(Bloomberg) — Nexstar Media Group Inc.’s CW Network will be the television and streaming home of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series under a new multiyear agreement starting this season.
(Bloomberg) — Nexstar Media Group Inc.’s CW Network will be the television and streaming home of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series under a new multiyear agreement starting this season.
The parties announced the deal in a statement Thursday, confirming earlier reports that they were close to an agreement that would give the controversial golf league access to a wider US audience. The CW Network and LIV Golf will share advertising revenue, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed publicly.
LIV Golf, which debuted last year, has recruited some of the world’s best golfers, luring them away from the PGA Tour with large upfront payments and plunging the golf world into a big legal battle. But LIV Golf tournaments last year aired only on YouTube and the league’s own website, where the audience was smaller and less desirable to potential advertisers. The deal with CW Network will open up a path where LIV Golf could possibly start making money.
Nexstar, the largest owner of TV stations in the US, acquired majority control of the CW from Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. and Paramount Global last year. Nexstar management has said they want to reprogram the network, dialing back on expensive scripted dramas and finding content more in tune with the network’s average viewer, who is 58 years old. Golf also skews to an older viewing audience.
In the statement, CW Network President Dennis Miller said the deal marks “a significant milestone in our goal to re-engineer the network” and the first time in the channel’s 17-year history that it is the exclusive broadcaster of a major sport.
The deal comes as LIV and PGA are embroiled in a bitter antitrust fight in federal court in California. LIV sued PGA for allegedly engaging in monopolistic behavior by using restrictive contracts intended to deprive the upstart of top golfers. The PGA countersued, accusing LIV of competing unfairly by luring players with millions of dollars to breach their contracts. A judge overseeing the case is currently weighing whether Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and its Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan can be forced to provide documents and testimony in the case, which is scheduled to go to trial in early 2024.
A separate lawsuit filed by LIV in Washington is also brewing over whether the PGA’s public-relations firm should be required to hand over its communications with another client — a group of families of 9/11 victims who’ve been critical of the Saudi circuit — to be used as possible evidence that the PGA is trying to undermine LIV’s reputation. A judge is expected to rule soon on LIV’s request to force the PR firm to comply with its subpoena.
–With assistance from Erik Larson.
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