New Zealand's rising presence in world golf will return to a wider audience next year when the rights-holding Coliseum Sports Media (CSM) complete a deal with Sky Television.
CSM won exclusive rights last year to broadcast the PGA, LPGA, European, Champions and Web.com tours online but, after an assessment of the deal, they will sell some of those rights back to Sky.
Subscriber numbers had been strong but some found the online transition difficult.
"We have a lot of golf on there, more golf than people can watch, and having some that people are not watching does not serve anyone," said CSM chief executive Tim Martin.
"We would like watchers to have access through other channels for the good of the game and that seems a really fair call to us.
"I would think early next year we would agree some rights with Sky, or whomever might be interested."
The intent is there from all parties and I'd say it is a really good chance."
Martin thought CSM, who have rights to one major, the PGA Championship, would sell certain events or tours to a successful bidder.
They would probablylikely continue to show women's world No 1 Lydia Ko's talents to a wider, younger audience who could not afford pay television but could access her workexploits through the online. system.
"How do you show a 15-year-old free Lydia Ko? You can't, but we can and we are.
"Every time Lydia defends a title, we are making that live and free through the internet," Martin said. "We also accept it is not fair to take out all the existing golf audience because those guys who can't make the transition shouldn't be held to ransom to do so and that's the juggling act."
"Maybe we ran a bit far in the first year. We have had great feedback from New Zealand Golf, who have made it clear they would like some golf back on some other platforms, and I think we have listened to that and we are going to."
- Wynne Gray
