The company still will air about 250 matches on its television networks, mostly NBCSN, NBC and CNBC. But 130 games are being moved to its stream. Priced at $49.99 as “Premier League Pass,” on NBC Sports Gold, those matches previously had been available to cable subscribers as Premier League Extra Time on overflow channels and as part of the regular NBC Sports app.
Coming off the hugely popular World Cup this summer, NBC Sports is hoping to grow football-fever into a new national pastime with its Barclays Premier League soccer broadcasts beginning this weekend.
The popular soccer commentating duo known as the Men in Blazers is leaving ESPN for NBC Sports, becoming the latest in a series of recent bets on soccer’s rising popularity in the U.S. Starting shortly after the 2014-15 Premier League season begins later this month, the Men in Blazers, as television producer Michael Davies and writer Roger Bennett are known, will have a weekly Monday night show on NBC Sports and will contribute radio, TV and written pieces for the network’s various outlets. The terms of their contract weren’t disclosed, and the show doesn’t yet have a name.
NBC Universal on Saturday begins the first season of its three-year, $250 million deal to carry games from England’s Premier League.
English Premier League soccer games will move to NBC from Fox and ESPN next year under a new deal announced Sunday night. The games will be aired on the NBC broadcast network, the NBC Sports Network and possibly on some of NBCUniversal’s other cable channels, such as Bravo and USA.
