integration. On March 18, 2013, nearly all of

6693-598: The league and event, telecasts are often shown live on network television (traditionally on weekends and during major events — either national through a television network , or in some cases, regionally syndicated by an operation such as Raycom Sports or a team), and nationally available cable channels (such as ESPN or Fox Sports 1 ). In some leagues (such as the NHL and the NBA ), events are also primarily shown by regional sports networks groups (such as Fox Sports Networks ), networks which air telecasts for teams of local interest, which are usually only carried within

6790-413: The league in 2014, offers two weekly games to CBC Television for free to allow the network to continue the long-running Hockey Night in Canada . The CFL's return to broadcast television was part of a broader trend away from cable television and toward over-the-air options, as the NFL had made more of its Monday Night Football games available on broadcast television in the two years leading up to

6887-462: The leagues themselves, resulting in blackouts . These limitations can be legally overlooked by purchasing out-of-market sports packages , such as MLB Extra Innings or NFL Sunday Ticket . Regular season games involving local teams (except the NFL) may also be viewed on those local stations or regional sports channels that have a contract to broadcast that team's games. Events that have been described as "the most watched" per various definitions include

6984-402: The major broadcast networks, currently own some NFL rights. NBC also broadcast an NHL game in 1940; the league would briefly air games in the 1950s, but due to a dispute over how much of the rights fee money the players would receive (and difficulties programming around the two Canadian teams in the league at the time ), the NHL refused to televise its games in the United States for six years in

7081-421: The major team sports and the motorsports circuits operating their own networks. Local radio broadcasts cover a wide variety of sports, ranging from the majors to local school and recreational leagues. Internet broadcasts are also common, though college and major professional sports either use a pay wall or subscriber-based systems such as TV Everywhere to extract payment. Telephone broadcasts are rare, although

7178-471: The majority of Red Sox games (except nationally televised games). The New York Mets own SportsNet New York jointly with Comcast and Time Warner Cable . Madison Square Garden has its own network as well, MSG , where they broadcast New York Rangers , New York Knicks , New York Islanders and high school sports games, as well as original shows. Altitude airs games of all Denver-based teams owned by Kroenke Sports Enterprises. Mid-Atlantic Sports Network

7275-405: The move to Stamford, Golf Channel also ended its long-time morning show Morning Drive , replacing it with the new midday show Golf Today from Stamford beginning January 4, 2021. In 2021, amid the renewal of NBC Sports' rights to the circuit, and the upcoming shutdown of long-time sister network NBCSN (the former Versus), NBCUniversal began to put a greater emphasis on Golf Channel's rights to

7372-464: The network's former home of Orlando, Florida . As of December 2023 , Golf Channel is available to approximately 59,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2012 peak of 85,000,000 households. The idea of a 24-hour golf network came from media entrepreneur Joseph E. Gibbs of Birmingham , Alabama , who first thought of such a concept in 1991. Gibbs felt there

7469-498: The online golf reservation platform GolfNow . It was re-located to Golf Channel's headquarters in Orlando. In January 2011, Comcast acquired a 51% majority stake in NBC Universal from General Electric . As a result of the re-alignment of Comcast's existing properties into NBC Universal, Golf Channel and sister sports network Versus were subsumed by a restructured NBC Sports division. On-air synergies between NBC's existing production unit began to take effect in February 2011 at

7566-405: The operations for NBC Sports and NBCSN began to be based out of a purpose-built facility in Stamford, Connecticut . The move was made mainly to take advantage of tax credits given by the state of Connecticut , which NBC has taken advantage of previously with the daytime talk shows of its sister broadcast syndication division . Telemundo Deportes , a dedicated Hispanic sports production unit,

7663-418: The past several decades, in part because of bidding wars between the numerous networks and the fear of losing stature due to the loss of NFL programming; as of the most recent contract the league nets annual fees of over $ 6 billion, or half of the league's overall revenue, from television rights alone. Four of the five major sports television units in the United States, and the four companies that control all of

7760-576: The play-by-play action of the University of Pittsburgh victory over West Virginia University . On 17 May 1939, the United States' first televised sporting event, a college baseball game between the Columbia Lions and Princeton Tigers , was broadcast by NBC from Columbia's Baker Field . (The world's first live televised sporting event had been the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. ) On 30 September 1939,

7857-440: The programs seen on the U.S. channel, but was unable to attract a viable audience as it offered few live golf tournaments; the channel shut down on December 31, 2007. Since the acquisition of Sky plc by Comcast in late-2018, NBC Sports properties have begun to increase their collaboration with Sky Sports for expanded coverage of relevant events; Golf Channel and Sky Sports Golf trialed on-air talent sharing and co-productions at

7954-541: The relevant market. Additionally, cable channels also exist that are dedicated to specific types of sports, certain college sports conferences, or a specific league. Pay-per-view broadcasts are typically restricted to combat sports such as boxing, mixed martial arts or professional wrestling. Radio broadcasts are extensive. The national leagues each have national network coverage of league high games in addition to local radio coverage originating with each team, with ESPN Radio and WestwoodOne controlling national rights to

8051-410: The results. Those in attendance cheered as though they were watching the game live, including the school's legendary Rock Chalk, Jayhawk cheer. This was followed on Thanksgiving 1919 by the first true broadcast (as opposed to the 1911 point-to-point transmission) of a college football game, over 5XB, the experimental station that eventually became WTAW ; that year's Lone Star Shootout was, as with

8148-454: The room for broadcasting sports events) available on a given set, and also gave channels such as ESPN the ability to broadcast direct and nationwide, as opposed to dealing with local affiliates. Syndication networks gave way to regional sports networks , which carried broadcasts of local sports on a far greater scale than full-service broadcast stations could provide at the time; these combined with out-of-market sports packages (which debuted in

8245-485: The schedule permits, Golf Channel may also provide coverage produced by CBS if weather delays force golf coverage to run past the scheduled window using CBS production staff and graphics. Golf Channel also broadcasts coverage of PGA Tour Champions and Korn Ferry Tour events. Outside of events organized by the PGA Tour, Golf Channel also carries coverage of the European Tour , LPGA Tour , and Asian Tour . Golf Channel

8342-416: The semi-finals of the former only air on broadcast television in odd-numbered years). A similar phenomenon has taken root in much of Canadian sports, where the Canadian Football League left broadcast television in 2008, not to return again until 2024. The National Hockey League survives on Canadian broadcast television because Rogers Sportsnet , the cable broadcaster that acquired exclusive rights to

8439-430: The service, hosting new instructional content for GolfPass, as well as an autobiographical web series. In February 2020, it was reported that Golf Channel would consolidate its television operations with the remainder of NBC Sports at its facilities in Stamford, Connecticut , in a move expected to occur over the next 12 to 18 months. The GolfNow and GolfPass services will continue to primarily operate from Orlando. With

8536-469: The striking workers returned to work after a new contract was ratified on January 24, 2018. In February 2019, Golf Channel announced a new subscription service known as GolfPass. The service will feature a variety of content, including a streaming library of archive content, instructional content, as well as special offers (such as credit for free round of golf per-year, and a premium tier offering additional discounts). Rory McIlroy will also be involved in

8633-510: The title NBC Sports Group, with Dick Ebersol as chairman. Mark Lazarus, formerly the head of Turner Entertainment Group , was named president of NBC Sports Cable Group. Comcast Sports Group president Jon Litner assumed the role of president of Comcast SportsNet and Versus, while former NBC Sports executive vice president Mike McCarley was named president of Golf Channel. John Miller was named executive vice president of NBC Sports and Versus. In May 2011, Lazarus took over for Ebersol as chairman of

8730-737: Was Seán Óg Ó Ceallacháin who broadcast for the Gaelic Games and live commentary weekly beginning in 1930. Many sports were covered in Irish broadcasting including Bridge tournaments. The first sports event broadcast on radio in Europe was a Boxing contest for the Flyweight Championship of Great Britain and Europe between Elky Clark of Scotland and Kid Socks of England. relayed from the National Sporting Club in London on 26 February 1926. Further boxing commentaries were broadcast by

8827-529: Was also announced by Joe Uva, Chairman of NBCUniversal Hispanic Group, and chairman Mark Lazarus at May 2015 Upfronts . Telemundo Deportes was also in process of moving to the NBC Sports Group facility in Stamford. NBC Sports Group formed NBC Sports Films in 2015 for long form sports documentaries for the sports group's platforms. The first film was Center of Attention: The Unreal Life of Derek Sanderson which

8924-853: Was broadcast on NBC Sports Network June 8 after Game 3 of the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals . On October 22, 2015, it was announced that Universal Sports Network would close down on November 16, 2015, and that NBC Sports would inherit the network's portfolio of sports rights for its own networks and channels. The Group launched two channels just for the 2016 Olympic games, NBC Olympic Basketball and NBC Olympic Soccer. In May 2016, NBC Sports Group broke out its streaming technology unit into an entity known as Playmaker Media, to serve other NBCUniversal properties as well as third-party clients (thus competing with BAMTech ). In June 2016, NBC Sports Group launched NBC Sports Gold , an over-the-top streaming service containing subscription-based packages focused on different sports. In July 2016, NBC Sports Group acquired Sport Ngin,

9021-573: Was delivered on RealVideo , a compressed video format, on the RealPlayer media player platform on the station's website. It also was distributed to Windows Mobile mobile devices using the Windows Media Player format, including Compaq 's IPAQ personal digital assistant which required an ExpressCard to connect to the Internet . Broadcasting rights and contracts limit who can show footage of

9118-435: Was enough interest in golf among the public to support such a network, and commissioned a Gallup Poll to see if his instincts were correct. With the support of the polling behind him, Gibbs and legendary golfer Arnold Palmer then secured $ 80 million in financing from several cable television providers (including Adelphia Communications Corporation , Cablevision Industries , Comcast , Continental Cablevision , Newhouse , and

9215-650: Was the cable broadcaster of two of the men's majors , including the U.S. Open and other USGA championships (since June 2020) and the Open Championship (since 2016, including their women's and senior men's events). In November 2021, it was announced that early round coverage of the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, the U.S. Women's Open, and the Women's British Open, would move to USA Network beginning in 2022. Since 2016, it participates in NBCUniversal's coverage of

9312-400: Was then Outdoor Life Network (now NBCSN ) took over NHL broadcast rights; they have since renewed those rights through 2021. The first-ever television broadcast of a basketball game occurred on 28 February 1940 when the University of Pittsburgh defeated Fordham at Madison Square Garden on NBC station W2XBS. Professional basketball has been aired on television since 1953, shortly after

9409-500: Was through early syndication networks. Sports Network Incorporated (SNI), later renamed the Hughes Television Network , carried Cleveland Browns (NFL) games in the 1950s and NHL games in the late 1970s, after the NHL lost its contract with NBC. TVS Television Network helped popularize the broadcasts of college basketball and also gave an outlet to the short-lived World Football League . Mizlou Television Network earned

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