Getty Image / David Cannon
You’d think a tournament that prides itself on being open to all of the world’s golfers like the US Open would pride itself on being easily accessible to watch. It just makes sense.
But, that was not the case on Thursday during the first round of the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst No.2 in North Carolina. Much of the afternoon action was behind a paywall on the NBC streaming app, Peacock, and viewers were furious.
Live coverage was on USA Network, a sister network of NBC, as both are owned by Comcast, from 6:30AM to 5 PM. But, as players like Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy were making the turn to the back nine at 5PM ET, coverage went off the air on USA Network. Instead, it moved behind Peacock, which starts at $5.99 a month. There aren’t any free trial options, either, so if you want to watch, you’ve got to pay.
I’m not going to debate the merits of paying for streaming services, but there are plenty that refuse. And, they were pretty ticked off that they couldn’t watch the US Open the way they normally have, on cable or over-the-air television.
Shoutout to Peacock. I want to fire this app into the sun.
Primetime. Let’s put the U.S. Open behind a paywall.
Some business decisions baffle me.
Had to get that off my chest.
— Jared Doerfler (@DoerflerJared) June 13, 2024
So now we have to have a Peacock subscription to watch the US Open? Wtf. Another reason golf is losing so many fans
— Joe Arnold (@GCAJoeA) June 13, 2024
Ridiculous that you have to stream Peacock to watch The US Open in primetime. Comcast has NBC, Golf Channel & USA, but nope, stream us on the app to watch MAJOR golf.
— Nick Kayal (@NickKayal) June 13, 2024
There are thousands of other tweets complaining about it. And, I can’t say that I blame them. It does seem like quite the money grab.
If you’re one of those who hated the US Open going behind a paywall on Peacock, I have some bad news. It’s set to go behind the paywall again, for just an hour from 7-8PM ET, on Friday for the 2nd round. Thankfully, that will be the end of exclusive Peacock windows for the US Open, but for many, four hours is too many.