FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 16th, 2017
TOTTENHAM HOST CHELSEA IN SHOWDOWN OF LAST SEASON’S TOP TWO PREMIER LEAGUE TEAMS THIS SUN., AUG. 20, AT 11 AM ET ON NBCSN & TELEMUNDO
Thrilling Opening Weekend Posts 31% Viewership Increase from ’16 & Produces Most-Streamed Premier League Weekend Ever
Stoke City v. Arsenal This Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC & UNIVERSO
Manchester City Host Everton This Monday at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, Followed at 5:30 p.m. ET by Season Debut of THE MEN IN BLAZERS SHOW
NBC Sports Gold’s “Premier League Pass” Presents Four Exclusive Games Saturday at 10 a.m. ET Plus More Than 1,000 Hours of Additional Content throughout the Season
STAMFORD, Conn. – August 16, 2017 – After a memorable opening weekend of Premier League action featuring an upset of the defending champions, a wild back-and-forth affair between Arsenal and Leicester City in the league’s first ever Friday night opener, and a two-goal debut for major Manchester United offseason signing Romelu Lukaku, the second week slate features a matchup of last season’s top two clubs as Tottenham host Chelsea this Sunday, August 20, at 11 a.m. ET, on NBCSN and TELEMUNDO.
Tottenham, led by last year’s Premier League leading scorer Harry Kane, are fresh off a 2-0 season-opening victory against Newcastle United. Defending champions Chelsea look to rebound following a 3-2 loss to Burnley.
NBC Sports Group’s lead Premier League play-by-play announcer Arlo White calls the match, joined by analyst Graeme Le Saux from Wembley Stadium.
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OPENING WEEKEND VIEWERSHIP UP 31%
Total Audience Delivery (TAD) for the Premier League’s six match windows last weekend averaged 592,000 viewers – up 31% from last year’s opening weekend (452,000), which took place on the middle weekend of the 2016 Rio Olympics. The average of 592,000 viewers also marks the second-best TAD ever in the U.S. for the opening Premier League weekend. TAD measures consumption across multiple platforms, combining the Average Minute Audience (AMA) for television and digital. TV-only viewership for the six match windows averaged 546,000 viewers with live streaming accounting for 46,000 viewers, or more than 8% of the audience.
MOST-STREAMED PREMIER LEAGUE WEEKEND EVER
The first weekend of action delivered NBC Sports Digital’s most-streamed Premier League match week ever, with 38 million live minutes. Live minutes for the seven matches streamed by NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app were up 24% compared to last season’s opening weekend (10 matches), with Friday’s Arsenal v. Leicester City delivering 9.1 million live minutes to rank as the second most-streamed match ever (behind Liverpool v. Manchester United on Mon., 10/17/16, 10.3 million).
TOP 5 FROM NBC SPORTS GOLD’S “PREMIER LEAGUE PASS”
NBC Sports Gold’s “Premier League Pass” debuted last weekend with three exclusive live matches and a robust lineup of Premier League content. Following were the five most-popular, non-match streams of the opening weekend:
- Season Preview (2017-18)
- Fantasy Premier League
- Premier League Review
- Match Pack
- Season Review (2016-17)
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This week’s Premier League coverage begins this Saturday, August 19, at 7 a.m. ET on NBCSN with Premier League Live followed by Swansea City v. Manchester United at 7:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN and UNIVERSO. Romelu Lukaku led the Red Devils to a 4-0 season-opening win against West Ham United with two goals.
Live match coverage continues Saturday at 10 a.m. ET with Liverpool v. Crystal Palace on NBCSN and UNIVERSO. Crystal Palace look to rebound after a 3-0 loss to newly promoted Huddersfield Town.
Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET, Stoke City host Arsenal on NBC. Arsenal are fresh off a 4-3 comeback victory over Leicester City in the Premier League’s first Friday night opener in the 129-year history of English football’s top tier. White calls the match joined by Lee Dixon.
Sunday’s coverage begins at 7:30 a.m. ET with Premier League Live on NBCSN, followed by a match between two newly promoted teams, Huddersfield Town and Newcastle United at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Premier League coverage on Monday, August 21, kicks off at 2 p.m. ET with Premier League Live on NBCSN, followed by Manchester City v. Everton at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Wayne Rooney, who scored the game-winning goal against Stoke City last Saturday, aims to lead Everton to a second consecutive win to start the season. Coverage concludes with Goal Zone at 5 p.m. ET on NBCSN, followed at 5:30 p.m. ET by the season premiere of THE MEN IN BLAZERS SHOW featuring popular soccer personalities Michael Davies and Roger Bennett. Monday’s season-debut episode will feature interviews with Tottenham Hotspur’s Christian Eriksen and Toby Alderweireld.
All matches will be preceded and followed by Premier League Live pre- and post-match shows from the NBC Sports Group International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn. Rebecca Lowe hosts Premier League Live, joined by former Major League Soccer and U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Kyle Martino and former Premier League footballer Robbie Mustoe.
This season, NBC Sports Gold – NBC Sports Digital’s direct-to-consumer live streaming product – introduced “Premier League Pass,” which features 130 exclusive Premier League matches live and on-demand, an extensive suite of daily and weekly news shows, plus classic archive programming never available before in the U.S. This weekend’s four matches exclusive to “Premier League Pass” are at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday: Burnley v. West Bromwich Albion, Leicester City v. Brighton & Hove Albion, Bournemouth v. Watford, and Southampton v. West Ham United. “Premier League Pass” will feature more than 1,000 hours of additional non-match content throughout the season. Fans can purchase by visiting NBCSportsGold.com for the 2017-18 season of “Premier League Pass,” priced at $49.99. Click here for more information.
NBC Sports Gold is available on Apple iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast and online at NBCSportsGold.com. NBC Sports Gold is powered by Playmaker Media, NBC Sports Digital’s technology service which provides end-to-end support for companies in need of best-in-class live streaming and VOD solutions.
Premier League games on NBC and NBCSN will be streamed on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app — NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, tablets, and connected TVs. Coverage will be streamed via “TV Everywhere,” giving consumers additional value for their subscription service, and making high quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms. The NBC Sports app is powered by Playmaker Media and available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire.
Following is the match schedule for this week’s Premier League coverage:
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Network |
| Sat., Aug. 19 | 7 a.m. | Premier League Live | NBCSN |
| Sat., Aug. 19 | 7:30 a.m. | Swansea City v. Manchester United | NBCSN, Universo |
| Sat., Aug. 19 | 10 a.m. | Liverpool v. Crystal Palace | NCBSN, Universo |
| Sat., Aug. 19 | 10 a.m. | Burnley v. West Bromwich Albion | NBC Sports Gold |
| Sat., Aug. 19 | 10 a.m. | Leicester City v. Brighton & Hove Albion | NBC Sports Gold |
| Sat., Aug. 19 | 10 a.m. | Bournemouth v. Watford | NBC Sports Gold |
| Sat., Aug. 19 | 10 a.m. | Southampton v. West Ham United | NBC Sports Gold |
| Sat., Aug. 19 | 12:30 p.m. | Stoke City v. Arsenal | NBC, Universo |
| Sat., Aug. 19 | 2:30 p.m. | Goal Zone | NBC |
| Sun., Aug. 20 | 6:30 a.m. | Match of the Day | NBCSN |
| Sun., Aug. 20 | 7:30 a.m. | Premier League Live | NBCSN |
| Sun., Aug. 20 | 8:30 a.m. | Huddersfield Town v. Newcastle United | NBCSN |
| Sun., Aug. 20 | 11 a.m. | Tottenham Hotspur v. Chelsea | NBCSN, Telemundo |
| Sun., Aug. 20 | 1 p.m. | Goal Zone | NBCSN |
| Mon., Aug. 21 | 1 a.m. | Match of the Day II | NBCSN |
| Mon., Aug. 21 | 2 p.m. | Premier League Live | NBCSN |
| Mon., Aug. 21 | 3 p.m. | Manchester City v. Everton | NBCSN |
| Mon., Aug. 21 | 5 p.m. | Goal Zone | NBCSN |
| Mon., Aug. 21 | 5:30 p.m. | THE MEN IN BLAZERS SHOW | NBCSN |
–NBC SPORTS GROUP–
