Approved application: The Open Championship 2022-24

Ofcom has given its consent to a request from Sky to broadcast exclusive live coverage of the Open Championship in 2022, 2023 and 2024 (“the Open”).

Coverage of the Open will be broadcast by Sky on its Sky Sports Golf and Main Event channels. In addition, the BBC has the rights to broadcast television highlights on BBC One and BBC Two. The BBC also has the national radio rights and intends to broadcast coverage on Radio 5 Live and Radio 5 Sports Extra.

The Open Championship is a Group B Listed Event for the purposes of the Broadcasting Act 1996. Ofcom's consent is needed to broadcast exclusive live television coverage of the Open (see section 101 of the Broadcasting Act 1996). If a second broadcaster, in this case the BBC, has adequate secondary coverage of a Group B listed event then Ofcom can issue automatic consent to broadcast without consultation.

Having considered the information supplied by Sky, and supplementary information provided by the BBC, Ofcom has decided to grant automatic consent to Sky's request. Where certain minimum requirements are met, Ofcom can grant consent automatically for Group B events. Details of these minimum requirements are set out in the Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events (PDF, 71.2 KB) (see paragraphs 1.18 to 1.21).