https://worldsoccertalk.com/2021/11/09/espn-bids-for-us-premier-league-rights/ All four majors are at play here (NBC Sports, the incumbent, CBS Sports, Fox and ESPN, ESPN the latest to announce they've made a formal bid). The bids were due on Monday, and the announcement of the next rightholders (for 23-28) could come after the Premier League meeting on Thursday.
ESPN would be great. ESPN2 is available on weekend mornings and ESPN+ would be a fantastic fit. Fox? I think that ship sailed, unless they can use EPL as leverage for FS2. NBC has done a decent job. CBS? Pass. They'd probably throw more than enough up on Paramount+ and I doubt the EPL wants that.
NBC was a dream in their earlier days. Now with the splitting to digital only for some match windows and the closing of NBCSN, im not sure I'm rooting for them anymore. No thanks to Fox or CBS. Will ESPN give it the level of presentation that NBC once gave it? Or will they simply air marquee matches and throw everything else on +?
If NBC does lose the EPL I would be intrigued with the idea of Amazon Prime taking the EPL and then hiring much of the staff from NBC
Hope it is not Fox. Would also be nice to actually be able to cut the cable as well and not have to use a hybrid of services to catch PL games.
Don't forget there are options on the table that aren't "one network gets all the rights", two networks (or more?) could get a slice of the pie. So I don't think there will be one destination/streaming site for EPL.
I just saw that, according to the Times of London, that Premier Leafue bidding has gone to a second round, so it will probably be at least another week until we find out who won the rights. More details here: https://the18.com/soccer-entertainment/us-premier-league-tv-rights-bidding-war-second-round
Second round of Premier League bids are due Thursday.The front-runners:* NBC, which has held rights since 2013.* A combined bid from CBS and ESPN.SBJ has all the details.https://t.co/4ZbMgn5sY8— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) November 12, 2021 Interesting that ESPN and CBS submitted a joint bid. They don't have the space on their broadcast channels to show games until the college football season is over. I guess maybe they could just show the early PL games and then the rest on ESPN+ and Paramount Plus?
There is six bidders. Who knows who the other two are. edit: Further tweet says Fox will be making a second round bid. * NBC, CBS-ESPN, Fox, WarnerMedia plan to submit second round bids. * Amazon is considering whether it will.
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/SB-Blogs/Breaking-News/2021/11/EPL-TV.aspx Some changes for the second round of bidding. 6 or 9 year deals No half option. All or nothing. No new partnerships. "The first change to the bidding process starts with the length of the deal. The Premier League is telling U.S. media companies to bid on a six-year deal. During the first round of bids submitted earlier this week, the Premier League asked for bids on both six- and nine-year deals (though the league has always expected its new deal to be six years). The second change shortened the types of deals that the league will accept. Now, companies must either bid for all league rights exclusively by themselves or as part of a partnership that already has been approved by the league. Back in October, the Premier League told CBS and ESPN that they could bid together."
I could see how the joint CBS/ESPN bid could work. I have posted elsewhere that ESPN's issue is the Saturday 12:30 EST matches in which at that particular point of time, they are neck deep in either College Football or Basketball depending on the time of year. CBS however could deliver the said late Saturday match in the same fashion NBC has prior to their College game of the week. With all that said, in order to ensure a near equitable number of matches between CBS and ESPN, CBS would get all matches played on Saturday between CBS and Paramount+, ESPN would have Sunday and weekday matches. Good for those who have a TV provider, convoluted for those with streaming. I suppose with the savings made as a result of the joint bid, ESPN+ could retain the FA Cup, League Cup, and the EFL. And maybe Paramount+ would feature the club tv channels such as LFCTV, MUTV, CityTV, and so on. But we shall cross that bridge once we get to it.
I don't really care since I have them all anyway, but imagine the outcry if you'll need cable/satellite/OTT cable replacement including CBS, ABC, CBSSN, ESPN/ESPN2 AND Paramount Plus AND ESPN+ to see all the games. Even needing "just" Paramount Plus and ESPN+ is sure to lead to significant whining.
Gotta think NBC wins this one. EPL is the premier sports property on Peacock They need this more than ESPN
Cbs loses the Sec game of the week (saturday 3:30et) to espn next season so I’m pretty sure cbs could air whatever they want on a Saturday afternoon.
Hat tip to @Frankball in the nbc sports thread, it APPEARS that it's ESPN vs NBC. "According to the football.london, the Premier League expects the final bids (second round presumably) from NBC and ESPN by tomorrow night. The football news outlet heard that CBS dropped out the bidding process. Moreover, it believed, leaning from the forecasters, that the final bid could be worth around $2 billion (or £1.48 billion). Here's the weblink below: Premier League's record-breaking £1.5bn deal set to see clubs make £60m each [Publish date: November 17, 2021 @ 8:09 GMT (3:08AM EST)] https://www.football.london/premier-league/arsenal-chelsea-tottenham-tv-deal-22191501"
Unofficial Reports are that NBC has retained the rights for the next six years: No official announcement yet. But word is that NBC is the winner of Premier League rights.— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) November 18, 2021
It's official: NBC wins the Premier League TV rights. Breaking: Premier League agrees new six-year deal with NBC worth more than $2billion— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) November 18, 2021 In fact it's close to $2.6billion. Wow.— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) November 18, 2021
A new twist in the aftermath of the "bidding process for the Premier League TV rights in USA" saga. Two sources: Warner/Fox came in with higher bid for EPL than NBC. #EPL— james andrew miller (@JimMiller) November 18, 2021
Wow. I'm guessing NBC either had a better distribution and presentation plan, or the EPL was just more comfortable continuing with the experienced NBC.
For VIP+ subscribers only: Senior media analyst Gavin Bridge explains why Premier League rights stayed with NBCUniversal https://t.co/bRZSe07WUp pic.twitter.com/6cLZd8dCJa— Variety (@Variety) November 21, 2021 Thx, Jay!