British Eurosport claims Monday Night Football rights

British Eurosport, the UK arm of pan-regional broadcaster Eurosport, has agreed a two-year deal with American football league the NFL to broadcast its Monday Night Football programme.

Starting with the double-header tonight, featuring Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Redskins and Houston Texans at San Diego Chargers, British Eurosport will air 17 Monday Night Football fixtures this season.

David Kerr, managing director of British Eurosport, said: “We will show all our Monday Night Football Live and in HD and support that with extended highlights played out in UK prime time the following night.”

The British Eurosport agreement comes shortly after commercial broadcaster Channel 4 agreed a two-year deal, from 2013-14 to 2014-15, with the NFL to become the exclusive free-to-air television partner of the league in the UK.

Under the terms of the deal, Channel 4 will feature live coverage of the annual Super Bowl, as well as the International Series, which this season expands to two regular-season games at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Sunday Night Football, which Channel 4 has broadcast for the past three seasons, will continue to be shown featuring the NFL’s biggest game of the week, while the broadcaster will also produce a weekly highlights show. BSkyB acts as the NFL’s main pay-television partner in the UK market.