By TOM GORMAN
HARTFORD, CT – Of the hundreds of decisions Back9Network founder and CEO James L. “Jamie” Bosworth and his executive team will make over the next few months, one of the most critical is to negotiate a deal with a satellite or cable company, and announce where on the cable channel universe viewers will be able to tune in.
If golf aficionados haven’t heard, the Back9Network (B9N) is a golf lifestyle TV network and media company that is available online (www.back9network.com) and busting-out-weekly with enticing promotions that B9N is ready to debut a 24-hour round-the-clock golf-related cable show in a matter of months. Move over Golf Channel, there will be another favorite option on the clicker. B9N promises to whet the golf appetites of men, women and children, and whoever else has an interest in subjects ranging from travel, fashion, reality TV, dating, golf courses, health, real estate, automobiles, instruction and more.
“The Back9Network is a lifestyle network with golf as a backdrop that will offer programming that appeals to a wide audience, as opposed to the Golf Channel whose focus is mostly on live tournament coverage,” said Bosworth, who employees 24 fulltime staff and has raised over $24 million from investors including Clint Eastwood, Ray Allen and Javier Colon. “We are thrilled at the progress made in negotiating a satellite or cable deal and expect to make a major announcement soon and go live January 1, 2014.”
Bosworth brings to the table an impressive resume in the golf industry, ranging from executive vice president of Sales, Marketing and Product Development for Callaway Golf to multiple business connections from Pebble Beach Golf Links, where he began his golf career as the youngest assistant professional ever. Many entrepreneurs before him have tried and many have failed at starting a cable channel. Any start-up venture is risky and very, very expensive. In January 1995, it took Arnold Palmer, Joe Gibbs and $80 million to launch the Golf Channel, which now reaches 100 million households and about 120,000 daily viewers. Today, the estimated value of The Golf Channel, owned by Comcast, is over $2 billion. In comparison, Oprah Winfrey launched the OWN cable network in January 2011 for a reported $189 million that reaches an estimated 80 million households, and is mentioned frequently by financial analysts as on the brink of disaster. Oprah is a different audience but with B9N’s mission statement of “inclusion” they will look for crossover appeal.
Some golf industry observers consider Bosworth to be a dynamic visionary and up to the business task to compete with many of the same demographics as the Golf Channel, whose primary audience is male ages 40 – 75. According to Bosworth, he has assembled an experienced executive team and stressed, “The better you are at surrounding yourself with people of high potential, the better your chance of success. We have been taking advantage of the benefits of modern technology and building the Back9Network brand digitally. The next step is opening our $1.3 million multimedia studio in downtown Hartford, which is fast-becoming the sports media capital of the world since it’s also home to ESPN, NBC Sports and YES Network. We are passionate, inclusive, fun, entertaining and B9N will deliver to viewers quality content. That’s a promise! ”
The question for some is not whether cable TV is ready for another 24/7 golf channel but why hasn’t it happened? Who best to analyze the monumental tasks ahead and future success of B9N is Peter Kessler, whose encyclopedic knowledge of the history of golf is unmatched. Kessler, known as The Voice of Golf, was the driving force and primary personality of The Golf Channel for eight years after it launched in 1995. Kessler has hosted and produced over 1,300 hours of live TV with taped interviews of the all the greatest achievers in the sport.
“There are certainly many challenges ahead for the Back9Network but Jamie Bosworth and his team are capable of putting together quality golf programming that will earn market share and good ratings,” said Kessler from his home in Orlando, where he operates a thriving podcast business, a radio show and also keeps a full schedule of profitable not-just-golf-related voice-over opportunities. “I am not sure how a golf reality show will be received and it is difficult to attract viewers in their 20’ and 30s, but the timing is right for a golf lifestyle channel. Since The Golf Channel is almost exclusively about weekly live PGA Tour tournaments, the Back9Network could thrive nicely with creative lifestyle programming.”
The Back9Network is coming soon to a cable channel near you. Will it be available on Direct TV? Satellite? Cable? Streaming? Pay-Per-View? Free on the Internet? Stay tuned for an announcement from golf entrepreneur Jamie Bosworth, who charmingly claims the new network will inspire current players, attract non-golfers, and make viewers think, laugh and cry along the way! Visit the Back9Network website at www.Back9Network.com
Tom Gorman, a Boston-based golf writer has covered the sport for 20-years, is a member of the Golf Writers Association of America, International Network of Golf and Golf Travel Writers Association and writes a column in each issue of Southern New England Golfer.
