NBC has announced their acquisition of the American Premier League broadcast rights, starting in the 2013-14 season. FOX, who currently owns the broadcast rights, and ESPN, who they sub-contract to, announced on Friday that their bid had been rejected. NBC were considered favorites over beIN Sport to obtain the rights before the announcement.
NBC acquires American Premier League broadcast rights
NBC has won the bidding for the American broadcast rights to the English Premier League, beating out beIN Sport and a joint bid from FOX and ESPN.
Michael Regan
While NBC did not release the terms of their deal, Sports Business Daily’s John Ourand reported on Friday that their bid is for $83 million per season over three seasons, which more than triples what FOX spent to obtain the rights during the last bidding cycle.
For American consumers, the key part of NBC’s statement regarding their acquisition of the rights is as follows:
Although specific programming details will be announced at a later date, NBC, NBC Sports Network, and NBCSports.com will all be utilized to present live Premier League coverage, as well as Telemundo and mun2 for Spanish-language coverage. Additional NBCUniversal platforms and networks will occasionally be scheduled to air Premier League matches, while NBC Sports Live Extra will provide the live streaming platform across web, tablet and mobile devices.
NBC will also produce pre-match, post-match, recap and highlight shows. They plan to offer every single Premier League match on at least one of their platforms.
While all of the details are yet to be released, this is a massive win for American consumers. NBC has done a fantastic job with their broadcasts of Major League Soccer since acquiring the broadcast rights to that league, and they appear to be moving to ensure matches are at least as accessible to fans as they are right now through FOX and ESPN.
