News

NBC secures $250m English Premier League rights

NBC has outbid Fox and ESPN to secure the $250m broadcasting rights to the English Premier League (EPL) in the US over the next three years, beginning in the 2013/14 season.

Through the deal, NBC will broadcast every EPL match that takes place over the next three years across the NBC Sports Network.

The company’s English-language networks will air six live games per week and Spanish coverage will be aired across Telemundo and mun2. Other games will be streamed online.

Fox held the broadcasting rights for the EPL for the last three years, during which time it sublicensed some matches to ESPN. That deal was estimated to be worth approximately $80m.

“The Barclays Premier League is the pre-eminent soccer league in the world, and is on the cusp of exponential popularity growth here in the US,” says NBC Sports Group chairman Mark Lazarus. “We think we’re acquiring a set of assets that has unique affluent male appeal that’s very attractive to advertisers and attractive to cable operators.

Last year, NBC secured the rights to Major League Soccer and also broadcasted the London 2012 Olympic Games in the US during the summer.

Earlier this year, ESPN announced plans to scale back its international operations.

Jenni Baker, London