Premier League on NBC

The Premier League on NBC and Premier League on NBCSN is the blanket title for broadcasts of the Premier League by the networks of NBC Sports. NBC acquired rights to the Premier League in 2013, and reached a six-year extension in 2015.[1]

Premier League on NBC
Presented byRebecca Lowe
Production
Production company(s)NBC Sports
Release
Original networkNBC
NBCSN
Original release2013 (2013) –
present

History

NBC acquired rights to the Premier League in 2013, replacing Fox Sports and ESPN.[2] NBC's studio programming for the league includes the pre-match show Premier League Live, and the highlights shows Premier League Goal Zone and Match of the Day (modeled upon the similar BBC series).[3] NBC Sports president of programming Jon Miller explained that their main goal was to not "Americanize" their coverage (besides providing explanations of terminology unfamiliar to U.S. viewers, such as derbies), citing their decision to employ talent (such as former ESPN UK and BBC Sport presenter Rebecca Lowe, who became NBC's lead host) who "know the Premier League and can talk about it intelligently".[4][5] In 2014, NBC also hired the duo of Michael Davies and Roger Bennett—the "Men in Blazers"—to provide soccer-oriented content across NBC Sports' platforms.[6]

During larger matchdays, NBCSN operates pop-up channels branded as Premier League Extra Time, which broadcast overflow matches not shown by other NBC networks.[7] However in 2017, NBC began to paywall many of these overflow games behind the "Premier League Pass" service on NBC Sports Gold.[8] On Survival Sunday, the majority of NBCUniversal's cable networks carry games, including several networks not normally dedicated to sports.[9]

Integration with Sky Sports

In 2019, NBCUniversal parent company Comcast acquired the British telecom and media conglomerate Sky plc. As a result, the NBC Sports division became a sibling to Sky Sports, a domestic rightsholder of the Premier League in the UK. Sky began to synergize with NBC Sports throughout 2019, beginning with a collaboration with its reporters for coverage of the transfer deadline, and adding a weekday simulcast from its Sky Sports News channel to the daytime lineup of NBCSN.[10][11]

On-air collaboration with Sky Sports intensified with the beginning of the 2019–20 season; as Sky holds the first pick of matches for 12:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) kickoffs under its renewed contract, NBC will be able to air more prominent matches in its early-afternoon broadcasts. NBC also broadcast studio coverage of the first weekend of the season from Sky's studios, implemented a new on-air graphics package with elements of those used by Sky and its Premier League telecasts, and expanded its Sunday pre-match show to two hours (taking advantage of Sunday kickoffs being pushed later by half an hour).[12] Sky Sports studio programming (including Soccer Saturday and Goals on Sunday among others) also became available on a secondary tier of Premier League Pass.[13]

On-air personalities

NBC Sports personalities:

World Feed personalities:

Sky Sports personalities (occasionally):

References
  1. Sandomir, Richard (2015-08-10). "NBC Retains Rights to Premier League in Six-Year Deal". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  2. "NBC wins $250m rights to broadcast English Premier League in US". London. Associated Press. October 29, 2012. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
  3. Parker, Graham (2013-04-16). "Gary Lineker and Match of the Day feature in NBC's Premier League plans". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  4. "Premier League: How NBC Sports Got Soccer Fans Out of Bed". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  5. "Has NBC Sports Found the Secret of Selling Soccer to U.S. TV Viewers?". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  6. Connors, Will (2014-08-10). "Men in Blazers Jump to NBC". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  7. Reynolds, Mike. "Four More Providers Join NBCSN's Premier League Extra Time Roster". Multichannel. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  8. Tannenwald, Jonathan. "NBC to launch paid subscription English Premier League soccer streaming service". Inquirer.com. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  9. "How to watch all of Premier League's season finales". SI.com. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  10. "First major NBC-Sky collaboration is for extra Premier League transfer deadline coverage". Awful Announcing. 29 January 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  11. "NBCSN will replace the Dan Patrick Show with a PFT Live replay and an hour of Sky Sports News". Awful Announcing. 26 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  12. Harris, Christopher (2019-08-09). "NBC embarks on tighter relationship with Sky Sports to enhance Premier League coverage". World Soccer Talk. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  13. "NBC's Premier League Pass now includes some Sky programming, other shoulder coverage". Awful Announcing. 2019-07-09. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
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