NBC Sports has won the US rights to show the Premier League from the start of the 2013/14 season, shutting out previous rights holders Fox Sports and ESPN.
Under the agreement NBC Universal has become the exclusive English- and Spanish-language media rights holder to all 380 Premier League matches across all platforms and devices in the United States. It will be up to $85 million per year.
“The Barclays Premier League is the preeminent soccer league in the world, and is on the cusp of exponential popularity growth here in the US,” said Mark Lazarus, chairman, NBC Sports Group. “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. This is a perfect match.”
“The NBC Sports Group has an excellent track record in sports broadcasting and will showcase the Barclays Premier League to fans across the USA through its extensive network of channels and high quality production,” said Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore. “We are extremely pleased that NBC has chosen to invest in the Premier League and look forward to working with them for many years to come.”
Matches will be shown across NBC, NBC Sports Network, and NBCSports.com, alongside Telemundo and mun2 for Spanish-language coverage. There will also be live streaming on NBC Sports Live Extra, the live streaming platform across web, tablet and mobile devices.
It is a second Premier League loss for ESPN, which was shut out of the UK rights round from 2013-14 after it was outbid on the domestic rights by both BSkyB and BT Vision.
