Sky and BBC keep Ryder Cup until 2013

[BGonaSTICK]

Sky and the BBC have further bolstered their golf coverage by securing the rights to screen the Ryder Cup and PGA European Tour for four years from 2009. The deal, agreed in principle but still subject to final negotiation, comes after the European Tour attempted to drive up the price by unbundling the Ryder Cup from the run-of-the-mill tour events.

Sky will offer live coverage of the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor, Wales, as well as the 2012 US-hosted edition at Medinah, and the BBC will show highlights of the two tournaments.

Sky also retains the rights to live coverage of the bulk of the European Tour, with the BBC hanging on to the handful of high-profile events it screens live, a crucial part of the deal given the tour's reliance on sponsorship fees. The BBC is understood to pay a minimal rights fee, trading instead on the exposure given to sponsors by terrestrial coverage that the tour cannot afford to turn down.

This week's Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, for example, will receive blanket coverage from the BBC, which has thrown back rights to a good-quality meeting at Ascot on Saturday to stay with the golf. The coverage was one of the factors in Barclays' recent decision to sign a deal extending its sponsorship to 2012. The BBC has also hung on to the Masters, despite interest from Sky.