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Golf Channel (originally "The Golf Channel" from 1995 to 2007) is an American cable and satellite television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal. The channel focuses on coverage of the sport of golf. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, the channel's headquarters and studios are currently located in Orlando, Florida. Golf Channel is available in the United States, Canada and a few nations in Asia and Latin America through cable, satellite and wireless transmissions. As of February 2015, Golf Channel is available to approximately 79,250,000 pay television households (68.1% of households with television) in the United States. == History and programming == The network was launched in 1995, with a ceremonial flip of the switch by co-founder Arnold Palmer on January 17.〔(Winfrey, Lee. "Golf Channel tees off Tuesday, joining History Channel as new cable fare" ), Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, January 16, 1995. Retrieved February 28, 2011 from HighBeam Research.〕 The idea of a 24-hour golf network came from media entrepreneur Joseph E. Gibbs of Birmingham, Alabama, who first thought of such a concept in 1991. Gibbs felt there was enough interest in golf among the public to support such a network, and commissioned a Gallup Poll to see if his instincts were correct. With the support of the polling behind him, Gibbs and legendary golfer Palmer then secured $80 million in financing to launch the network, which was among the first cable networks developed to cover one singular sport. Announced in February 1993, the launch date was targeted for May 1994;〔 it went on the air in early 1995. The first live tournament the channel televised was the Dubai Desert Classic, held January 19–22. Originally a premium channel on cable with limited subscribers, it retooled in September 1995 to be part of basic cable to reach more viewers and ratings rapidly increased. Co-founder Gibbs stepped down at the end of 2001.〔 Golf Channel features a range of golf programming, including PGA Tour, European Tour, LPGA Tour, Champions Tour and Web.com Tour events. PGA Tour tournament purses grew from $ 1-3 million in 1994 to $5–8 million in 2005. The channel devotes considerable time to news coverage of golf, including a nightly program, ''Golf Central''. There are highlight shows of past tournaments, and a reality television competition show, ''The Big Break'', whose premise is to help aspiring professionals gain exemptions into PGA Tour and LPGA events. In 2005, Golf Channel helped set up a special match play event called Big Stakes Golf, in which teams of two paid a $100,000 entry fee to play in a special tournament where the winning team split a $3,000,000 first-place prize, the largest in golf history. In the end, mini-tour professionals Garth Mulroy and David Ping won the grand prize. In 2007, Golf Channel embarked on a 15-year agreement as the exclusive cable television home for the PGA Tour. The network’s annual coverage features early-round coverage of the entire FedEx Cup season, including the World Golf Championships, The Tour Championship and The Players Championship. In total, early-round coverage of 30 events airs on Golf Channel. Also included in the package are 13 full, four-round events, which are generally the season-opening events after The Tour Championship until the week after the NFL Conference Championships (usually the Phoenix Open). The network also provides full coverage of three tournaments played opposite golf's majors and World Golf Championships. Every PGA Tour event airs live and is then rebroadcast in prime time, a first for the PGA Tour. In January 2011, Comcast, the current owner of Golf Channel, acquired a 51% majority stake in NBC Universal from General Electric. As a result of the re-alignment of Comcast's existing properties into NBC Universal, control of Golf Channel and sister sports network Versus was transferred to a restructured NBC Sports division. On-air synergies between NBC's existing production unit began to take effect in February 2011 at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, when golf telecasts on NBC took on Golf Channel's production and branding as "Golf Channel on NBC", in a similar manner to ESPN's co-branding of sports output on ABC. NBC Sports personalities could now appear on Golf Channel, and former NBC Sports senior vice president Mike McCarley took over as the network's new head. The network also adopted an amended logo featuring the NBC peacock. In December 2013, Golf Channel unveiled a new logo, implemented in May 2014 to coincide with the 2014 Players Championship. The new logo replaces the "swinging G" emblem that had been used since the network's launch with a wordmark alongside the NBC peacock. On June 8, 2015, it was announced that NBC Sports had acquired rights to The Open Championship beginning in 2016 (originally 2017) under a 12-year deal. Early round coverage will be aired by Golf Channel, which will mark the first time ever that Golf Channel has ever broadcast one of the four Men's major golf championships.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/06/08/Media/British-Open.aspx )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Golf Channel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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