Golf

BBC lose live rights to Masters weekend from 2020

All four days of the Masters will be broadcast live on Sky Sports’ dedicated golf channel

Tiger Woods celebrates with the Masters trophy during the green jacket ceremony at Augusta National in April. Photograph: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Tue Nov 19 2019 - 19:20

BBC has lost its live rights to the Masters, with subscription channel Sky Sports securing exclusive rights in the UK.

No live coverage from the Masters will be shown on terrestrial TV in the UK for the first time in 57 years.

Augusta National and the BBC had signed “a multi-year” contract two years ago which gave them rights to go head to head with Sky for the third and fourth rounds of the Masters, over the weekend.

But as of 2020, all four days of the Masters will be broadcast live on Sky Sports’ dedicated golf channel, with associated coverage on Sky Sports News and Sky Sports’ social and digital platforms. This is the deal Sky have been aiming for since beginning their live coverage of the famous golf Major in 2011.

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Along with live coverage of the Saturday and Sunday’s action, the BBC had broadcast highlights from Thursdays and Fridays. The British public broadcaster first broadcast the Masters in 1963.

This year free-to-air viewers were able to watch Tiger Woods produce a scintillating finish to win a fifth Masters title and end an 11-year wait to claim a 15th major. Twelve months on, and they will only be able to access highlights on BBC, following the conclusion of each day's play.

Tiger Woods