Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Media

NBC Awarded EPL Broadcast Rights In U.S. For $85M Annually

The Premier League has awarded its U.S. TV rights to NBC for three seasons beginning with the '13-14 campaign. NBC will broadcast live Premier League games, with Spanish-language coverage being broadcast on Telemundo and mun2. The broadcast channels reach 95% of the U.S. viewing public (Premier League). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir reported NBC will "pay the league $80M to $85M annually," and will televise "up to 380 games a season on the NBC broadcast network, the NBC Sports Network and at least two other cable networks." About 200 games "will be available on the NBC networks in six time periods on Saturday, Sunday and Monday during the league’s 10-month season." Remaining EPL games will be "available online or in some other packages, one of them probably pay-per-view." NBC Sports Group Chair Mark Lazarus said, "There will be live, exclusive games, and we’re not going to tape delay any of them. Multiple games go on at once, and we can’t carry every one on our networks. But we won’t regionalize games." Sandomir reports NBC "has no plans to resell any of the games to another network, as Fox Soccer now does, sublicensing about a fifth of its games to ESPN." Lazarus: "We think this is a terrific property that we can do a lot with, and the leadership of the Premier League is interested in doing new things in the United States. ... The price we're paying for the Premier League is a terrific value for us" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/29). Lazarus said the games draw a "couple hundred thousand" viewers in the U.S. He added that that he "expects to increase that number over time." Lazarus: "Did we pay more than the others before, yes. But we think the value is there" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/28).

BEAUTIFULLY DRAWN UP: SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote acquiring EPL rights "gives NBC the most significant soccer portfolio among American broadcasters." NBC is "counting on the EPL to bring eyeballs (and affluent ones at that) to NBC Sports Network, which could use an infusion of high-caliber programming with the NHL on lockout and depressed MLS ratings." Lazarus said, "It will not be unlike the Olympics where you saw programming on CNBC, Bravo, USA or MSNBC." He added that EPL fans "can expect a number of games to be broadcast on over-the-air NBC." Deitsch noted those matches will "likely air Saturdays and be shown live" (SI.com, 10/28). The AP's Rob Harris noted NBC Sports Group in '11 acquired MLS TV rights, and had "success with its soccer broadcasts during the London Olympics." NBCSN's "biggest property is the NHL, whose season runs concurrently with English soccer." Lazarus said that the EPL "will be a good complement to the network's hockey coverage." Lazarus: "It's a younger skewing sport than some others out there, like some that are in a championship series right now" (AP, 10/28). 

MAJOR BLOW: SI.com's Deitsch in a separate piece wrote the loss of EPL rights is "significant for Fox, even though it owns the World Cup for rights beginning with the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada." EPL has been "the jewel in Fox Soccer Channel's programming, and much of the network's programming centers around commentary and news of the league." NBC "sees opportunity in int'l soccer, which has been trending upward as a television property" (SI.com, 10/26). In N.Y., Belson & Sandomir wrote the deal is "the latest blow to a channel that once dominated the soccer scene on American television." Fox has broadcast the EPL in the U.S. for "nearly two decades." But a source said that NBC will pay "just under four times more than Fox currently pays for the rights" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/26).

MORE RIGHTS AWARDED: Int'l Media Content, parent company of SportsMax Ltd., has been awarded EPL broadcast rights from '13-16 in the Carribbean. SportsMax President & CEO Oliver McIntosh said, "For 10 years now, SportsMax has provided coverage of the BPL (Barclays Premier League), this season increasing the number of matches we show to five each weekend and ensuring that all BPL matches each weekend are broadcast" Also, Sportsnet and TSN have been given EPL broadcast rights in Canada (Premier League).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2012/10/30/Media/EPL-Rights.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2012/10/30/Media/EPL-Rights.aspx

CLOSE