• March 2, 2007

ESPN has reached an eight-year extension on a deal giving it rights to coverage for part of the first two days of the U.S. Open golf championship. ESPN has the cable package, while NBC holds network rights.

The agreement, through 2014, with the United States Golf Association also includes Thursday and Friday coverage of rounds one and two of the U.S. Women's Open and U.S. Senior Open on ESPN. NBC carries the weekend coverage and also re-upped through 2014 two years ago. Like most new carriage deals ESPN cuts these days, the agreement gives it the rights to stream the telecasts on its ESPN360 broadband platform and mobile devices. "The USGA has long embraced our multimedia approach," said George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports.

--David Goetzl