NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) has luanched a new streaming service called the ‘Premier League Pass’ that gives fans the opportunity to watch Premier League games without a cable subscription, effectively targetting cord-cutters.
This new service, powered by Playmaker Media, will stream coverage live and on-demand via desktop, mobile, tablets and connected TV devices – available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast.
This change comes in response to a changing of viewing habits as the cable companies continue to deal with growing online services that threaten the traditional TV model.
The new streaming service will cost subscribers $50 and show 130 live Premier League fixtures and highlights. This change might upset the current cable subscribers who had the luxury of having access to both games on cable and online by signing into NBC’s streaming service using their cable login info, particularly those with NBCSN in their package.
Now with this change, fans will require both the cable service and the premier league pass to access an equivalent amount of games.
“We are excited to broaden our offerings for passionate Premier League fans, featuring more content than ever at their fingertips, with approximately 20 weekly hours of live matches, studio shows, highlights and replays,” commented Rick Cordella, EVP and general manager, digital media, NBC Sports Group. “NBC Sports Gold has experienced tremendous growth since its launch last year and we look forward to providing Premier League viewers with this rich content-fuelled experience.”
“There’s probably going to be some initial disappointment,” said Jon Miller, NBC Sports president of programming. “The fact of the matter is those fans are still going to get 250 games a year, they’re able to see more games here than people in the UK are able to see.”
“There are a lot of cord-cutters out there. It’s a chance to put a product out there for those people who love the Premier League but don’t necessarily have cable subscriptions. We are still going to have all the big match-ups like the Manchester derby, Arsenal vs Chelsea, Liverpool vs Man United, all those big match-ups still stay on NBC and NBCSN.”
