Sky Sports are set take over live coverage of the Open Championships in 2016 after the BBC asked to be released from their contract a year early.
The BBC had been expected to provide coverage of the 145th Open Championship at Royal Troon in 2016.
However, the R&A has now confirmed that it has been approached by the BBC to discuss releasing the broadcaster from its contract to cover the 2016 event.
The R&A said it had accepted the BBC's request and that Sky Sports has now agreed to provide coverage of the event a year ahead of schedule. The BBC will continue to broadcast highlights and provide radio coverage of the Open in 2016
The R&A is now in the process of sourcing a new production partner to produce the world feed in the BBC’s absence.
It confirmed that no additional revenue will be received by The R&A in 2016 as a result of this new arrangement.
Martin Slumbers, chief executive of The R&A, said: “We are looking forward to world-class coverage of The Open from our partners at Sky Sports and are grateful that they have stepped in a year early.
“It is sad to see the BBC’s live coverage of The Open end and I know some fans will be disappointed. The relationship between The R&A and the BBC spans more than 60 years and we understand the challenging circumstances that the BBC is currently presented with.
“I know the BBC will produce compelling highlights, which will be enjoyed by a large prime-time audience.
"We are committed to delivering a spectacular edition of The Open next year at Royal Troon and working with both Sky Sports and the BBC we will ensure compelling coverage for millions of fans throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here