The NBC Sports division of US media group NBCUniversal has acquired the US rights for the Premier League, the top division of football in England, in a three-year deal, from 2013-14 to 2015-16.
NBCU’s deal is reported to be worth $250 million (€193.8 million) over three seasons, or $83.3 million per season – more than three times the value of the league’s current agreement with the Fox network. Fox, which sublicenses on some rights to cable-television broadcaster ESPN under the current three-year deal, from 2010-11 to 2012-13, reportedly pays about $23 million per year. Fox and ESPN tabled a joint bid for the next cycle of rights, but the value of the offer was not revealed.
Under the new deal, NBCU will become the exclusive English- and Spanish-language media rights-holder for all 380 Premier League matches per season across all platforms and devices in the US.
Specific programming details will be announced at a later date, but games will be shown live in English on the main NBC channel as well as the cable-television channel NBC Sports Network and the NBCSports.com website. The Spanish-language free-to-air channel Telemundo and pay-television channel mun2 will also show games. The NBC Sports Live Extra online service will also stream matches live.
“The Premier League is the preeminent soccer league in the world, and is on the cusp of exponential popularity growth here in the US,” Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Sports Group, said. “NBCU will provide the broadest programming and promotional commitment that the league has ever experienced here in the United States. The Premier League provides NBCU with best-in-class content for 10 months of the year across our far-reaching broadcast, cable and digital platforms.”
NBC Sports Group will also produce pre- and post-match shows, highlights and a weekly round-up.