Premier League Expands Across Americas
The Premier League has secured sales of its media rights across a number of international markets in North and South America, for a significantly enhanced fee, offering a welcome financial boost for the organisation.
On Sunday, the League announced that NBC Universal’s sports division brand NBC Sports Group had outbit its rival broadcaster Fox to acquire the exclusive rights to the competition in the US.
The new three-year deal, which takes effect from the 2013/14 season, is reportedly worth US$250 million and sees NBC secure the rights from the League’s incumbent broadcast partners Fox and ESPN.
Fox’s current three-year deal, which sees some matches sublicensed to ESPN, was worth around $80 million.
Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said: ‘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. 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.’
Meanwhile, the Premier League has also struck new deals in the Caribbean and Canada.
The League has extended its contract with Caribbean rights-holder International Media Content Ltd.
IMC, parent company of pay-television broadcaster SportsMax, has been awarded the live broadcast rights for all 380 Premier League matches per season from 2013/14 to 2015/16, while in Canada, Bell-owned pay-television broadcaster TSN has also significantly enhanced its Premier League portfolio.
Beginning in the 2013/14 season, its new three-year agreement gives TSN and French-language broadcaster RDS media rights to half of all Premier League games through to the 2015/16 season – approximately 190 games per season, more than tripling its current package.
The Premier League has faced a number of challenges of late, most recently allegations made by Chelsea against referee Mark Clattenburg following Manchester United’s 3-2 win at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, which has resulted in an investigation being launched by the Football Association.
Chelsea made a formal complaint against the referee, accusing him of using “inappropriate language” towards two of their players on Sunday.
