The 2024 U.S. Open got underway Thursday morning at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina, and there was live coverage, as well as featured groups, on live cable television for the duration of the opening round.
That was, until 5 p.m. ET, when fans had to switch over to Peacock, NBC’s paid streaming service, or the U.S. Open website, which does offer multiple streams for free.
But it was mostly the coverage on Peacock that riled up fans on social media.
U.S. Golf Association CEO Mike Whan spoke Wednesday about making the TV product better, and it did seem throughout Thursday’s coverage that there were more golf shots shown and fewer commercials. But when the coverage left cable TV with the top three players in the world halfway through their rounds, as well as some of the other most popular players in the world on the course, it irritated plenty of people.
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Here’s a look at the social media reaction to when coverage switched from USA to Peacock.