PGA Bans Live Streaming Apps

The PGA is the latest sporting association to ban live streaming using apps like Meerkat and Periscope.  Anyone found to be streaming from this week’s U. S. Open golf tournament at the Chambers Bay golf course in University Place, Washington, will be immediately banished from the grounds.  While streaming apps gained in popularity during the big Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, a stream of the U. S. Open is far different.  I think the PGA is overreacting to the situation but if you plan to attend the tournament using a streaming app isn’t worth getting booted.

Chambers Bay golf course - US Open

This isn’t the first time the PGA has come down hard on live streaming.  They pulled the credentials of golf blogger, Stephanie Wei, for using Periscope to show Jordan Spieth teeing off in a practice round at the Cadillac World Golf Championship at TPC Harding Park just a few weeks ago.  She had her PGA Tour credentials pulled for the rest of the season.  The way that PGA Tour chief marketing officer Ty Votaw sees it Wei was stealing when she streamed unauthorized video from the practice round.  I don’t understand why the PGA would want to pull a reporters credentials for live streaming a practice round that wasn’t going to be broadcast anyway.  She was helping to promote the sport.

Live streaming isn’t anything new.  Sites like Ustream and JustinTV have been around for years.  Yet the new easy to use apps have drawn a new wave of attention to live streaming.  Perhaps it’s the timing with the apps gaining in popularity as the latest Game of Thrones season kicked off along with the new HBO NOW streaming service.  A few reports of fans using Periscope to live stream the show certainly drew the attention of HBO.  They were quick to respond and blame Twitter for not proactively preventing such actions from occurring.  The normal DMCA takedown procedure wasn’t good enough.  Yet another reason to complain about the possibility of lost profits.  I don’t guess HBO will be sharing the cost savings of having their own streaming service (HBO NOW) with customers.  Nope, didn’t think so, but don’t you dare use Periscope to stream GoT.

Back to the topic at hand, PGA’s ban of live streaming.  I can kind of understand why they wouldn’t want people using apps like Periscope (now owned by Twitter) and Meerkat to share live streams of the tournament.  Broadcasters pay top dollar to cover the event.  Yet I still can’t see a personal live stream coming close to the quality you could get for free from one of the PGA’s streaming options this weekend.  If you are lucky enough to be heading to the U. S. Open this weekend feel free to bring your phone but don’t try to live stream the event.

If you plan on traveling during the tournament and want to make sure you don’t get geo-blocked I suggest using a Smart DNS service.  It will help you access channels around the world without any IP-based regional restrictions.  You can follow us @SmartDNSFan to learn more about Smart DNS and keep up with the latest streaming news.