UPDATE (January 12, 2021): Peacock makes U-turn and will now include Premier League TV games on-demand
Earlier this season, despite originally promising Peacock TV subscribers they would have access to on-demand replays of all 380 matches (see screenshot below), Peacock TV has pulled a bait and switch. The updated Help Center page now no longer mentions the 380 games. Instead it refers to “more than 175 exclusive LIVE plus on-demand replays.”
What that now means is that if you missed games that aired live on NBCSN or NBC, you can no longer watch the replays on Peacock TV. The only two ways you can watch replays of those games is to either have them DVR’d or to authenticate the NBC Sports App with your cable/satellite/streaming login credentials to prove that you subscribe to a service that includes NBCSN and/or NBC.
The bottom line is that you would need to subscribe to two different services (Peacock TV and your cable/satellite/streaming provider to have access to all 380 games per season, live and on-demand).
Previously, before NBC Sports and Peacock TV rolled out the changes this weekend without making their subscribers aware, you could watch replays of games on Peacock TV that originally aired on NBCSN or NBC. Now, for example, you can no longer find replays on Peacock this weekend for televised games such as Manchester United-Manchester City or Leeds United-West Ham United.
While this may not seem like a big deal to decision makers at NBC Sports and Peacock TV, it’s another disruptive change for soccer fans.
Most fans of Premier League clubs are already subscribing to a cable/satellite/streaming service to get NBCSN and NBC, as well as paying extra to get Peacock TV. But now, the ease of use of going to Peacock TV to watch all of the games on-demand has gone. Users now have to familiarize themselves again with the clunky NBC Sports App and/or NBC Sports website, and have to remember which games will be available on-demand on Peacock.
Since the time the broadcaster acquired the rights in 2013, NBC Sports have made the Premier League more difficult to access every single season.
Peacock TV is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. While they want to appear to be on the bleeding edge against streaming rivals such as ESPN+, Netflix, Paramount+ and HBO Max, Peacock TV is intrinsically linked with old media. They’re owned by NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast — the nation’s number one cable provider. The last thing Comcast would want is for consumers to cut the cord. But by having both the television and digital rights to a sports league such as the Premier League, Comcast/Peacock can control every single aspect of the customer experience and what users can access.
According to a NBC Sports spokesperson, “Moving forward, replays of Premier League games will be available on the platform that presented the live match coverage. Extended highlights of all matches continue to be available on Peacock Premium.” No explanation or further information was given for Peacock TV’s decision to change their policy mid-season.
Presumably, the changes that NBC Sports and Peacock TV are making are to stem the dramatic number of consumers who are cutting the cord. All it does though at the end of the day is to infuriate its own customers who are already subscribing to the services. The lack of communication, and petty changes, do little to foster a positive customer experience.
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Edward
August 16, 2021 at 2:28 pm
they used the 24 hour policy for the olympics
Barbara O. Chamberlain
August 16, 2021 at 10:54 am
And that’s why I refuse to pay zilch for the streaming thieves!! They, — not to mention the dying cables, — never, ever keep their promises and we, the subscribers get bunked ALL THE TIME. They give and they take and we get nothing back!! the more we pay, the more the thieves take by switching and baiting!! Yes John V, Only in America!!
Hans
August 15, 2021 at 7:43 pm
Look at the post in the following topic as this one is pretty old.
https://worldsoccertalk-wp.futbolsites.dev/2021/08/09/nbc-reveals-details-of-its-final-season-of-premier-league-coverage-under-current-tv-deal/#comment-2402884
St Mark
August 15, 2021 at 7:22 pm
They’ve done it again. Non-Peacock matches are now only available 24 hours later. At the beginning of this first Saturday it was showing 9:30 pm Eastern for replays, but later they switched them all to the next morning.
John V
April 3, 2021 at 4:20 am
It’s been a disgraceful fiasco. Peacock should NEVER had changed their commitment to airing all replays after 9pm on game day ~ free to paying subscribers. That’s about as low as it gets. Reminds me of those carpet cleaning companies who offer a set price, but then add on a heap of extras once the job’s done. Unbelievable to see NBC overtly altering their original offer because they simply want more money. Only in America!
Rye Brook
February 11, 2021 at 2:42 pm
Dan P: Amen. Say it brother. Say it! [Or CBS]. Anything but clunky clueless peabrain. Don’t forget the real villain behind the scenes…. the unmentionable – beginning with “C” ‘n doggin’ American lives since the cradle of cable. Make the change. Brothers & Sisters: “Nie wieder!”
DAN P
February 10, 2021 at 1:35 pm
Lets hope Premier League moves to ESPN and ESPNPlus for its next contract! All games, all replays and great team reporting in one place instead of the Peacock / NBC / NBCSports weekly musical chairs that is annoying, frustrating, and of course deceitful in how it was implemented. Premier League deserves a good a platform as Serie A and the Bundesliga on ESPN.
NBC has proven it is not a good partner for the EPL as they’ve put their interest ahead of the fans and league over and over again.
David Van Orden
January 18, 2021 at 9:28 am
It would seem that as of January 13, 2021, Peacock has now reversed the reversal and will now show replays of the nbcsc and nbc at 9pm of the day game was played and will keep the replay up for 30 days.
Dave
Michael B
January 1, 2021 at 4:22 pm
@cm asia, I should add, that I was ecstatic to pay $50 USD for a full year season and the ability to stream every replay (only rarely can I watch a big match live anyway) since I do not have cable. I personally think that is a great deal and would likely be happy to pay even more than that for all matches. I don’t mind paying a fair price for a valuable service, but I want what I paid for and want what they promised to deliver. I did get a full refund as many others have mentioned, but oddly, they have not cut off my account so I can actually still watch the smaller clubs further down the table and still watch the Extended Highlights (including the top clubs) as replays. I set a calendar reminder for myself to make sure that my Peacock subscription is downgraded to the free version and does not renew at the end of summer unless they do something about this. As much as I hate Comcast/NBC Universal, especially as a result of this, I would gladly pay for a real streaming package. FuboTV, Sling Blue, etc. are just too much IMHO.
Michael B
January 1, 2021 at 4:07 pm
@cm asia, I do not have cable TV, cut the cord about 9 years ago. I have a very good antenna and a TiVo DVR so I can still *usually* get the one game of the week over the air on NBC on Saturday and if lucky, a second game of the week over the air on Telemundo on Sunday. I paid for the whole year of Peacock in advance solely for Premier League (had a 1-year subscription to NBC Sports Gold last season) just so that I could stream replays of all the big teams. From my perspective, this was 100% bait and switch.
Dave
December 31, 2020 at 3:42 pm
Just discovered this change the hard way while trying to watch a replay of a match that was originally broadcast on NBCSN, and lo and behold, no replay! 99% of the reason I subscribed to peacock was bc of PL, and I almost always watch the replay. Guess I’ll be contacting them to cancel and see about a refund. Very unfortunate change. Guess I’ll start watching more series A, Bundesliga, and MLS on ESPN+
Edward
December 29, 2020 at 4:26 pm
They pulled a bait and switch about Goal Rush on Peacock today! They claimed it would be available in their press release! Let’s cAnCel!!!! /s
dr
December 29, 2020 at 4:19 pm
My local NBC affiliate plays infomercials in place of most EPL games. Obviously the Peacock service cut is not a major issue for people with alternatives. Or, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau recounted in the 18th century: “Enfin je me rappelai le pis-aller d’une grande princesse à qui l’on disait que les paysans n’avaient pas de pain, et qui répondit : Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.” I’d eat the cake if I had some.
Hans
December 29, 2020 at 12:10 pm
Never had a cable package and signed up for Peacock Premium in November for a year because of the above pictured old Help Center page details. Once Comcast/NBC did the bait and switch, I needed to decide should I reward monetarily such a devious business decision or not. I opted for the later one and requested a refund which was granted in less than 24 hours. To make it easy for anyone else who contemplates to do the same these are the steps I followed:
First you need to go to the page (without the spaces peacocktv.com / help / web-to-case) and you will get an email form. I selected the topic “I was incorrectly charged” and just quoted from the above pictured screenshot what I originally signed up for and that since 205 games are no longer available for on-demand please issue a refund.
This was done and everyone now knows what Comcast/NBC is capable of and is in a far better situation now for the 2021/2022 season as one contemplates should I sign up or not.
cm asia
December 28, 2020 at 4:47 pm
Maybe I’m in the minority regarding Peacock.
First, the picture quality from the Peacock platform is far superior to the old Gold platform. Not even close.
Also, with Peacock Premium, we’re getting 3 “Gold” offerings included in the one Peacock price: Premier League, Premiership Rugby, and all the FIS Skiing competitions.
Add in all the other entertainment programming, and for $99, commercial free for the year, it’s not a bad deal.
Would I prefer all 380 matches were still on NBC and Premier League Extra Time? Sure, but that ship has sailed.
I just wish they would keep the 10 minute World Feed pre-match intro when they queue up matches on demand.
I get the angst about the bait and switch on NBCSN replays being taken away from Peacock, but how many of you don’t have a DVR? Or have cut the cord?
roger w
December 28, 2020 at 3:11 pm
Peacock just pulled another scheduled game at the last minute. Just cancelled my subscription.
Christopher Harris
December 28, 2020 at 4:10 pm
Roger, the game was postponed by the Premier League. Peacock wasn’t involved in the decision.
Mosher
December 27, 2020 at 2:25 pm
Thank you for the article. I was wondering what happened to my replays. Bcause of my time zone and busy life I only watch replays. I’ve sent them feedback and will be sure to tell everyone I can about these shady tactics. So disappointed and have cancelled. I’m going to reach out to them in as many ways as I can.
dr
December 25, 2020 at 9:27 pm
To be honest, $5/month was ridiculously cheap for the number of games that we watch (minimum 10/month in my house, all on replay because we’re 11 hours off GMT). It might still be a bargain, depending on which games they show on Peacock, which however we’re not allowed to know much in advance,
Robert Hill Long
December 25, 2020 at 10:30 am
Thanks, DR. Message sent.
I wished the support staff happy holidays, and asked them to pass on my offer to pay $2.50 a month to Peafowl Prem, since they reduced the value of my monthly advance by half.
Maybe others could try this gambit—though it is probably as comically foredoomed as Abbie Hoffman’s idea about bringing down the Nixon administration by encouraging everyone against *that* war to mail an actual brick to the White House—postage due.
I’ll figure out something else for the 2nd half of the season, since Darth Vader’s understudies still run Comcast.
dr
December 24, 2020 at 10:10 pm
There is a form for submitting a support request here:
https://www.peacocktv.com/help/get-in-touch/plans-and-payment/premier-league
(click “send us a message”).
I was an “early complainer” (caught them even before they removed the “380 replays” web page), but never got a refund. However, I only subscribe monthly, so not a big issue.
Robert Hill Long
December 24, 2020 at 5:36 pm
As a longtime (US, former weekend geezer footballer) EPL watcher, I welcomed the apparently explicit promise by NBC to roll out Peacock Premium with a lot of matches.
I had canceled my expensive Fubo TV subscription because it had become more expensive than cable TV—though I was long done with cable TV of all sorts. I figured that Peacock Premium & ESPN+ would suffice.
I suppose I’m one of the slow learners about the nefarious and possibly fraudulent flimflam by the Scrooges in suits at Comcast/NBC. Reading these threads has reminded me of the fundamental unpleasantry involved in monopolizing sports broadcast rights, but thanks to all those suggesting workarounds, macGyvers, etc.
I sent a complaint to a Peacock support address provided here; no response. (This may be because Peacock doesn’t have any help/support address in its menu—a warning in itself.) I’ve also just sent a similar complaint to the NBC Sports.com support—happy holiday wish to support staff, more pointed message for management. Maybe some of you have done the same.
I dislike the idea of paying for a lot of television I don’t watch, and have been off cable for years. I’ll study your solutions and workarounds, but maybe I’ll just go back to Fubo.
Marco
December 24, 2020 at 11:46 am
NBC, bite me.
For a number of years I’ve been a fan boy of NBC’s Premier League support in USA.
I subscribed to NBCSN Gold last season for PL coverage and was satisfied with service and value to customer. Only problem was limitation to viewing rights when traveling outside USA.
Having been forced to peacock+ for PL coverage, which was defined by NBC as all 380 matches (albeit with time limit to access, which seemed reasonable), I bought the subscription. But getting screwed by NBC’s bait and switch downgrade to non-televised (IOW crap matches) tells me all I need to know about the network. Cancelled.
Hans
December 23, 2020 at 3:55 pm
Regarding sports programs I have CBS All Access and ESPN+ both of them are easier to navigate for me and to locate content. The approach that Peacock has chosen is not to my liking ATM. Since I paid for a year I will see how they will improve their streaming experience. Comcast came late to the streaming game and it just shows that it was rushed. The switch from cable channel to streaming content requires intuitive changes which for me are missing st this time.
Edward
December 23, 2020 at 2:04 pm
@Hans: Peacock’s channels are the same model as PlutoTV and Xumo. Perhaps you should look at Chris’ post with the schedule of shows. Their daily programming is usually replayed every couple of hours, and most of them are posted on demand.
CBS Sports HQ and other live channels do not have rewind and pause functionality.
You don’t sound like someone who spends that much time on Peacock – you don’t seem like their target demo
Mark
December 23, 2020 at 2:03 pm
Does someone want to post the support email so we can complain? I looked for it for a few minutes as I was cancelling my subscription but couldn’t find one easily. Complained on Twitter but I figure we can do more?
Mark
December 23, 2020 at 2:00 pm
SOOOOOOOO frustrated with NBC. Cancelled my subscription this week to Peacock because of the things mentioned in this article. I love the EPL but it doesn’t make sense to have to pay for Peacock AND another streaming service to watch NBCSN. Why pay as much as $40 to watch the Premier League when I can pay $5 to watch the Bundesliga and Serie A on ESPN? Want to watch the EPL but the cost is way more than it’s worth. I feel quite lied to by what they promised at the start of the season and what I was getting as a subscriber. Hoping people from Peacock are reading this post!
Hans
December 23, 2020 at 1:40 pm
@John
If you get their support email and complain about the bait and switch, somewhere I read they will refund you, but am not sure about keeping the subscription.
Hans
December 23, 2020 at 11:21 am
@Edward
If you refer to the article “Premier League TV channel launches on Peacock TV in time for new season” from September, yes I read it and posted in it. But as you can tell from the many posts users are complaining about this dismal rollout, it takes a herculean effort to find your way through the EPL content on Peacock. A post from that thread:
Christopher Harris September 10, 2020
The Premier League TV channel, as far as we understand it, will be the place to go to in order to see all of the shoulder programming from Premier League Productions. The Premier League Mornings and Premier League Live coverage from NBC Sports, when games are on Peacock, should be under the ‘Sports’ section. It’ll take a while for us to get all used to it but it’ll seem like second nature soon, I’m sure.
Edward September 10, 2020
That’s where they put games during the “soft” launch during Project Restart, but I’m sure the shows will be on demand at some point.
If Christopher looks puzzled where will the average Joe Blow make a showing and it looks like the shows are not on demand yet. Bottom line who has the time to monitor this channel when you can’t forward nor rewind. It is against the whole idea of streaming namely, find the content and play it, live or on demand.
Many are familiar with the availability of the surrounding shows on ESPN+ and CBS All Access which led many to comment on this site and like me come to the conclusion that the Peacock EPL roll out is a total cluster f***.
John H.
December 23, 2020 at 10:19 am
STOP COMPLAINING AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!!
As Premier League customers – whether you subscribe to Peacock or not – you should ALL write to the Premier League about this and insist that they move to a partner that offers access to all content on a single channel/subscription.
Also, one of you has to be a lawyer … given that NBC made this change without any notice to their subscribers, could we file a class-action lawsuit (so that you can get rich – smile!! – and to make a point to the Premier League).
Steve
December 22, 2020 at 7:09 pm
This is complete crap. Why am I paying a subscription fee for full replay on-demand coverage on Peacock and now half or more of the matches aren’t available? The random match they decide to broadcast on NBC rather than NBCSN I can’t see at all because Sling doesn’t carry NBC and the NBC Sports app blocks me from watching. And now their stupid app requires that I re-activate every day. I’ve used the app on Roku before and usually went weeks or months without having to activate. For coverage littered with on-screen score spoilers, and canned crowd noise for matches in pandemic emptied stadiums. NBC is the worst thing that’s happened to the Premier League.
Yespage
December 21, 2020 at 2:22 pm
Bill, for Nordic Sports broadcasts, it seems there is a half hour bubble in their “start time”. IE, the event starts a half hour after they say it starts.
I too noticed the oddity of no NBCSN replays with Tottenham v Liverpool. It just kind of happened. I temporarily dropped Sling because Liverpool was only half on NBCSN, but now they are almost always on NBCSN for the rest of the busy holiday schedule, so I picked Sling back up.
Edward
December 20, 2020 at 5:01 pm
@Hans: the 24/7 PL channel is not a curated feed like some of the entertainment channels on Peacock. You obviously have not read Chris’ articles about the schedule on this site. You might want to read those to see when they are on live and replay each day.
@Bill: they literally announce on Saturday Goal Zone when their coverage starts on Sunday mornings (it’s always 10 minutes before the early kickoff)
Bill
December 20, 2020 at 6:59 am
This Peacock mess continues. Opened the app on Roku this morning and it said Brighton/Blades 7am. I turned it back on at 6:50am and there was Premier League mornings already in progress…
Very frustrating that there is no schedule for what Peacock is actually airing. It always says “started 40 minutes ago” or whatever time. It’s so random with start times and what is on..
Tim Blangger
December 19, 2020 at 4:58 pm
I found out about the change when I realized the Liverpool Spurs match never appeared on Peacock. We cut the cable and I was hoping to use Peacock to view the PL matches I wanted to see. When I wrote the Peacock customer service email (which I found difficult to locate) , the rep wrote back that he was sorry for my confusion — the rep’s word — because of the change. But, as the above article states, us subscribers were never told. I wrote back and said I was disappointed and that I would be considering other streaming options when my subscription expires. The Peacock rep wrote me back within a few minutes, and I received a full refund for my subscriptions to both the commercial free Peacock and Peacock premium. I thought my subscription was canceled because I complained, but the rep stated my account was good for the term of my subscription, but I feel it was poorly handled and I suspect the refund was a sign the NBCUniversal/Comcast people acknowledged as much.
Hans
December 19, 2020 at 3:54 pm
@Edward
The Peacock 24/7 “channels” of TV aren’t live streams of its networks. Instead, they’re curated feeds of shorter programming or full episodes, organized around themes. That is totally useless because by nature “curated” means you have no idea when or what will appear in the PL channel. Life is too short to waste time with this useless approach to PL content. List when and where it appears not some endless stream of content that you have no idea of what it is.
English Mike
December 19, 2020 at 12:14 pm
Here’s what to do.. cancel Peacock relight now. Hans post the DAZN option for the none techies. Not sure how you watch EPL on this Streaming service as I looked and it has a lot of interesting articles on Football/Soccer but no EPL games. Perhaps its the VPN part as it knows I have a US IP 🙂 I’ll try that
Here is the link to cancel PEACOCK https://www.howtogeek.com/681833/how-to-cancel-your-peacock-subscription-and-change-plans/
rej4sl
December 19, 2020 at 8:24 am
I may be in the minority. But Peacock is great for us as we get to see all games live. We didn’t have NBC Sports gold and with our Xfinity cable all games are free. And with our new cable box, Peacock loads a lot better. I’m not going to knock all games for free.
Heidi Sinderman
December 18, 2020 at 11:15 pm
Yes, it’s completely ridiculous and really bad business. So many were paying for peacock JUST BECAUSE of the EPL games and I also didn’t find out until after several days of searching for W Ham v Leeds. Ridiculous and if there IS a petition going I’m signing. Total bait and switch and while the coverage was not the greatest it was so good to have without cable. You know at first you couldn’t get pcock on roku and they changed that. I’m hoping similar happens here. And to do this right before the “festive fixtures” blitz is ridiculous and super disappointing.
Nick
December 18, 2020 at 8:40 pm
FYI, I was able to get a refund by weeding through the peacock site to find an email address and emailing them.
Hans
December 18, 2020 at 3:31 pm
True you pay for convenience and if you want to support an EPL team than Sling Blue and Peacock is the easiest solution. My support for Arsenal has been put on hold as they got to sort their implosion out first. I like to watch flowing football and interesting games which is not the case for Arsenal so my interest in the EPL is not what it was at beginning of the season.
The VPN route with a year’s subscription to DAZN it $220 (US) and yes you have to jump through hoops. The Sling Blue with DVR and Peacock is $470 (US) and does not include cup games, CL & EL which is included in the DAZN subscription.
Hope you will enjoy your Southampton team as Hasenhüttle has them play excellent football. Wish you all the best.
Tim
December 18, 2020 at 2:55 pm
Total bait and switch. They promised replays of 380 games and when I signed up for a year that is what I expected. Peacock app is horrible for Premier league. You have to weed through all the other sports you aren’t interested in just to get to the nuggets of Premier league. I will not be renewing.
Southampton FC Fan in Iowa
December 18, 2020 at 12:27 pm
Well, this was not welcomed news, of course. I have invested in new hardware (that would run Peacock for TV viewing) and was very much looking forward to 380 matches. In any case, I went with SlingTv (Blue) and upgraded to the 50 hours of Cloud DVR. So now, between Sling and Peacock (Slingcock, or Pea-ing) … I should have enough EPL (?) maybe … I did look at the VPN offerings out there, but honestly, if I have to secure giftcards and a false address … I begin to doubt my sanity. 🙂
Edward
December 17, 2020 at 10:08 pm
For all the complaints about Peacock, ppl forget about the PL 24/7 channel often replay the matches on the same evening (either 30 minute cuts or full matches). They may blackout Matchday Live or late to restart the channel after NBC’s coverage ends, but the matches are available
dr
December 17, 2020 at 8:21 pm
@Hans: Shhhhh!
@Dave: If you think it is hard watching live EST, try here in HST.
Hans
December 17, 2020 at 4:07 pm
@Dave Gooner, I feel your pain but if you are only half tech savvy the games can be found on Reddit, that is where I get games that are not available on Peacock demand. You find a podcast on worldsoccertalk entitled “Future of NBCSN, MLS TV ratings, changes to Peacock and EPL TV deal” that will help you see what the future may hold in store. It is a customers market at the moment since there is a streaming war going on.
Afoul
December 17, 2020 at 1:23 pm
@KW Remember replays of NBCSN and NBC games were on the NBC Sports app, too, last season
Steven
December 17, 2020 at 12:44 pm
Infuriating! Screw NBC. Every single premiere league fan in the US should start writing in to the EPL and let them know they’re losing fans and money by allowing NBC to screw up providing their games.
Dave Gooner
December 17, 2020 at 11:49 am
Peacock TV is just another way for cable providers to squeeze more money out of the general public.
Access to this app is absolutely necessary if you want to watch the Premier League and as mentioned above, they had promised to show ALL games on-Demand. As Premier League games are played 5 hours ahead of EST, it is not always possible to be in front of a screen to Live stream a game, so I generally catch my games on-Demand. Now that they have reneged on their original statement and show ‘other’ games on-Demand via the NBC Sports app, we are now required to subscribe to a cable provider once again if you want to watch a game not shown on Peacock.
One more kick in the bollocks here is that when I went to watch the replay of Arsenal v Southampton (12/16/20), the only broadcast available on-Demand was shown in SPANISH. What a complete bunch of tossers NBC/Peacock are!!
Bob the Bob
December 16, 2020 at 10:01 pm
Good reporting. Last time I do active business with NBC. Guess it’s time for a VPN solution
swiftaw
December 16, 2020 at 5:35 pm
It also seems like they are trying to cut costs this season. Unless I am imagining it, there have been fewer instances of a 3 man booth (Arlo, Le Saux, Dixon), there have been more instances of only 1 analyst in the studio and less usage of the 2 Robbies in general, and also more days where Rebecca was missing.
Hans
December 16, 2020 at 3:22 pm
My EPL watching habits are sorted. Because greedy, filthy NBC forced the issue by taking away the on demand games on Peacock that are of interest for me like Arsenal v South Hampton and Liverpool v Tottenham. Got an invitation to a private P2P sports tracker which has Live TV. EPL sorted, my gain, Comcast’s loss. People want a central place or portal which aggregates the content they want, like Chromcast with Google TV not hunting on different device for content. The rest of the streaming providers get it, but Comcast is again late to the game.
KW
December 16, 2020 at 12:55 pm
@Afoul, I don’t think so, because last year there was the NBS Sports Gold package that included after 9 pm replays of all 380 games. Initially I thought it was a good move to get subscribers to sign up for Peacock Premium, but then get rid of replays just makes NBC look really bad and greedy. And their explanation is really lacking. At least their Youtube highlights of PL matches are good and easy to find.
Afoul
December 16, 2020 at 1:30 am
My educated guess is NBC ran afoul of contracts with pay TV providers by putting matches aired on NBC and NBCSN on demand on Peacock and not the NBC Sports app..
Don
December 15, 2020 at 9:35 pm
I would buy a subscription to Peacock if they do what CBS does. The worst decision they can do is just move Premier League to USA over NBCSN. But I am still hoping CBS bids and gets it, it will go great with the Champions and Europa League.
Michael F
December 15, 2020 at 8:29 pm
@Jp. I fully understand and realize where the complaints are coming from. I will contend to say that all these other euro leagues you mentioned on other networks with matches in one place pales in comparison of popularity of EPL and the contract for them has to be considerably cheaper to carry it.
JP
December 15, 2020 at 8:23 pm
Michael, no one is begrudging NBC for moving matches to streaming. It’s their half in half out approach that bothers most.
CBS All Access, ALL UCL and EL available there even if a match is shown on traditional TV.
ESPN+, all matches available with the exception of one Serie A, which is more often than not the early Sunday slot most of us are asleep for anyway.
beIN Sports, although not a technically a streaming option, all overflow marches not shown live on TV are available online if you subscribe (which was the way NBC treated EPL in the early days of the contract).
NBC forging EPL fans to have both Peacock and NBCSN through a provider. Time slots of when a match is on one service vs another notc consistent. Scheduling conflicts on traditional TV not a factor on when a match is on TV or Peacock. Pregame for a match can be on Peacock but the match to follow is on NBCSN. It’s just a mess.
These were all issues before their little bait and switch regarding replays. That was just the final straw for most (I’m not a subscriber to Peacock but enjoying watching the blowback they richly deserve)
Michael F
December 15, 2020 at 7:43 pm
Just to reiterate this shift of moving more sports content to streaming, this was Ourand’s prediction quote: “NBC will shut down its sports channel and move NHL and EPL programming to USA Network and Peacock. The move is part of a strategy to grow NBC’s streaming service, while keeping its big entertainment channel relevant in a cord-cutting world.” Shall be interesting if that really happens. But cord cutting is real and providers of traditional cable networks are feeling the need to adjust.
Michael F
December 15, 2020 at 7:33 pm
@SC. Yea… I believe many folks commenting their displeasure over NBC are going to be disappointed when NBC extends the deal for EPL, and all their banter is just wishful thinking. I don’t think they warrant all the extreme bad criticism to date, but certainly some of it. I did think it was interesting that Ourand predicts that NBC will be “keeping the most matches behind a paywall on Peacock.” This could be another telling sign of providers reacting to the shift away from traditional network tv subscribers (ie cutting the cord) and going to streaming options. These are changing times. Hard for some to be stuck in between both. And I get that.
Hans
December 15, 2020 at 3:32 pm
@SC Granted NBC has built a sports empire around its content, but Comcast is responsible to its shareholders for making profits and that may influence their future plans. The year 2021 will have changes in store for streaming content providers.
Excellent points are being made in the article by wired (dot) com story/disney-plus-hbo-max-streaming-wars/ here are a few points.
“Now, as all those services look to the new year, they have to figure out how to keep all those new viewers around. Last Thursday, Disney laid out an ambitious plan to do just that. For 2021, Disney big wigs focused heavily on all the new offerings coming to their streaming service, including some 22 Marvel and Star Wars projects landing there starting next year. It is part of the company’s effort to get to a projected 230 million-plus subscribers by the end of the 2024 fiscal year.”
“The problem with all this growth is that eventually streaming services will just run out of households to sign up. This year, video-on-demand services have seen more growth than at any other time in their history. But in 2021 the industry could see a massive cooling. Everyone will have tried everything and pretty much decided which ones they’re sticking to. Hence the efforts to lay claim to every screen a streaming service can get—and keep them.”
In 2021 there will be a fierce battle for eyeballs and possibly there will be a combining of service or an outbidding just to attract new viewers. The prediction of NBCSN shutting down didn’t quite come true and those changes were easy to predict as the cordcutting was already yrats in the making and just got into hyperdrive because of the pandemic. Just as content owners did not renew contracts with Netflix and Amazon so likewise content opened for bidding could change hands.
If Comcast retains the US broadcast rights I will switch to a VPN and DAZN, job done.
SC
December 15, 2020 at 2:41 pm
@Hans Don’t get your hopes up too much about NBC losing the PL. Sports Business Journal media reporter John Ourand did his 2021 prediction column yesterday, and said NBC keeping the rights for 6 more years was his easiest prediction in the bunch. Interestingly he also predicted NBCSN would shut down by the end of the year with its matches moving to USA and Peacock.
disco george
December 15, 2020 at 12:45 pm
The TV subs on Reddit are having the same conversations. Right now, it’s largely around The Office moving to Peacock on Jan 1 but the topic pops up every time something popular gets pulled off of Netflix/Prime which a lot of people have, to move to a new streaming service and another monthly fee.
The whole industry seems pretty chaotic right now, tbh. Netflix just raised prices again, Discovery+ is launching now, CBS and NBC are trying to lure people to their services, etc. The timing is bad because of the pandemic and people trying to save money right now, and it seems like a lot of these companies are just flailing around trying to find the magic bullet that will get them Netflix-level market share.
At some point, you wonder when all the “young people” they’re all trying to cater to say ‘nah, I’m just going to sail the seven seas’ and get plex boxes or whatever.
Hans
December 15, 2020 at 10:30 am
@dr
Totally agree Comcast knows their profit margin however they joined the streaming wars too late and with the pandemic find themselves in a very difficult position. Most likely a reason why they offered a free Peacock plan.
In 2020 there was a large growth in streaming subscribers for various services, sometime in the next few months people will have decided which ones they want to keep. There are only that many households that can be attracted and after that it is content to entice customers to switch. Apple TV+, Disney+, Amazon Prime and Netflix are doing that. AT&T likewise is trying to attract customers to HBO Max by offering their movies straight to their streaming service.
So what is left to attract customers to switch or add streaming services? Live sports events, that is why I believe there will be a battle for the EPL rights for the 2022/23 season. Sit tight and grin and bear it with this terrible service dished out by Comcast.
Edward
December 15, 2020 at 9:35 am
spoiler alert: subscription fees to streaming services will be going up in the future (just like Netflix, Prime and Hulu TV)
dr
December 15, 2020 at 5:04 am
The financial argument is not entirely convincing. Comcast has owned NBC Sports for 10 years, and already has extensive experience of offering relatively inexpensive season sports packages with Sports Gold. If the previous EPL package was not profitable then they would have already known this when they put together the Peacock package. Perhaps they offered this package cynically knowing that they would later need to eviscerate it in order to turn a profit, but if true that would simply reinforce the statement of this thread’s header.
Lisa
December 14, 2020 at 10:23 pm
Peacock sucks. I used to love getting up on the weekends to watch NBCSN commentary…then a game all day. Now I have to go one place for commentary…then switch to watch a game. The whole thing is maddening and ridiculous and is ruining ..
For me….the game I love….now I am just annoyed….why would you do this???? Especially I. A horrible pandemic year.
Hans
December 14, 2020 at 9:09 pm
@JP could be that they are buying up market share, they also could see the light that the future is in streaming when you want it and where you want it. Millennials and younger ones have totally different viewing habits, they don’t want a box with service and content that is tied to a physical address so they prefer streaming.
JP
December 14, 2020 at 8:50 pm
@Hans, that DAZN deal sounds amazing. Who knows if it’s profitable for them, or just buying up as many rights as possible to entice enough subscribers so they can one day become profitable. Either way, I’m jealous we don’t have that all in one option here for that low price.
I’ve commented elsewhere that it would be feasible to spend almost that little if I weren’t so beholden to needing my RSN for local NHL coverage (Serie A and UCL on ESPN+/CBS All Access, beIN through Sling or Fanatiz for La Liga at about $10 a month then most of my local NFL OTA)
No doubt in my mind you’re correct about Comcast’s bad deals and desperation to cut losses.
Hans
December 14, 2020 at 8:41 pm
Read the article and anyone will understand why Comcast has to get out of the EPL broadcast rights. They look at it like a cash cow, they are like the KSE owners of Arsenal or the Glazers of Man Utd. they are in it for covering their bad business of buying Sky.
https://deadline.com/2020/06/why-did-comcast-buy-sky-again-analyst-revisits-deal-for-declining-asset-1202973299/
Michael F
December 14, 2020 at 8:38 pm
DAZN also streams every NFL game as well. I guess Canada is the place to be if you want save big on sports tv consumption. The fact that DAZN carries all NFL games at such a more than reasonable annual fee for all their content – proves my point. America is a vastly different country than Canada where doing business and making profits is concerned. I guess you could call it greed, and i wouldnt disagree. But folks are dreaming if they think the grass will be so much greener if/when another US network provider picks up the most popular euro soccer league in the world.
Hans
December 14, 2020 at 8:29 pm
@Michael
Read my comment above and answer me the question why can DAZN offer all the games the Premier League teams are involved in for $150 a year plus much more?
The answer could be not that the price for airing is too high but that Comcast is trying to cover its losses in other ventures.
Hans
December 14, 2020 at 8:26 pm
@JP
Your points may make sense for the US or perhaps for either greedy or badly run corporations but how in the world can DAZN in Canada offer European soccer, exclusively showing 380 games of the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Serie A, MLS and Carabao Cup live, on demand and in HD. Annual subscription of $150 for all 380 games plus Champions and Europa League action, every NFL game.
If DAZN can do that in Canada than either Comcast are obscenely greedy or are total chumps when it comes to contract negotiations. Remind you though that they paid billions all-cash price because of a bidding war to Murdoch for the Sky network in various countries.
From a June 29, 2020 Deadline article:
Outplayed by Disney in a bidding war for 21st Century Fox Hollywood assets in 2018, Comcast instead acquired British satellite broadcaster Sky — for $36 billion more than it’s worth today, according to one Wall Street analyst, suggesting the plunging valuation may be less worrisome than the media giant’s lack of strategic vision for the U.K. company.
“Comcast still hasn’t said why they bought it, nor what they plan to do with it beyond simply running it as is. … Nor have they articulated any vision for why they wanted to own Sky, beyond simply arguing that it is a better business than most people think,”
This is a declining asset, so I think they may want to recoup some of that money by screwing US customers. Add to that the COVID crisis and no business under Comcast’s umbrella has been more impacted than Sky as sports were canceled in the heat of the English soccer season.
@JP can you see now why Comcast pulled the bait and switch? They are loosing money galore in the UK and any other country that has the Sky Sports network.
Michael F
December 14, 2020 at 8:16 pm
I dont know, i read all this comments of hope that they see the Premier League gets picked up by another network provider after 2022 and all will be right with the world.
Question: What is by far the most popular and most followed Euro soccer league in the world? Its EPL and I believe thats not even close. Several times more popular than the next most popular. The most popular league in the world costs a pretty penny to air their matches.
So you think CBS all access or espn+ or another will be able to show every EPL match for you at $6 a month?
I could be very wrong, but I doubt very much we will see that. Thats just reality.
Hans
December 14, 2020 at 7:57 pm
Having lived in London for 12 years and now living in the US for the past 12 years I wanted a solution for my sports habits of watching soccer of the Premier League, Seria A plus the Bundesliga. In addition I have really gotten fond of the Rugby Union matches. So I went on the research endeavor to find an acceptable price the streaming services. I will NOT EVER subscribe to a cable package with the fees for box and other useless incidental garbage fees. Here are the options that I came up with.
1. Rugby has the easiest solution. ESPN+ and Peacock will give me all the major Rugby competitions including On Demand.
2. Soccer is more difficult. ESPN+ and CBS All Access gives me all the soccer except the Premier League. It does give you all the Cup games of the Premier League teams.
The total cost for these three streaming service are $160 for a full year. My local TV stations come Over The Air (OTA) via an antenna in the attic which gives me all the local TV stations. I run the antenna into a SiliconDust HDHomeRun tuner that puts all the TV channels that I get OTA (52 of them) on my WiFi network and all the devices in the house can receive it. One time cost tuner plus Antenna and splitter less then $200 (going on 7 years so far).
3. This leaves the peskier NBCS Premier league games to sort. Since I have Peacock for some EPL games it is the NBCS games to get and they are offered on Sling TV Blue for $30 a month. However I am not sure if you can get the games also via On Demand.
To me paying $360 a year just to get those few extra games is unacceptable. I refuse to support this business model. If the networks make a loss then renegotiate the contracts or get out of the business since it is too hot for you. This however will not be resolved sometime in 2021 or even early 2022.
In the meantime there are a few other options. As mentioned already, use the Internet resources and watch the games for free or download the complete finished games from various Internet locations. For the past 12 years I have watched Match Of The Day (MOTD) and MOTD2 about an hour after they completed airing in the UK.
In addition you have two other options namely obtain the streams from a different country and use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to connect to servers in Canada (DAZN) or servers in Australia (Optus Sports).
From the Canadian DAZN website:
DAZN is the home of European soccer, exclusively showing UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and Serie A. And with this, you’ll never miss the best of European soccer again! For the hardcore soccer fan, we also show MLS and Carabao Cup and much, much more live, on demand and in HD. Annual subscription of $150 for all 380 Premier League games plus Champions and Europa League action.
Looks like Canadians have it made $150 per year for all your sports needs add to that for US residents a yearly VPN fee of $100 for 15 months. The disadvantage, it requires some tech knowledge. There you have it the solutions until hopefully a new provider carries the EPL for the 2022/2023 season.
Michael F
December 14, 2020 at 7:26 pm
@Jp You bring up some very good points. I will add though… that we are currently at a cross roads shift from traditional network (aka cable network) tv and growing stream providers with increasing households cutting the cord. These content providers are traversing the changing waters to see what is most profitable. So this is another reason why there are unhappy campers on both sides of the spectrum (cable/sat tv subscribers and stream subscribers).
JP
December 14, 2020 at 7:01 pm
@rick, the way NBC has progressively put more matches behind the streaming paywall since getting the contract, plus the way Turner and now CBS have treated UCL/EL makes me believe at least one or two things (both can be true)
1) televising soccer matches isn’t profitable with the current deals and they need to recoup by making those of us who would watch pay for it.
2) all these media companies (ESPN included) are using soccer as a loss leader to gain subscribers to their streaming platform.
What I fear is once these streaming platform go mainstream they may no longer want/need soccer to build some of their subscriber base and stop bidding on the rights altogether. Or, even putting it behind the paywall isn’t profitable and they stop bidding for rights.
If either assumption is correct and if either fear materializes we’ll be left with little to no soccer coverage here.
Rodrigo
December 14, 2020 at 6:53 pm
I am one of those infuriated customers, and nobody cares when you have a complain related to soccer. I had to spend now 30 a month for sling tv to just watch a couple games a week. The anual memberhip of nbc gold pass was much better. This Peacock sucks. I never liked it like at the beginning when they weren’t compatible with roku so i had to chromecast the games. It is really dissapointing and fustrating. Just hoping they won’t later decide to broadcast the good games back on peacock so you have to pay for both services.
rick
December 14, 2020 at 6:18 pm
Soccer coverage is going downhill- making viewers search tons of channels or streaming services to watch games. In addition, this all adds up during a recession. NBC should go back to showing games on it’s network of channels- forget streaming. Let more viewers access the sport not less.
Hopefully, Amazon Prime or ESPN picks up the coverage. ESPN has lots of networks and also ABC.
NBC started off so well – Peacock is not reliable and not easily accessible.
Let the average fans see games- network tv is where the game belongs.
Edward
December 14, 2020 at 6:09 pm
for everyone clamoring for CBS All Access to win these rights, their app is as clunky as Peacock/NBC Sports app
Michael F
December 14, 2020 at 5:27 pm
Chris,
Thank you for clarifying that. That provides hope for me to still have access to the Premier league production shoulder programming in the future… should another network stream provider get the premier league after NBC’s current contract expires. I enjoy it as much as the matches themselves.
Don
December 14, 2020 at 4:23 pm
NBC is pulling a TNT it sounds like. And all I want for Christmas is for CBS to become the new rights holders come next negotiations NBC doesn’t deserve the Premier League anymore.
disco george
December 14, 2020 at 4:21 pm
Pointing out that NBC/Peacock is just streaming the content that Premier League Productions creates is hardly being a “hater”. But I’m also not stanning Comcast for using outside content that they already get access to as a rights holder.
It’s pretty clear that the PLP content is just there as filler to them — the long embargo after every broadcast makes it seem like they view it as a threat rather than added value for the consumer. It’s just the sports equivalent of the SNL or Office ‘shorts’ feeds they have — easy content they can use to make a ‘channel’ out of.
Not stan-worthy in my opinion, but mileage clearly varies.
Jesus
December 14, 2020 at 2:23 pm
It’s obvious that Comcast wants people to subscribe to both NBCSN and Peacock by making sure that programs that appear on NBCSN aren’t available on Peacock and vice versa. I used to watch the Premier league Preview show on Gold on Fridays but now have to wait till Saturday morning to watch it on NBCSN since it is not available on Peacock. NBC/Comcast is making the subscriber experience worse.
PushedMeTooFar
December 14, 2020 at 2:04 pm
And this is why I stream the games by ‘other means’. I use to pay to get the NBC sports to watch the games but then they went to NBC Gold and now Peacock and I was done with them. I have no regrets. Get a good free virus detector and pop up blocker and I can watch any game I want any time I want
Edward
December 14, 2020 at 12:54 pm
at least we get Goal Rush this week
if the schedule were like normal seasons, the use of Peacock would be more similar to Gold, but unfortunately things changed in 2020
rick
December 14, 2020 at 12:05 pm
Peacock was a terrible decision by NBC- games need to be on network tv period!
matthew howell
December 14, 2020 at 11:15 am
I found out about this service reduction with no price reduction when trying to access Friday’s game, and messaging Peacock for an explanation via their Facebook page. Very shortsighted and naive of them to think this is going to discourage cord-cutting – I suspect it will just drive more people to find alternatives. I already cut the cord and use one of the many free apps that lets you access NBCSN, UK’s Sky Premier League channel etc without needing a cable tv subscription. These are easy to find with a search on youtube.
It also seems likely a lot of people only signed up for Peacock BECAUSE of the Prem coverage. Lord knows, the rest of the line up isn’t exactly compelling.
Luckily I was on the monthly P’cock plan so can cancel at any time. But what happens to the people who signed up for a year and are now not getting what was promised?
I urge Peacock subscribers to send a message to NBC by cancelling their subscription and blasting them with complaints via facebook messages, emails, chats etc. They definitely a red card for this unacceptable change.
Neal
December 14, 2020 at 10:21 am
How do we start a petition against NBC’s unfair broadcasting distribution?
Need to get Premier League on board, because in the end this could hurt their brand image.
JP
December 14, 2020 at 9:50 am
Not related to EPL, but another complaint about NBC.
I got somewhat into MotoGP in recent years when beIN had the contract. Not generally a fan of motor sports but could appreciate the athletic ability needed in this event vs car racing and the races itself weren’t multiple hours long.
Since NBC got the contract this year have only seen one race (and they showed on tape delay instead of live as beIN almost always did), no promotion for it, etc.
As CTBlues notes, they have time for constant Ninja Warrior and Monster Truck replays but not real sports.
CTBlues
December 14, 2020 at 9:38 am
Got to love NBCSN showing reruns of America Ninja Warrior and Monster Truck instead of soccer hoping people subscribe to your crappy streaming service.
CTBlues
December 14, 2020 at 9:34 am
COMCAST is ruing the EPL viewing experience for me by splitting the games on TV/Peacock. I was able to deal with the 3 to 5 BS games on Gold for my team in a season but having full days of games on Peacock means I don’t watch soccer that day even if it is my team in one of those games. Guess what COMCAST I watched the foggy no offense Army Navy game on CBS instead of paying for Peacock to watch Chelsea play Everton on Saturday.
Keith
December 14, 2020 at 9:03 am
For the commenter above: Peacock is the slowest app to load for me too. I only have Roku Ultras and Nvidia Shields so am up to date on devices. Runs fine once loaded – although somewhat clunky to find things.
This loss of replays is completely baffling. Now I can’t get the equivalent of NBC Sports Gold for Premier League from last season. Also, they have some of the other sports from NBC Sports Gold on their service – figure skating, skiing, speed skating, at least some of the cycling. So they are now giving me those but taking away others.
Michael F
December 13, 2020 at 11:55 pm
Last sentence should read… ‘no better way to follow a league so in depth’.
Michael F
December 13, 2020 at 11:53 pm
Disco George… Say what you want… but I love that 24/7 PL TV shoulder programming content thruout the week from Sky Sports and what is presented on-demand from it. . A lot of Comcast haters here… but Comcast owns this British telecom and media conglomerate Sky plc. As a result, NBC is a domestic rightsholder of the Premier League in the UK. This simulcast programming of PL is head and shoulders better than any content you can could get from ESPN or CBS. I would seriously miss it. There is better way to follow a league so in depth. I guess I am in the minority. Oh well.
Christopher Harris
December 14, 2020 at 7:51 am
Technically, the 24/7 programming from the Premier League that’s available via Peacock TV is produced by Premier League Productions, which is a partnership with TWI. Sky Sports doesn’t create any of that programming. So if Comcast/NBC lost the rights to the Premier League in the next TV deal, whoever the new rights holder would be could still access all of the programming from Premier League Productions, if they wanted to.
disco george
December 13, 2020 at 11:01 pm
Yeah, the Premier League TV channel is cool and all (when it’s actually playing, i.e. not now because there was a game on six hours ago), but it’s not like NBC/Peacock created that content. I’m not giving them that much credit for using a feed that someone else produced, especially when I have to come here to find out what’s actually on.
Cary
December 13, 2020 at 10:13 pm
Michael you are a tool. I/we only want what I /we paid for. All Matches after 9:00. It is not extreme to say it is wrong or note out the errors and lies. Do what you promise. If I don’t do what I say I don’t get paid. I only bought peacock for the Premiere League. When the Premiere League realizes they can stream it all them self and make way more money. Believe me it will happen.
J.D.
December 13, 2020 at 9:49 pm
This is infuriating. The ONLY reason I got peacock was to be able to watch Premier League, and it was ALREADY MORE EXPENSIVE than their prior premier league pass. This was a blatant lie. I’m paying for something I can no longer receive.
Hans
December 13, 2020 at 9:46 pm
Comcast worked hard to shed the reputation for being one of the most hated companies as well as dismal in reputation and customer support. According to Wall St. Journal media conglomerate Comcast is ranked 8th worst in reputation. Well this move of theirs will undo what they worked so hard on, namely trying to improve their image.
Michael F
December 13, 2020 at 8:55 pm
Dr. Yep. Understood. Up to this recent change, Peacock also had all matches on demand available at 9pm eastern, as Chris pointed out. I already pointed out how disappointing that is.
JP
December 13, 2020 at 8:52 pm
Comcast is the worst, so glad my city allowed some competition in the form of Fios 8-9 years ago.
To pile on what others have said, not only do I hope NBC loses EPL after 2022, hope they lose the NHL after this season too and make NBCSN utterly useless.
Yes I know they have the NFL and golf and Olympics, but those are mostly shown on NBC, Gold Channel, etc. NBCSN may get non prime time Olympic events but that’s not enough to sustain the channel.
Please, good riddance.
dr
December 13, 2020 at 8:21 pm
MichaelF, just a correction: with NBC sports gold *all* the replays were available. For those of us who can only watch through replays instead of live, this is a very major change.
Carl Armour
December 13, 2020 at 8:06 pm
Serious question: is it fair to have half the league play in front of (home only) fans? Seems like a distinct advantage at no fault of either club on the pitch.
Hans
December 13, 2020 at 8:00 pm
Michael, just to add to this. All of us who have paid for the Peacock service where grumbling about the navigation of the site where to find content. Just the idea that you have a channel on the website that tries to give the look and feel of the cable experience tells you all you need to know about Comcast’s approach to streaming. We were OK with the limited games, 7:30am EST and those of the competitions that were low on the totem poll as long as we had on demand of all the games on peacock. But that changed and now the wrath of paying customers is warranted.
For me personally I never watch a pregame show but want to have post game analysis. CBS has a London studio for the CL games and I am OK with the handling of it. If any complaint it would be the many commercials after just a few minutes of announcements.
For NBC the contract ends with the 2021-22 season and I really hope that someone else will pick up the rights because I can’t see Comcast detaching itself from cable and wanting customers to pay for a cable package, their Peacock streaming package and for some unfortunate ones a capped Internet package. They don’t get it, today people want their content on portable devices not being tied to some cable box in their home.
By the time we reach the 2021-22 season the landscape of cord cutting and streaming service will be much clearer and I have a sneaky feeling that Google with its mega money and its TV service may spring for it.
Just to add to the job that CBS has done with the Champions League, they bought the rights with very little time to get studios and teams ready for the broadcast and in my opinion did a fantastic job considering the monumental task at hand.
Michael F
December 13, 2020 at 7:37 pm
Hans. No one is paying me. Your points are valid, i just dont like extreme criticism where it may not be warranted. I like the NBC match day coverage over anything I’ve seen from espn or cbs. Technically, those two may be more advanced for a certainty. I just cringe at the thought of any over network provider not carrying the outstanding PL tv coverage that nbc sports gold had and Peacock picked up. Its outstanding. Thanks
Hans
December 13, 2020 at 5:58 pm
@Michael F
You are either paid to criticize valid complains by upset customers over the mediocrity of Peacock or you are a NBC fanboy.
1. CBS All Access which I have (years subscription) is head and shoulders above peacock. You watch one game of the Champions League and when the game ends in the same channel it automatically switches to any game still in progress and ends with first going to the Goalazo show highlighting a few of the best goals of the say and finally ending up in the post game show. Excellent pundits and excellent video quality.
2. I have ESPN+ (years subscription) for Seria A, Bundesliga and all the Cup games. No complaints just fantastic coverage with the ESPN-FC show covering all global soccer activity.
Both of these streaming channels are a joy to watch easy to navigate and easy to find any content. Comcast which owns this NBCSN/Peacock disaster has jumped on to the streaming bandwagon way too late and they are not willing to change their business model. You reap what you sow and they are now knee deep in this mess.
Many of us are praying, hoping and sincerely wishing that at contract renewal time some other outfit will win the EPL rights. CBS would be excellent, dark horse Amazon would be another favorite of mine as they already have rights to the EPL in the UK. Perhaps even YouTube TV. No one can be worst than the money grabbing shysters at Comcast.
In the meantime since Comcast has created this disaster I am enjoying the resources of the Internet to bring me the games that air on NBCSN for free. If I want to watch the games on demand that are on NBCSN there is always Reddit. Comcast has begged and asked for willing paying customers to go the dark route. Up yours Comcast.
Don
December 13, 2020 at 5:35 pm
Michael yes the per/post coverage might not be best yet for CBS but my bet is they will higher a few more people just for Premiere League coverage. I base this off of how they right now do CBS (major ncaaf) games pre and post coverage such as SEC game of the week; compared to CBSN and their coverage of the Mountain West or other smaller conferences.
Personally I think they would have had pre and post coverage of the Manchester derby on CBS but then again I might be giving them to much credit because I love what they do with all the other sports be it Golf, NCAA Basketball, American Football.
Michael F
December 13, 2020 at 5:10 pm
Be careful what you wish for. CBS studio match day coverage of the champions league is awful by comparison. A lot of people are complaining about it. Way below par NBC’s premier league match day’s quality of coverage.
Don
December 13, 2020 at 5:01 pm
This right here, I have been complaining week after week. Hopefully now our “fearless leaders” will come around and agree that NBC needs to lose the next round of negotiations to CBS. CBS has taken Champions and Europa League and made it the best ever they can easily do the same with Premier League especially now that they lost the SEC Football rights to ESPN on Saturday’s. That allows CBS a prime spot on CBS for the late match and they can use CBS All Access for every match like they do now with the Champions and Europa League.
Michael F
December 13, 2020 at 4:51 pm
Correction: The reference above… ‘match contact’ should be ‘match content’. Thanks.
Michael F
December 13, 2020 at 4:49 pm
Azur…. let’s put this into perspective. As always, criticism of something is always way too extreme. And yours is definitely extreme. ‘Failed miserably’.? No. Not so. They are splitting the live match contact between NBC sports network and Peacock. They did this same thing prior to Peacock with NBC sports gold subscription. This is a legitimate complaint and can be upset about that, but c’mon. Beyond that, NBC’s studio and match coverage has been the gold standard that all other network providers can look to for Euro football coverage. The issue is what I mentioned above, and nothing more. Their coverage of this league is outstanding — between their love match day coverage, the 24/7 PL tv live channel and on-demand content etc.
Edward
December 13, 2020 at 4:17 pm
They are under-utilizing the 24/7 PL TV channel content…not everything is available on demand either
Michael F
December 13, 2020 at 1:46 pm
That is really unfortunate. Not good business at all, to back out of earlier statement and commitment to premier league fans to provide all the PL matches via on-demand. Peacock paid subscribers have reason to raise a complaint over this.
Azer
December 13, 2020 at 1:33 pm
It looks like NBC is slowly downgrading it’s Premier League content and packing it’s bags. I can only hope. It is never to early for other companies to start making plans to win the PL rights from the greedy Peacock network. As I said before, NBC was given a chance to shine and they failed miserably. May it’s lights dim soon.
Kevin
December 13, 2020 at 1:19 pm
Not just disappointing, but lies and cheating. NBC/Peacock have promised repeatly that all 380 EPL games would be replayed on Peacock, but now, mid season, after garnering lots of subscriptions, they change the contract. I complained to customer service chat and they responded by refunding all the charges I have paid to Peacock so far; I want the games though. Why is it that huge companies can get away with no customer service telephone number? I did find one months ago, but then lost it. If you know what it is, please post.. IF YOU WANT TO EMAIL PEACOCK TO COMPLAIN, try: support@help.peacocktv.com.. I hope someone files a law suit. After the West Ham Leeds game did not show, I watched the NBC Highlights on YouTube. The announcer (Christy Low?) was also unaware of the change, and again stated all 380 replays would be available on Peacock. Peacock are making those people loose credibility too.
Dave
December 13, 2020 at 12:23 pm
This just adds to my complaints about Peacock/NBC’s implementation.
1. When games stream back-to-back on Peacock, you have to leave one game and click on the next. Why not roll them in a continuous stream that makes it easy for viewers?
2. Streamed games leave holes for commercials but the hole-filler is a silent graphic promoting Peacock shows. It’s always the same graphic and silent. NBC promised that streaming would make it possible for more time for pre-game/halftime/post-game shows but that hasn’t been proven true. They license a ton of PL content. Why not show a short piece or a highlights package in those holes, while preserving the space for commercials during replays?
3. The app itself is the slowest-loading app I have. Takes forever to load. I’m on Fire stick and had to sideload the app, which could be part of the issue, but still…
4. Live games and upcoming games are unevenly promoted on the app’s main page. Sometimes I have to go hunting for the link to the next game and occasionally have to shut off the app and reload it.
5. Studio show is beginning to show signs of being forced to get cheaper. Early games feature only one analyst. It feels like the early days of ESPN’s PL decay, when, at the end, they got rid of a studio show pre-game and forced poor Ian Darke to tape a cheapie solo “pre-game” outside the stadium.
Alice Via
December 13, 2020 at 11:24 am
Agree! I didn’t want to pay the second fee to watch the games (that USED TO BE on NBCSN) Why split them up? between Peacock’s greed and all the championship games that distract from the season I am losing some of my interest in football altogether! Bad enough already splitting the games with NBC.