In the past several months, many of the readers to EPL Talk have posted many detailed questions about all of the ins- and -outs of NBC’s coverage plans for the Premier League, which will begin on August 17, 2013 when the new Premier League season begins.
I’ve answered all of your questions below (plus many more). If you still have questions remaining, please post them in the comments section below and I’ll do my best to answer them for you.
OVERVIEW
Q: How much did NBC Sports Group pay for the rights to show the Premier League on US television for 2013-16?
A: Approximately $250 million.
Q: Where does the TV deal rank among countries worldwide that broadcast the Premier League?
A: According to Richard Scudamore, it’s in the top five.
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COMMENTATORS
Q: Who will be commentating the games for NBC Sports?
A: When available, the lead commentator will be Arlo White with either Graeme Le Saux or Lee Dixon as co-commentators. Arlo White will commentate approximately three Premier League matches per weekend.
Q: Will the games will be called “off the tube” or “off the monitor,” or will the commentators be at the stadiums?
A: Whenever there’s a game featuring NBC commentators, the team will be commentating live from the stadium in England or Wales. As such, Arlo White is moving from the United States to the United Kingdom.
Q: What happens when Arlo White isn’t available to commentate?
A: When NBC’s commentators aren’t available or are doing another game at the same time, NBC Sports will provide the world feed with British announcers (from TWI/IMG).
Q: What experience does Arlo White have?
A: Arlo White is a career professional who has worked at the BBC before moving to the States where he commentated games for Seattle Sounders and Major League Soccer. During the summer of 2012, Arlo White was the lead commentator for the soccer matches at the Olympics, which were televised on NBC to the U.S. audience.
Q: Who will be the presenter in the studio?
A: Experienced professional Rebecca Lowe will be moving from her job with ESPN UK to join NBC Sports, where she’ll be the presenter of the Premier League to a US audience. Lowe has worked at the BBC, Setanta Sports and ESPN — both in the US and UK. She’ll be joined by studio analysts Robbie Earle and Robbie Mustoe.
Q: What role will Gary Lineker take with NBC Sports?
No mention of match replays on the Sports Live Extra, just live streams.
The article mentions…
Q: Will games be available on-demand via NBC Sports Live after they are shown live?
A: Absolutely.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Oops missed that, thanks Gaffer.
sweet music to my ears!
Gaffer said “Absolutely” back in April, but I can find no other place that’s mentioned anything but live matches. Have replays been available for other sports carried on NBC’s Live Extra (e.g. hockey)? I’ve seen no official statement from NBC that Live Extra will be anything but, well, “live”. Has anyone else? Gaffer, what was your source for your “Absolutely”? Thanks!
(Very nervous that I will be away some Saturdays and will want to watch later in the day, and I’m still unclear about Extra Time channel locations and whether they will be HD or SD or on at all such that my DVR can even find them!)
I have found the same thing to the true…Aside from this article, I have not seen any mention of an “on demand/replay” archive being available. I’ve even submitted the question directly to Live Extra, and have received no response. It seems obvious that On Demand would be available…but you never know (unfortunately).
“Absolutely” obviously meant there will be absolutely no on-demand replays, even though towards the end of live games I’ve seen a little message that says “Your game replay will be ready shortly” (or something to that effect). It’s so very 20th century to have only the live option. And I don’t mean in a cool, retro way.
Apologies if you have addressed this elsewhere, but is there any movement toward an online-only option? I don’t currently subscribe to cable, but would seriously consider an online-only package if one were available.
The answer can be found in more detail at http://epltalk.com/2013/04/23/top-7-misconceptions-about-nbcs-premier-league-coverage/ but the short answer is no. One won’t be available.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
The reason why NBC (Comcast) is paying them $250M over 3 years is to make sell more cable packages.
Excellent recap Gaffer…. Good to see the game will be available on demand.
Glad I don’t have to listen to those Fox studio anal-ysts esp. that Whine-alda who only utters 3-5 sentences throughout the studio show, and the other incompetents such as Barton.
golf channel should become nbc sports network 2
All this and no one has mentioned that Gaffer and EPL talk is a work of genius!
Gaffer, you’re my gaffer mate. Top class stuff.
Thanks Cassandra. This is just as helpful for me as it is for you!
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Didn’t see DirecTV mentioned as a provide of Extra. Mental note to send DirecTV a note. If they can get us HBO Go and other feeds, they can get us that too.
Currently, DirecTV in not a provider of either the Premier League Extra Time, extra TV channels, or the NBC Sports Live Extra streaming.
Here is their response to my inquiry (posted elsewhere on EPL Talk):
“Thank you for writing in. I can understand your excitement for this new package announced by NBC. I’m happy to address your concern.
At this time, DIRECTV does not have any announcement about this new package. This looks like an exciting new addition to the available sports lineup for Soccer fans and I assure you we will work with NBC to provide the best service to our mutual customers. Please check back with us closer to the start of the new season for more information about this new content.”
Make sure to follow up on you “Mental note.”
Geez, that’s a more positive reply that I received from Directv.
Here’s hoping.
No mention of Dish, do they get any of the extra channels?
Not right now they won’t. More info at http://epltalk.com/2013/04/23/want-access-to-all-of-nbcs-epl-coverage-its-time-to-take-action/
Cheers,
The Gaffer
This is the first time I have seen that games will be available ON DEMAND afterward. (I imagine many on the west coast will love this feature!) That means, for those of us with, say, Cablevision, the internet experience will be far better than what we had with Fox:
(1) no extra charge for Foxsoccer.tv if you already pay for cable [yes, I know many would like an internet only option]
(2) ALL matches will be available on demand, meaning the big matches like every week’s 5:30 sat and 4 pm sunday (London time) matches will be available on the internet, both live and on demand, whereas with Fox they were NOT available on the internet until midnight Eastern time.
(3) DVR feature means if you wake up and a match is in progress, you can start from the beginning right from your tablet or phone device. Sweet.
seems the only lingering question will be about the Sunday NHL game time on NBC when/if the 2nd match on Sunday from England runs beyond 1300
It should be fine. Very rarely will the 11am ET game finish after 1pm ET. There are a few times during the year where the daylight savings time don’t coincide where some games will kick-off at Noon ET, but NBC has so many channels to choose from that if they did have to move the NHL or EPL game, I’m sure few people would mind.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Since arlo white is moving to the UK, who will commentate the MLS games?
Undecided though John Strong is a contender.
NBC Sports already did a nice promo, which can be found on their NBC Sports Network YouTube page:
Premier League on NBC Sports ‘Every’
Gaffer, think you could link it to the main page?
Sure hope NBC does a better job than they did with the last Olympics. Their US coverage of the London Olympics was pathetic, and I for one was hoping they would not get into EPL soccer. Before we know it they will find a way to screw things up.
What happens to the FA Cup and League Cup games..any word on Npower championship matches…Maybe just better for me to move to England to get a proper footbal and F1 experience.. 😉
FA Cup matches will stay on FOX Sports 1. Championship and League Cup stay on beIN SPORT.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
As both a cable non-subscriber, and a big Ian Darke fan, reading this article is rather depressing.
Guys, does anyone know what will happen to Sky Sports News? Will we still get it in the U.S? Thank you so much for any feedback.
I don’t believe we’ll see it on US TV again. FOX Sports 1 will have their own sports news programming.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
what about champions league? who ill televise those games?
FOX Sports 1.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Gaffer –
If I missed this I apologize but didn’t see it on this thread and after a brief search.
Any plans to have a soccer only news show on NBC every evening a la Fox Soccer News?
Many Thanks and Cheers,
No plans. ESPN will have their own daily soccer show. beIN SPORT has one, too. But no plans for a daily NBC soccer show at this point.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Thank you for taking the time to respond, Gaffer. Just to clarify if you don’t mind….are you referring to ESPN’s Press Pass or are you saying ESPN will be producing something new for the upcoming season?
Be sure to read EPL Talk every day so you don’t miss a story! ESPN announced last week that they’ll be debuting a new show this summer called ESPN FC. More details are at http://epltalk.com/2013/05/14/espn-to-launch-daily-soccer-show-espn-fc-on-espn2-in-august/
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Consider me a daily reader from now on Gaffer!
While I don’t agree with every decision Fox made (two words…Brendan Dunlop), I do believe we footie fans owe them a debt of gratitude for their commitment to bring us the EPL. Looking forward to what NBC has to offer. Thanks again, Sir!
I just spoke to DirecTV about the two spillover NBC channels – two clueless representatives who had no idea what I was talking about. I asked them to send a message to the higher-ups specifying the channels I was requesting. I explained that I moved from Dish to DirecTV specifically because, at the time, Dish didn’t offer FSC HD & FSC+. I’ll move back if DirecTV don’t offer the extra channels.
I think NBC will do great job with the soccer. My only concern is my local NBC affiliate might block the soccer. I never had a problem with my local FOX station. I am also a fan of Formula 1 which NBC also has, and this morning my local NBC affiliate decided not to show the Monaco Grand prix, in favor of the local news and paid advertising.
Was hoping you could provide some insight as to how many Liverpool games will be on next season..?? I’d assume that all will be on considering there’s a ton of LFC supporters in the states. Any info will be much appreciated. Thanks.
It’s a good question. On a typical weekend, there’ll be 4 games per weekend that will be shown live on NBC Sports Network. With 10 games a weekend in the Premier League, there’s a good chance that you’ll miss a lot of Liverpool games if you only watch NBC Sports Network. To make sure you get to see every Premier League match involving Liverpool, read our article here: http://epltalk.com/2013/04/23/want-access-to-all-of-nbcs-epl-coverage-its-time-to-take-action/
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Thank you for the answer.
hey gaffer,
will NBC seek to avoid spoiling the results of other matches during their broadcasts? THE most annoying thing about ESPN (and sometimes FOX) was their propensity to constantly update all of the scores, both verbally via the announcers, and in ESPN’s case, the dreaded bottom-of-the-screen-ticker. (i HATE the ticker. beyond the fact that it constantly shows results i don’t want to see, it is ugly and distracting…the picture is so much more beautiful without it).
many of us (and the number increases all the time) have DVRs, and would like to watch multiple matches that happened at the same time without knowing the results. they seem to have caught on to this fact in england, and spoilers during their broadcasts happen far less often than they once did. america still seems quite clueless in this regard.
i’m not quite sure why the advantage of not showing other results does not dawn immediately on every broadcaster. from a business perspective, is it not more desirable to you and to your advertisers/sponsors that i watch 3 or 4 matches per weekend as opposed to only one?
PLEASE don’t spoil results.
and did i mention that i HATE the ticker?
looking forward to the coverage, it sounds like it will be really quite wonderful. i hope direcTV enters the fold completely.
They won’t have a ticker, but they haven’t made a decision about whether to talk about scores from other games.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
let’s hope that they decide there will be NO SPOILERS.
thanks for the quick reply!
There is no mention of their advertising plans. If they do anything like Formula 1 on NBC, I’m gonna be p*ssed off. I don’t mind the little ad at the top like Fox Soccer did, but if they go to a full on break for any reason during the game (even the picture in picture like Fox NASCAR) I’m just gonna listen to TalkSport.
They’re not going to break into matches with advertising. They’re focusing everything on the game experience.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Hey sorry if this has been answered already, I’ve just moved to the US from the UK and I want to subscribe to NBC sports for the epl. How much will it cost per month for a subscription? I currently don’t have any cable tv.
Funny thing is…it’s free over here but you will have to get cable tv. And they show many more games than in England. You just have to have a cable provider with NBC.. Also all game slive online but again, only by signing in through your cable providers password.
Hello, Gaffer.
Regarding the NBC live extra app, if I decide to watch the games later that day (rather than watching it live) via my PC, will the final score be hidden?
Cheers.
Not sure. We probably won’t know for sure until opening day on August 17.
Hello gaffer.
I am worried about one thing. If they only show one 10:00 game on Saturday when there is usually 5 or 6 will all of the others be online or will they show the other 10:00 games on the other channels like telemundo, NBC , Mun 2? I need to watch my chelsea! Thanks for the help!
All games will be shown online no matter what. For the 10am games, we’ll have to see what the TV schedule looks like before we know for sure, but you’ll have a couple of choices. If your TV provider offers Premier League Extra Time, you can watch games on those overflow channels. If your TV provider doesn’t offer Premier League Extra Time, some of the other 10am games could be shown on different channels like Mun2, etc.
Any update on if DirecTV will offer Premier League Extra Time?
Any thoughts on when NBC will announce its broadcast schedule for opening day?
Nick, no word yet on DirecTV. As for the broadcast schedule, we should know more in the next week.
Thanks, Gaffer. My primary concern is that a majority of the pubs in the WashDC area have DirecTV, so that may be a challenge for supporters groups that meet on matchdays. Cheers.
One comment. Anyone on here that subscribed to Focsoccer.tv or whatever it is..you are going to be very pleasantly surprised in the quality difference in the online streaming (which is free) between NBC and Fox. That crap fox website and it’s dark ages streaming is a joke compared to the quality of the NBC app. If you watched any of the ESPN morning games with Ian and McNanaman the quality is just like the espn3 app. Excellent.
will nbc provide an english style sports news ,eg..like sky sports or similar?
No, but they’ll have a few magazine shows.
I must be missing something,i thought the league consisted of 20 teams not 6 like you have chosen for your cut down games.One of whom finished 7th.
Will N B C Sports be showing the “Sky Sports News ” ?
No. Check out http://worldsoccertalk.com/2013/07/24/missing-sky-sports-news-on-us-tv-here-are-4-ways-to-continue-tuning-in/
Any word on who the Spanish commentators will be?
Here you go: http://worldsoccertalk.com/2013/04/23/andres-cantor-named-telemundos-lead-commentator-for-spanish-language-networks-epl-coverage/
does anyone know if they will be airing the 1 hour premier league review show?
Yes they will. Each week.
NOT TRUE! The old Premier League Review show we all loved is gone, now we have NBC’s version of it which is trash.
Joe, it airs on NBC Sports Network on Tuesdays at 2am and has footage from Saturday through Monday games.
This looks very promising. As a brit living in the US, i’m looking forward to this coverage. Since moving over here, i haven’t been impressed with the coverage. Very excited.
Any more information yet on Live Extra as to when the On-Demand games will become available?
I don’t see anything EPL related on the Live Extra web page.
The extra time channels on directv will be 491-495.
Great to see DirecTV has indicated which channels will show Extra Time 10 am Eastern time matches (like West Ham v Cardiff next Saturday). Out of curiosity, will they be SD or HD?
I am stunned that for cable systems, like Time Warner or Cablevision, I’ve seen absolutely nothing to figure out what channels will show these Extra 10 am matches. Has anyone found a source for either of those two networks? Trying to program my DVR to pick up the correct matches, and nothing is showing up (save for the NBC & NBCSN matches). Very very nervous now about watching the West Ham matches this year. I know they *should* be available, but when will the listings arrive?
Thanks!
Has anyone tried the NBC Sports app. I have and I is awful. If you have android take a look at its ratings in the Play Store. Its brutal. They go live with that in 6 days and this will quickly become the main topic on this site.
The reviews for the Android app haven’t been good. The app works really well on iOS devices however.
NBC sports on apple
I hope you are right Gaffer but a quick look at the NBC Sports App on my ipad shows its similarly reviewed and also has a terrible 2 out of 5 stars.
THe only thing I havent tried it on is my windows laptop and granted that did a decent job in the Olympics when I last used it.
I have been through a few of these (the IP TV box to get Setants that was once a pornbox, the initial pains of the FOx Soccer app etc..) and they are almost always weak to begin with.
Have you any idea if there are plans from NBC for an Xbox or PlayStation app as the ESPN app is fantastic and the gold standard to follow.
Itunes reviews (2 stars)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nbc-sports-live-extra/id542511686?mt=8
I used the NBC Sports Live Extra app almost every day last summer during the Summer Olympics and I had no issues with it at all.
I haven’t heard anything about a NBC Sports Live Extra app for Xbox or Playstation, but that certainly would be a great addition.
Cheers Gaffer, fingers crossed!
I now have dish tv installed but nobody at dish seems to know how to access the premier league extra and this is is the only reason i changed providers.I am a little angry now please can you give me some info it would be greatly. appreciated
Sincerly pam
More information will be coming out this week from DISH. Stay tuned to this thread for help from other DISH customers too.
I got this response from their twitter team about the overflow channels.
https://twitter.com/dish_answers/status/366775371284217857
Will the games that are being shown on Live Extra be archived anywhere ? If I’m not available to watch it live am I out of luck ?
Disregard the above, I got Live Extra and PL Extra Time mixed up. Verizon doesn’t have Extra Time, so I’m out of luck for Everton v Norwich.
I have Directv and I just noticed channels 491- 495 are listed as EPL channels. They already have some of the opening games listed on my guide.
Still nothing on Comcast/Xfinity in central PA. I’m getting worried. No channel designates, no news anywhere, nobody at Comcast knows anything.
We still have 3-4 days to go. Plenty of time for them to get it sorted.
FYI tonight NBCSC running classic EPL matches all night.
I’m worried about PL Extra Time on comcast also…still no channel numbers, please post when you know anything.
Thanks,
Mahlon
“Game Cut-Downs — On Monday nights, NBC Sports Network will present a two-hour show featuring shorter versions of the Man United and Manchester City games. On Tuesdays, a two-hour show will feature highlights from Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham matches”
This is where I am concerned about bias. Why are the clubs mentioned above given more air-time and opportunities to build their brands and shirt sponsorship value? This is simply unfair and makes a mockery of fair play.
It’s particularly galling when one considers there are far more successful and historic clubs like Villa and Everton missing out on such treatment.
On what basis does NBC and the Premier League allow this coverage to happen and is it set in stone? If Villa ride back up the table next year will they then get a similar level of exposure next season?
Great coverage as usual Gaffer. Thanks!
So where are the REPLAYS?? Live Extra on PC doesn’t even have a Replay section (that I can find), the Android app crashes EVERY time I use it, the iPad app has a Replay link but NOTHING shows there. Wow, great job NBC! I long for the days of FoxSoccer2Go. They had every match (what a concept, available via replay too) every week sans one, which aired on ESPN.
More info is at http://worldsoccertalk.com/2013/08/15/nbc-sports-reveals-on-demand-capabilities-for-nbc-sports-live-extra-and-premier-league-extra-time/
Thanks Christopher, and thanks for all you are doing on this very informative site. I really look forward to the replay option.
DishNet as of today is not transmitting Premier League Extra Time . They claim NBC switched the channels Dish receive the games on and they are unable to to put them on their network.
DISH Network is only offering NBC Sports Live Extra — same as last week.
i am a very upset football/soccer fan. I think that NBC’s acquiring the rights to show EPL games is a really bad thing. I was spoiled by foxsoccerchannel. I had one place to go to see all my games. I hate the fact that my sports has to compete with other sports on NBC.
Bottom line is this NBC will not be able to re air premier league games once they have played. So if you can’t watch it live you are screwed. NBC has their live streaming service. But it’s live and you again if you can’t watch your favorite team live you are out of luck.
Also think NBC will not be able to show as many EPL games on a given weekend due to their need to show content from the other major sports. This department is where Foxsoccer had the advantage.
I would like someone to get back to me and correct me if i am wrong. I spent a weekend watching the EPL coverage on NBC and i really wasn’t impressed. I was happy paying more to see the games on Foxsoccer channel. At least you get more for your money
Did DISH Network ever add the extra channels to broadcast the Premier League Live Extra channels? Or do they still only have the online apps through Extra time package?
Do they plan on adding the Premier Live Extra channels in the near future? Or for next season?
I know initially they announced they couldn’t set it up in such short space of a time, but now it’s been 2 months into the season.
DISH is only making NBC Sports Live Extra available, not Premier League Extra Time.
No idea whether DISH Network are planning on adding it in the future. If they haven’t added it by now, it’s possible that they won’t add it for the rest of the season.
Thanks for the questions.
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