Golf Channel camera crews go on strike, throwing PGA Tour Sony Open coverage into flux

Unionized Golf Channel production crews walked out in a strike Sunday, impacting morning Web.com Tour coverage and likely limiting coverage of the final round of the PGA Tour’s Sony Open later in the evening from Hawaii.

The Associated Press reported that the strike comes after nine months of negotiation between the network and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), which represents the production technicians, such as camera operators. With negotiations on a new contract at a standstill, the strike on Sunday will impact coverage of one of the PGA Tour’s historic early-season events, the Sony Open.

News of the strike surfaced Sunday morning before the start of the broadcast of the Web.com Tour’s Bahamas Great Exuma Classic. The Web.com Tour is the feeder tour to the PGA Tour and was opening its season this weekend.

Golf Channel started the broadcast from its Orlando studios with its Morning Drive crews providing the introduction — a setup that usually takes place on site from the broadcast tower. The coverage was then limited to on-camera talent Steve Burkowski and Craig Perks narrating scattered shots of the event.

One unionized Golf Channel employee in the Bahamas told SB Nation’s Christian D’Andrea that the network gave the technicians the option of staying and working but that the union told them to go home.

”Golf Channel told us we could stay and work if we wanted to,” the employee, who preferred to remain anonymous, told D’Andrea. “The union told us to walk off and go home.”

The employee also estimated that four or five union employees stayed to work the tournament and that there was some frustration with the timing of the strike.

Also affected is Golf Channel’s coverage of the celebrity-rich Diamond Resorts Invitational in Orlando. That unofficial event includes John Daly, Brittany Lincicome, and other players from the LPGA and Champions Tour.

A Golf Channel spokesperson issued the following statement on the strike Sunday afternoon.

Golf Channel has been working on negotiating an agreement for nine months with a union that represents our live tournament technicians. Those efforts have not yet yielded a resolution, and we look forward to reaching a mutually agreeable contract. However, some technicians have chosen to walk off the job today. We have contingency plans in place, and will continue to deliver coverage. Thank you to our viewers for their patience.

The PGA Tour also issued a heads-up to the players in the Bahamas that the strike was coming Sunday and that coverage of their event would be impacted.

The AP’s Doug Ferguson reported that tee times for the Sony Open were moved up because of the Golf Channel strike. The final-round coverage was scheduled to run from 6 to 10 p.m. ET, but the adjustment in tee times will probably result in a finish around 9 p.m. ET.

[Golf Channel is a part of NBCUniversal Media, an investor in Vox Media, SB Nation’s parent company.]