America’s Cup on TV – UK and USA Deals Announced

Americas Cup, Television, USA | March 2, 2012 by David Fuller | 1 Comment

America’s Cup Live on NBC Network TV in America.

We all know that the new package is technologically good, but if great TV was about great computer graphics, they would broadcast people playing Call of Duty live. So NBC must believe that the new America’s Cup is about more than just the innovative “augmented reality” and somewhere there is a story and a soul.

The 34th America’s Cup will be broadcast live on NBC and the NBC Sports Network beginning in September 2013, but ACEA have not revealed whether or not the America’s Cup will receive any revenue for the rights. A distribution and marketing deal is part of the package.

Richard Worth, Chairman of the America’s Cup Event Authority said recently that sailing was one of its own worst enemies when it came to commercialising the sport. In his opinion, years of ‘giving away’ the TV rights for sailing has damaged the sport and made it harder to sell the new America’s Cup TV package, so it will be interesting to know what NBC think the new Cup is worth.

The deal is welcome news for teams who are desperately trying to convince sponsors that there will be an audience for the 34th America’s Cup. With challengers looking for upwards of $40 million to build an AC72 and continue to the next phase, only a free-to-air television deal in the US would justify such spend by a brand on a purely commercial basis.

The NBC deal will allows teams to fill in the blank page on their sponsorship proposals where ‘Live Free to Air TV” should be.

Jon Miller, President of Programming at the NBC Sports Group said:

“This is a great example of how the unique assets of the NBC Sports Group – broadcast, cable, and regional — can work together to provide comprehensive coverage of a prestigious event. Viewers are in for a treat as the defense of the Cup by Team USA/ORACLE Racing takes place in the U.S. for the first time in 18 years.”

One of the reasons that Cup TV salespeople have blamed for the lack of deals is the inconsistency of start-times and sailing’s unpredictability that can play havoc with schedules. By increasing the wind range that the boats can compete in, the 34th America’s Cup should help broadcasters out, but as the most recent Daytona 500 has shown – weather delays can affect even the biggest sporting events.

The details of the deal include:

The first two days of racing will be broadcast over-the-air across the United States on September 7-8 on NBC, with the remaining races airing on NBC Sports Network. With the event taking place in San Francisco, the NBC Sports Group’s regional sports network Comcast SportsNet California will provide the additional local coverage that surrounds the America’s Cup Finals. NBC Sports Group also acquired the rights to the 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup, the America’s Cup Challenger Series, which determines the challenger for the America’s Cup Finals.

America’s Cup World Series on SKY Sports

When the America’s Cup World Series finally starts up again in April in Naples, it will be available to UK viewers live on SKY sports. 13 hours of live coverage is planned from the 11th to the 15th of April.

The events will also be able to be watched live streamed on skysports.com – which seems a little redundant, given that they will also be available via the live YouTube channel. The commercials of the deal have not been revealed, so it is not known if ACEA is being paid for the rights.

Rik Dovey, Deputy Managing Director of Sky Sports said:

“We are delighted to be able to show the America’s Cup on Sky Sports and give UK viewers a chance to see the live action of the events leading up to the 2013 America’s Cup. This is another example of the value we are creating for customers through our content. Our different ways of keeping up-to-date and support programming can take new followers and devoted fans to the core of this sport.”

The Naples event will not feature Britain’s Ben Ainslie, which means that UK Sky Sports fans won’t have an easily identifiable hero to cheer for. Nevertheless Richard Worth says: