Sky TV has lost the right to broadcast some major golf tournaments, a year after losing the full rights to show English Premier League football games.
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The pay-television operator announced yesterday it failed in its bid to renew the rights to the US PGA golf, European PGA golf and PGA Asian Tour golf.
Sky still has the exclusive rights to the US Masters, British Open and Australian Open tournaments for 2015.
In a press statement, chief financial officer Jason Hollingworth played down the loss of golf, saying in 2013, those properties represented 1.1% of the total viewers on all Sky channels.
During the period of the PGA gold negotiations, Sky was successful in renewing its rights to New Zealand cricket, A-League Football, New Zealand Rugby League, IPL Cricket, two ESPN sports channels and a cycling package, including the Tour de France.
In August last year, Sky lost the full rights of EPL football to newcomer Coliseum Sports but later signed a deal with four clubs to show delayed coverage of home and away Premier League games.
At the time, the network said it had lost only a small proportion of its 800,000 subscribers from the loss of the rights.
However, Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms said there were warning signs in the market for Sky.
In Australia, Foxtel announced on Friday it would reduce the cost of its basic package as part of a strategy to increase its subscriber base and head off increasing online competition.
''The fact the established player in Australia has cut prices by this much is an ominous warning to Sky TV about how this sector may play out over many years.''
Sky TV had a superior position in the New Zealand market. However, the new deal in Australia would mean for $A50 ($NZ56.30) a month, subscribers would get an entertainment pack of 40 channels, plus sport.
That was significantly cheaper than Sky was offering in New Zealand, Mr Timms said.
From a golfer's point of view, the loss of PGA tournaments would mean people looking at other options to find golf coverage.
Tournaments such as the BMW Challenge and the Ryder Cup were popular with New Zealand golfers, including him, he said.
