NBC retains English Premier League rights in 6-year deal

NBCUniversal on Thursday announced that it had edged out rivals for the coveted rights to broadcast Premier League soccer games in the U.S. for the next six years.

Why it matters: The deal allows NBC to hold onto its existing Premier League rights, which will help the company drive subscribers to its streaming service Peacock.

Details: The new deal gives NBC exclusive rights to air all 380 Premier League matches to U.S. audiences across NBCUniversal's array of linear and streaming platforms, including NBC, USA Network, Peacock, Telemundo and Universo.

• The deal has a reported value of $2.6 billion over six years, which roughly triples the value of its current annual rights deal, per Sports Business Journal.
• NBC has had rights to air English Premier League games in the U.S. since 2013.
• In a statement, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, said, “NBC Sports has significantly strengthened the popularity of the League in the United States in that time through its fantastic coverage and promotion."

The big picture: The deal is a loss for NBC Sports rival ESPN, which had been eyeing the Premier League rights via a combined bid with CBS, per Sports Business Journal.

• ESPN has been leaning heavily into soccer to support its streaming platform ESPN+. It won the rights to air European's La Liga games in the U.S. in an eight-year deal beginning this past August. It secured U.S. rights to stream Germany's Bundesliga in 2019.