NBC Sports Gold

NBC Sports Gold is a subscription over-the-top service operated by NBC Sports providing expanded access to several sports' content in the United States. The pass for each sport is sold separately. NBC Sports Gold is available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, and Roku.

History

On June 9, 2016 it was announced that the "NBC Sports Tour de France Live" app would be relaunched as NBC Sports Gold ahead of the 2016 edition of the race. The rebranded service would also provide live, commercial free streaming coverage of several other cycling events for which NBC Sports was the rights holder including the Vuelta A Espana and Paris-Roubaix. The service was initially priced at $29.99 for a year long pass.[1]

In March 2017 a separate "Rugby Pass" was announced. This pass provides live coverage of every Premiership Rugby match.[2] The service was further expanded in April 2017 with a new "Track and Field Pass" which provided access to 25 Track and Field events including the Boston Marathon and Diamond League events.[3] An additional "Pro Motocross Pass" was announced later that month providing access to every AMA Pro Motocross event. This is so far the only pass made available to users outside the United States.[4]

A second season of the cycling pass was announced on June 6, 2017 with the addition of new events including the UCI Road World Championships, Colorado Classic, and Volta a Catalunya.[5] The pass also included 30 hours of 2017 Tour de France coverage exclusive to the platform.[6]

The platform expanded once again in June 2017 with the announcement of "Premier League Pass." Priced at $50, the pass includes 130 exclusive live Premier League matches, a minimum of three per club, as well as match replays and original programming from NBC Sports and Premier League Productions.[7] The matches had previously been available at no additional charge to subscribers of participating cable and satellite providers as part of NBC's now defunct "Premier League Extra Time" package.[8]


Criticism

The creation of "Premier League Pass" was met with disappointment in the soccer community, with prominent soccer website World Soccer Talk describing it as "a giant step backward." The website further noted that the move was particularly harmful to fans of league's smaller clubs.[9] The package was also criticized for not going far enough with 250 Premier League matches remaining exclusive to cable.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "“NBC SPORTS LIVE EXTRA” TO BE RE-BRANDED AS THE NBC SPORTS APP", NBC Sports Group Pressbox
  2. ↑ "NBC Sports Gold Provides Fans With ‘Rugby Pass’" sportsvideo.org
  3. ↑ "Are NBC’s over-the-top packages, including the new $70 track one, a vision of the future?" Awful Announcing
  4. ↑ "DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER LIVE STREAMING PRODUCT NBC SPORTS GOLD INTRODUCES “PRO MOTOCROSS PASS” WITH ACCESS TO ENTIRE LUCAS OIL PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON" NBC Sports Group Pressbox
  5. ↑ "NBC Sports Gold adds 15 races to streaming service", "Velo News"
  6. ↑ "NBC Sports Gold Launches 2017-18 'Cycling Pass' Including Coverage of TOUR DE FRANCE", "broadwayworld.com"
  7. ↑ , "multichannel.com"
  8. ↑ "NBC to launch paid subscription English Premier League soccer streaming service"
  9. ↑ "Premier League Pass marks a giant step backward for NBC’s coverage of EPL" "World Soccer Talk"
  10. ↑ "NBC Sports: Premier League Pass needs to feature all 380 games to be relevant", "World Soccer Talk"
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