Direct TV PGA Championship Coverage at Kiawah Island

[GolfSpy Dave]

Go this little message/advert from Direct TV. Does anyone have experience with the Direct TV coverage and apps? How far are we from getting to select the player to follow through a round?

PGA Championship Experience

 

DIRECTV is teaming up with CBS Sports and TNT, to provide golf fans expanded live coverage of the 2012 PGA Championship, the final major golf tournament of the year, Aug. 9-12.

 

DIRECTV's exclusive PGA Mix Channel (701) will offer four channels – all in HD and on one screen – so viewers can get a more in-depth look at the game's best players as they test their wits, skill and creativity against one of the country's toughest courses, the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island in South Carolina. Viewers can watch all four channels at the same time, or click and tune in directly to: the TNT/CBS network (702), the Marquee Group, (703), Featured Holes (704) and Players in Depth (705). All compliments of DIRECTV.

 

Viewers of the Mix, feature channels and network feed will also have access to an interactive menu of features that will take fans inside the game. At the click of the remote they can immediately select: Top Five Leaders, The Leaderboard, and Scorecard with hole-by-hole player stats and real-time scores. The app will be available 24 hours a day, throughout the tournament on the HD Mix channel and on the network and extra channels when they are available.

 

DIRECTV has provided expanded live coverage and interactive apps for every major golf tournament, including The Masters, the U.S. Open, The Open Championship, and the PGA Championship.

[Will Par]

I don't have DirectTV but this sounds similar to what the Masters offered live online. Since network coverage didn't start until 3pm or so, you could go to Masters.com at 1PM and watch a featured group live or Amen Corner live. Not sure if this was offered every day, but I know it was offered Saturday and Sunday. The featured group would be a high profile group that wasn't in contention (the leaders hadn't teed off yet) or you could watch whoever was playing Amen Corner. I think the PGATour also offers live online coverage.

 

Since there are cameras on almost every hole for most majors, the only limitation is having broadcasters for whatever is being broadcast, and bandwidth for the channels offered. It sounds possible to someday being able to select the group you want to watch if bandwidth (having enough channels) is available.

 

In the case of the PGA, coverage starts at 1PM. Once network coverage starts, I would prefer to be watching the leaders and doubt I would watch any of the alternate offerings. But I did watch Amen Corner online on my computer prior to TV coverage and it was great.

[RoverRick]

I do not have dish but my cable company has some additional coverage on Sat and Sun. I do not know what it is but there are two additional channels that normally do not have it on there, Look at the cable guide you may find it on yours, because my cable company does not do much out of the goodness of their hearts.