With six events remaining on its schedule, LIV Golf has been dealt a severe blow by the news that its paid streaming partner in the United States, Caffeine TV, is to close its doors.
It’s less than six months since a LIV press release announced their partnership with Caffeine TV, a newcomer to the sports streaming world, but business hasn’t grown in the way they’d have liked and they cite a lack of profits as their reason for shutting down.
“All good things come to an end,” a Caffeine TV statement read. “We’re at the point where we are still not quite profitable, so we’ve made the decision to end the service as of June 26th as we figure out our next steps.”
LIV had hoped that partnership with Caffeine TV would bring a “younger, more diverse audience than many traditional broadcast platforms” and with it, “notable exposure for the league,” as per their January press release, but the closure now leaves them back in the market for a streaming partner with the next event, LIV Andalucía just a fortnight away.
United States viewers can still watch on the CW Network and on the CW app, while LIV Golf Plus and the LIV Golf YouTube channel means that online streaming is still available outside the US. But since the United States remains the largest golfing market in the world, and the partnership with Caffeine TV was seen as its first decent-sized step in seeing a return on the considerable financial outlay from the Saudi Public Investment Fund.