You know what I’m tired of? Waking up in the mornings with my 3 year-old, turning on the TV, flipping to the Golf Channel and finding yet another infomercial. Some days I flip to the channel a couple of times and that’s all I see.
Take, for example, today. How does it possibly make sense to have an hour of Golf Central, followed by three hours of “product showcase?” Couldn’t they at least show repeats of Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf? Wouldn’t it make sense to show more of the European Tour during Sunday morning?
No wonder the channel has struggled in Canada.
Despite having the PGA Tour events, in many ways the GC has become less relevant than ever for me.
A bestselling author and award-winning columnist, Robert Thompson has been writing about business and sports, and particularly golf, for almost two decades. His reporting and commentary on golf has appeared in 
The only time I even consider putting this channel on my TV is Thursday and Friday afternoon.
I also would not even have it if it were not part of the Rogers package for which I pay.
I do not believe in paying to watch advertisements.
I agree…
However, if they put their broadcast on HD, all will be forgiven.
Mr T,
What is your take on the broadcast of LPGA Nabisco? It was shown on ESPN2 and the first 3 rounds were not picked up by any Canadian channel. The last round was shown on CBS but only on standard definition.
I watched part of the LPGA telecast. I still find women’s golf on TV less than compelling, though in person I really enjoy it. That said, what you are pointing out KC is the difficulty the LPGA continues to have in generating viewers, even when they are up against a poor PGA Tour event.
The decline in the quality of TGC over the years is astounding. When I first got it — I think in 1999 or so — it was on all the time in my house. Viewer’s Forum, Golf Talk Live, major championship official films, etc., all seemed very entertaining. Then they started with the junky stuff like The Big Break and other info-tainment/reality shows and went downhill. You would think that adding early-round PGA coverage would have brought them back, but they way they handle it with Tilghman and Faldo in the booth means I don’t ever watch it any more, because I cannnot stand their commentary. Now on the Euro Tour coverage, they have an announcer in an Orlando studio doing voiveovers on the Euro TV feed, instead of letting us hear what Warren Humphries, Julian Tutt, Ken Brown and the others on-site are saying. Unbelieveable!
Given all that, some of the infomercials are among the best things they air, which tells you how far they have fallen.
I think TGC programming is available in HD, but it’s not being picked up in Canada. Either that or my lousy provider (Cogeco cable) just isn’t making it available in my area. Given the fact that I can’t even get The Score and Raptors TV in HD, I’m not holding out hope for TGC in HD anytime soon.
As far as TGC programming goes – I was just talking about this the other day. Why not at least do a weekend re-broadcast of the PGA tour coverage from Thursday and Friday? Maybe it comes down to simple economics – perhaps they’re actually making more off of infomercials than they would if they showed golf (ironically, on the GOLF channel).
Hey dsl,
I believe you are right – TGC in HD is not being picked up in Canada as a whole. I have contacted Rogers Cable about both the Golf Channel and Speed TV which are both offered inHD – they say it is down to the CRTC.