After LIV Golf failed to secure a TV deal for its inaugural season in 2022, its tournaments were broadcast free on YouTube. It has now been announced that the remaining events in the current League season will also be broadcast on the platform, albeit with a significant difference in some markets.
Starting with the LIV Golf DC tournament, viewers will be able to watch the action on YouTube in the US, Canada, Mexico and South Korea for $3 per day. Meanwhile, in the UK, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Japan, fans will be able to stream the tournaments free of charge on the platform.
The reason why it is necessary to pay in some countries and not others is because in the markets where payment is needed, LIV has broadcast deals and paywalls ensure those contracts are protected.
In January, LIV Golf announced a multi-year TV deal with The CW Network ensuring live coverage of the action on Saturdays and Sundays on both TV and on CW Network app in the US, with coverage on Friday available only through the app.
That arrangement is unaffected by the move, while fans will still be able to watch the action through the LIV Golf Plus app.
LIV Golf's Chief Media Officer Will Staeger explained coverage is returning the YouTube to reach as many fans as possible. He said: “Expanding the availability of LIV Golf’s live coverage on YouTube marks another milestone in the innovative ways in which we are making our groundbreaking competition available to viewers.
"LIV Golf is a global league comprised of some of the game’s biggest stars, and this supports our goal of bringing the sport we love to more people in more places around the world.”
There have been teething problems with The CW Network’s broadcasting of LIV Golf events, notably during the most recent in Tulsa, where the US station pulled coverage before its thrilling finale, which saw Dustin Johnson secure victory over Cameron Smith and Branden Grace in a playoff.
The CW Network has since vowed to avoid a repeat of that gaffe. Meanwhile, it has also been reported that LIV Golf has stopped releasing viewing figures of its tournaments via the broadcaster.
This week's tournament at Washington DC's Trump National Golf Club sees PGA Champion Brooks Koepka in action as he looks for his third win on the circuit. Following that, the action moves on to Valderrama in Spain at the end of June.
