EPL is surely the world’s most popular soccer league, and that’s why there are many front runners for its television broadcasting rights too. In US, EPL has been broadcasted by Fox and ESPN for almost two decades, but this year their combined bid has been rejected by EPL, so US viewers are all set to watch their favorite teams fighting on a new channel – probably NBC. The current broadcasting deal is to be expired this season, and for next season, EPL is inviting offers from various contenders for a new deal that would be for three years. EPL telecast was widely watched by US viewers on Fox; hence it is said to be a major loss for both ESPN and Fox sports to miss an extremely lucrative broadcasting deal.
Expressing its disappointment, Fox said via a statement that “We were disappointed to learn today that English Premier League has elected to move forward with a different media partner despite FOX Sports Media Group’s aggressive bid, FOX Soccer has been the primary US voice of EPL for almost two decades, and has done much over the years to increase its popularity, value and availability. We wish them well. FOX Soccer continues to serve as the primary television and digital destination in the US for elite competitions including UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, FA Cup, CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF Gold Cup, and is the future home of FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup beginning in 2015.”
Simultaneous to this, ESPN also issued a statement and said, “We are disappointed that our joint bid with FOX did not retain the English Premier League rights in the United States for the next three seasons. We thank the League, which has been a great business partner, and we wish them well. We’re proud of our role in growing the sport in this country and remain committed to soccer and to its fans. We will continue to work with our colleagues at FOX to provide unrivaled coverage of the Premier League for the remainder of this season.”
Though, no NBC representative replied about their probable deal with EPL, but rumors say that NBC has agreed to pay as much as thrice of what Fox had been paying for EPL’s broadcasting rights, so it is very much likely that US viewers will watch EPL with a fresh broadcasting approach supposed to be followed by NBC. Literally, EPL could prove to be the turning point for NBC’s gaining viewership since they already own live telecasting rights for NHL in US.