Editing The Open Championship (section)

===United States===
[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] began broadcasting the Open in 1962, with taped highlights on [[Wide World of Sports (U.S. TV series)|Wide World of Sports]].<ref name="NYT">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/sports/golf/nbc-expected-to-announce-12-year-deal-to-televise-the-british-open.html|title=NBC Announces 12-Year Deal to Televise the British Open|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|date=8 June 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=18 January 2019|archive-date=19 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119230858/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/sports/golf/nbc-expected-to-announce-12-year-deal-to-televise-the-british-open.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In the pre-digital age the coverage had to be converted from the U.K.'s [[PAL]] colour encoding system, to the U.S.'s [[NTSC]], which meant picture quality could be impacted, especially in the early years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.paradiso-design.net/TVsystems_worldwide.html|title=Color subcarrier and other characteristics of the different NTSC, PAL and SECAM Television Standards compared worldwide.|website=paradiso-design|access-date=18 January 2019|archive-date=19 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419155821/http://www.paradiso-design.net/TVsystems_worldwide.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The coverage expanded over the years, and as is common in America, there was a different early round rights holder, which was [[ESPN]] until 2003 when [[TNT (U.S. TV network)|TNT]] took over. Co-owned [[ESPN]] became responsible for ABC's sports coverage in 2006; it won the rights to cover all four days of the championship in 2010, and concurrently moved coverage to its channels. The Open became the first golf major to be covered exclusively on [[pay television]] in America, as ESPN left only highlights for its partner broadcast network.

After losing the rights to the [[U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open]] in 2015, [[NBC]] bid aggressively to win the rights to the Open, and become a broadcaster of a [[Men's major golf championships|golf major]] again.<ref name="NYT" /> NBC also had a track record of broadcasting European sporting events successfully in the morning U.S. time with the [[Premier League]], [[Formula One]], and [[The Championships, Wimbledon|"Breakfast at Wimbledon"]], and was able to place early round coverage on its subsidiary [[Golf Channel]].<ref name="sbj-nbcbritishopen">{{cite journal|last1=Ourand|first1=John|last2=Lombardo|first2=John|date=8 June 2015|title=NBC, Golf Channel ending ABC/ESPN British Open reign|url=http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/06/08/Media/British-Open.aspx|journal=Sports Business Journal|access-date=8 June 2015|archive-date=8 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150608204631/http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/06/08/Media/British-Open.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="SBD NBC"/> NBC won the rights from 2017 to 2028.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Myers|first=Alex|date=18 May 2016|title=You won't believe how many hours of British Open coverage NBC/Golf Channel will show|url=https://www.golfdigest.com/story/you-wont-believe-how-many-hours-of-british-open-coverage-nbcgolf-channel-will-show|magazine=Golf Digest|access-date=2018-12-17|archive-date=17 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181217203048/https://www.golfdigest.com/story/you-wont-believe-how-many-hours-of-british-open-coverage-nbcgolf-channel-will-show|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="NBC"/> ESPN also sold them the rights for 2016.<ref name="sbj-nbcopenearly">{{cite news|url=http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/10/12/Media/NBC-Open.aspx|title=NBC getting British Open a year early|last=Ourand|first=John|date=12 October 2015|work=Sports Business Journal|access-date=12 October 2015|archive-date=12 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151012184116/http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/10/12/Media/NBC-Open.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>

The 2019 edition of the Open Championship had a total of 49 hours of coverage in the United States, with 29 hours being on Thursday and Friday, and 20 hours being on Saturday and Sunday; the Golf Channel cable network had a total of 34 hours of coverage, with 29 hours on Thursday and Friday, and 5 hours on Saturday and Sunday. The NBC broadcast network had a total of 15 hours of coverage on the weekend, with 8 hours Saturday, and 7 hours Sunday. The 49 total hours of coverage on Golf Channel and NBC is down 30 minutes from 2018; the difference is that NBC's Sunday coverage is down 30 minutes, from 7.5 hours in 2018, to 7 hours in 2019.

====Timeline of U.S. broadcasting rights====
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="font-size:95%"
! scope="col" |Period
!Broadcaster
!Rights fee per annum
|-
|1962–2009
|[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
|Varies
|-
|2010–2015
|[[ESPN]]
|$25.0m
|-
|2016{{efn|name=ESPNsold|ESPN sold the rights to NBC for an undisclosed fee}}
| rowspan="2" |[[NBC]]
|$25.0m{{efn||name=ESPNsold}}
|-
|2017–2028
|$50.0m
|}
<small>Ref:<ref name="SBD NBC">{{Cite news|url=https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/06/08/Media/British-Open.aspx|title=NBC, Golf Channel ending ABC/ESPN British Open reign|last=Ourand|first=John|date=8 June 2015|work=Sports Business Daily|access-date=18 January 2019|archive-date=20 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820022302/https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/06/08/Media/British-Open.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref></small>