Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast, is the recipient of an open letter from veteran golf journalist Geoff Shackelford. In his newsletter, The Quadrilateral, Shackelford writes that the best thing Roberts and his company could do for the sport would be to sell the Golf Channel.
“This is about the television boondoggle that’s becoming the new normal under Comcast: NBC juggling golf audiences around to push the Peacock app,” he writes to explain the letter to his audience. “Throw in cuts and it’s all very bad for a sport so heavily relying on one corporation that increasingly seems bothered to spend and uphold its contractual obligations.”
Shackelford acknowledge’s Roberts’ passion for golf, but writes that Comcast’s streaming-centric strategy is not a fit for the sport. He calls golf “a background sport” and notes that while nearly 5 million watched the final round of The Open Championship on television, it was streamed by just over 160,000.
That is about the end of the niceties. From there, Shackelford declares that Comcast doesn’t belong in the content business and sneaks in a shot regarding the shuddering of NBCSN while suggesting that the Golf Channel be handed over to the PGA Tour.
Geoff Shackelford closes his letter by acknowledging golf’s resurgence amongst players. He notes that the pandemic has forced more people to take up outdoor recreation, including golf. Ideally, that should lead to more interest in watching golf on TV.
“The Golf Channel and its surrounding business interests should be enjoying residual success instead of losing share to upstart influencers on YouTube.”
