Signed. Sealed. Delivered. NBC will be the United States’ home for the Premier League in until 2022 after finalizing a six-year contract extension of its current deal, which started with the 2013-14 season.
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Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
The company submitted both three- and six-year bids, NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus said on a conference call. “As sports fans, there’s nothing better than waking up on a weekend morning to live and relevant events, and we at NBC Sports are thrilled to continue to be this outlet for the fast-growing Premier League fan base”.
The Premier League averaged 479,000 viewers on NBC and NBCSN last year, up 9 percent from its debut season in 2013-14.
The English Premier League is staying put on U.S. television.
NBC holds the US Premier League rights until the end of this season, having paid US$255 million to outbid rival broadcaster Fox in October 2012.
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“Outstanding production, expert analysis and wide audience reach have all been beyond expectations”, Premier League executive chairman Richard Scudamore said in a statement. Associated Press reported that Fox Sports and BeIN Sports also submitted bids but ESPN did not bid because of its heavy concentration of college sports programming. Tack on value adds like airing more games on basic cable channels, such as the USA Network and showing all 10 matches across their channels on the last day of the season, and you’ve got a good product that isn’t moving. They’ve taken studio coverage of soccer to a new level and brought continuity to its coverage of the EPL that extends from August to May, longer than that of any American sports league. Fans in the US are actually able to watch more Premier League games live than their counterparts in the UK, where 3pm Saturday kick-offs are subject to a television blackout. That’s a heavy hit for the Worldwide Leader as it probably viewed a deal with the Premier League as an incredible opportunity to drastically grow their global market.
