Coverage of the 2010 Open Championship

Let’s go over the coverage for this year’s Open Championship and it’s different than in the past. No more live weekend coverage on ABC. Instead of cable partner TNT, ESPN has taken over four round coverage with taped highlights on ABC on Saturday and Sunday. Not good for those used to seeing this great tournament on over the air TV. Anyway, here’s ESPN’s plans for the tournament which takes place at Old St. Andrews.

ESPN to Present Complete-Round Coverage of The Open Championship from St. Andrews

Production in High Definition for First Time; Includes New Technology

Unprecedented Digital Media and International Coverage

Montgomerie and Mediate Join Coverage Team

For the first time, ESPN will present live complete-round coverage of The Open Championship, celebrating its 150^th anniversary, from St. Andrews Royal & Ancient Golf Club in Fife, Scotland, July 14-18. ESPN’s live Open Championship coverage will be televised Thursday, July 15, and Friday, July 16, from 4 a.m.-3 p.m. ET; Saturday, July 17, from 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; and Sunday, July 18, from 6 a.m.-1:30 p.m.  Live coverage will also be available via ESPN3.com and ESPN Mobile TV.  ESPN Deportes will televise The Open Championship Thursday-Saturday from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

ESPN’s coverage kicks off on Wednesday, July 14 at 10:30 a.m. ET with live coverage of The Open Champions’ Challenge on ESPN, ESPN3.com and ESPN Mobile TV.  The four-hole exhibition will feature 27 of the 32 living champions including Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods and Tom Watson.  SportsCenter at The Open Championship preview show follows at 1 p.m.

Overall, ESPN will televise 93 live hours of the Championship – all available in high definition for the first time – over six days, July 14-19, including Wednesday’s Champions Challenge and SportsCenter preview show, all four rounds (Thursday through Sunday), six hours of encore highlights over the weekend on ABC and the Best of The Open Championship presented by Golf Galaxy shows airing in primetime on ESPN (final round primetime encore airs on ESPN2). The Open Championship Today on Thursday and Friday from 3-6 p.m. will bring viewers up to speed on the morning’s action and conclude with the day’s highlights.

Coverage of The Open Championship will include content across ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, ESPN Deportes, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic, ESPN International, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile Properties, ESPN.com, ESPNDeportes.com and interactive television.  ESPN’s production will include more than 40 cameras that will supplement the world feed.  ESPN will also provide special coverage of the famed 17^th hole at St. Andrews, the “Road Hole,” with live use of “Perfect Path,” which will track the players’ drives.

ESPN’s commentating team will include some of the most notable names in golf that together have amassed 14 major championships. Tom Watson, winner of five Open Championships (eight majors), will join Curtis Strange and Andy North (both two-time winners of the U.S. Open), and Paul Azinger (winner of the ‘93 PGA Championship and 2008 Ryder Cup Captain). Open Champion Tom Weiskopf, the BBC’s Peter Alliss and the 2008 U.S. Open runner up Rocco Mediate will also serve as analysts.  European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie will also join ESPN’s announce team.

Mike Tirico will anchor the telecasts with Scott Van Pelt, Terry Gannon and Sean McDonough serving as hole announcers. North, Bill Kratzert, World Golf Hall of Famer Judy Rankin and Mediate will work as on-course commentators. Tom Rinaldi and Wendi Nix will provide interviews and essays and Rick Reilly will contribute commentary.

Technology

• All programming from St Andrews will air in HD;
• 40 dedicated ESPN Cameras to complement the world feed;
• “Perfect Path,” which tracks drives on the “Road Hole” from behind and in front of the drive;
• “Putt Zone,” showing the path the player needs to hole the putt;
• Strada Crane Camera, the world’s tallest camera crane providing spectacular aerial shots from 10 stories high;
• Touch screens for scoring information and course maps;
• New graphics and animations;
• Enhanced telestrator for analysis.

Features

• Two-time Open Championship winner Seve Ballesteros’ battle with cancer;
• Nick Faldo, 20 years after winning The Open Championship, at St Andrews;
• Five-time Open champion Tom Watson looking back at the 2009 Open Championship, which he lost in a playoff to Stewart Cink;
• The Bunkers at St Andrews;
• The Road Hole.

Digital

• ESPN.com’s coverage will include live analysis from Jason Sobel, expert opinions from writers Bob Harig and Gene Wojciechowski, and features from Wright Thompson. “Digital Drive” will offer exclusive video clips with host Tom Rinaldi and ESPN.com’s golf experts;

• In addition to editorial content, ESPN.com will offer extensive video highlights and analysis, live leaderboards and scoring, the Best Ball Challenge fantasy game, Open Championship Golden Moments films and podcasts.
• ESPN3.com will offer live coverage of all live television windows in addition to four bonus channels including Holes 1 and 18, the 17^th Road Hole, International View.;
• ESPN Mobile TV will provide full coverage, including simulcasts of all television windows, updated leaderboards, extensive video highlights and player hole-by-hole performance, and alerts on the mobile Web and ESPN ScoreCenter applications.
• ESPN will produce The Open Championship Experience, an interactive TV offering available through DirecTV (channels 701-705).  Channels will include ESPN’s live coverage, Holes 1 and 18 and the 17^th Hole (the Road hole) and the International View.  For the first time ever, the U.S. audience will get the opportunity to view English commentary from the BBC produced world feed as part of the International View channel.
• The Virtual Open Championship, a World Golf Tour gaming experience which allows golf fans the opportunity to “play” The Old Course at ESPNArcade.com and Opengolf.com.
• ESPN On Demand will offer official Open Championship films including from the last three Championships from St. Andrews.

International

• Live coverage of all four rounds of The Open Championship will be available on ESPN networks in Latin America (also available in HD), the Caribbean, Israel, Canada and Asia.  In Latin America, the Portuguese announce team will include Marco Antonio Rodrigues and Ricardo Melo; the Spanish announce team will be comprised of Silvia Bertolaccini and Francisco Aleman;
• Live broadband coverage will be available in Latin America on ESPN Play including a simulcast of ESPN’s Latin American television network, Holes 1 and 18, 17th Hole and International View;
• ESPNDeportes.com will provide real-time scores, stories, columns, video highlights and analysis.
• ESPN Extra will offer The Open Championship Mix interactive TV experience for all four rounds available on DirecTV in Latin America.
• ESPN UK will air The Open Highlights nightly at 11 p.m. local, the only highlights show of the championship  available in the UK in high-definition.

That’s it for ESPN’s coverage. More coverage plans coming up after the break.

And we have Golf Channel’s coverage plans.

More than 15 Hours of News Coverage

Live From St. Andrews

ORLANDO, Fla. (July 12, 2010) –Live From St. Andrews, airing this week on Golf Channel, will take viewers inside the ropes at the 139^th Open Championship with more than 15 hours of news reports, inside analysis and features to deliver comprehensive, wrap-around live news coverage of the men’s third major championship of 2010.

Originating from one of golf’s most revered sites, as well as from the network’s Orlando studios, coverage will begin Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET with pre-tournament news conferences.  News conferences will continue Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET, followed by preview shows each evening.  Following tournament coverage Thursday-Sunday, Live From St. Andrews will feature player interviews, highlights and analysis from the team’s panel of reporters and expert analysts.

The Live From St. Andrews broadcast team reporting from a set overlooking The Road Hole will include Steve Sands, Frank Nobilo, Tom Abbott, Ken Schofield, Alex Miceli, Rex Hoggard and Tim Rosaforte.  Todd Lewis, Scott Walker and Charlie Rymer will host the news conferences shows from the network’s studios in Orlando Tuesday and Wednesday.  Kelly Tilghman, Kraig Kann, Rich Lerner, Brandel Chamblee, Peter Oosterhuis, Walker, Lewis and Rymer will anchor the network’s coverage from Orlando Thursday-Sunday, joined by the broadcast team on-site at St. Andrews.  Rymer will use the network’s virtual golf simulator to examine the key holes at St. Andrews, and Lewis and Walker will utilize the network’s touch screens to preview the course.  Nobilo will break down the key shots and moments on-site at St. Andrews each day, and Lerner will deliver his signature essays and several St. Andrews feature stories throughout the week.

GolfChannel.com’s team of writers and the broadcast team will contribute to the network’s popular blogs – Tiger Tracks, Shag Bag and Punch Shots – with entries and posts throughout the week, along with daily columns, features and breaking news.  Rex Hoggard, Jay Coffin and several members of the broadcast team also will post twitter updates throughout the week, which will be re-posted on Golf Channel.com’s twitter feed.

A sampling of scheduled Live From St. Andrews features include:

·         Nobilo Takes on St. Andrews: Golf Channel analyst Frank Nobilo scouts the holes at St. Andrews prior to the start of the tournament in segments that will air throughout the week.

·         Tiger Woods at St. Andrews – Golf Channel will examine Woods’ record-breaking victory at the 2000 Open Championship, when he won by eight shots.

·         Lerner and St. Andrews – Rich Lerner will go in-depth for several feature stories on historic St. Andrews throughout the week. 

Live From St. Andrews TV Times (all times ET)

Tuesday, July 13:                    2-4 p.m. (News Conferences)

                                                6-7 p.m. (Golf Central)

Wednesday, July 14:               2-4 p.m. (News Conferences)

                                                6-8 p.m.

Thursday, July 15:                   7-9 p.m.

Friday, July 16:                       7-9 p.m.

Saturday, July 17:                   7-9 p.m.

Sunday, July 18                      1:30-2 p.m.

                                                7-9 p.m.

And we’re done.