European Tour Productions (ETP), in conjunction with IMG Media, produces and distributes coverage of The Ryder Cup, The Open as well as all European Tour, Senior Tour and Challenge Tour events. Rufus Hack (Chief Content Officer), Stu Nicol (Managing Director, European Tour Live Television) and Richard Bunn (Head of Media Rights & Programming) oversee ETP with Rupert Hampel leading the IMG Media team of 70 staff based out of Stockley Park. In this capacity, ETP has produced the live coverage for hundreds of European Tour events around the world including The Open since 2016 and for The Ryder Cup since 1995 working alongside Sky Sports in the UK and NBC Golf Channel as producer of the US coverage. ETP’s and Sky’s coverage of The 2012 Ryder Cup from Medinah was awarded a prestigious Broadcast Award for best sports production of the year and ETP and Sky also received a BAFTA for best sports production in recognition of their innovative coverage of The 145th Open at Royal Troon.
Working via a series of contracts with CTV as its Outside Broadcast facilities supplier, ETP has developed a custom-built fleet of trucks which can be scaled to suit the needs of a regular Tour event all the way up to a Major Championship or The Ryder Cup. At the same time, ETP has developed a skilled, full-time staff of dedicated golf production personnel who work exclusively on golf rotating amongst the various key job functions. ETP’s golf production experts work with CTV’s engineering team and a carefully selected freelance pool of camera operators and other specialists who travel with the European Tour officials and players from week to week. The World Feed is made available to 40 broadcasters around the world including Sky Sports in the UK and The Golf Channel in the US with Sky adding their own commentary and presentation.
ETP has also forged a strong reputation for creative short form content over the last 2 years adapting its output from traditional magazine and highlights programmes to eye-catching, creative content suitable for modern media consumption across multiple platforms. Audience figures across the Tour’s digital platforms and 3rd party digital and social outlets have been impressive.
The best golf coverage is a product of strong leadership, teamwork and experience. ETP’s team has established these qualities over the last 25 years. A production team in any sport is only as strong as its weakest link and this is particularly true in golf which requires skilled personnel throughout the team in the sub-mix (recording) area through to the scoring / graphics team, engineering staff and on-course personnel. ETP’s team also has great strength in depth with 8 staff members who have direct experience of sitting in the main producer and director chairs at European Tour events.
