7. As the popularity of NBC Sports Live Extra has increased during the season with more soccer fans watching live games on it, the video quality has been an issue particularly on 10am ET games when some of the top teams are playing in the same window. Even with a hard-wired Internet connection, buffering happens more than it should. And when games are watched in full-screen mode, the video quality is often not good enough.
8. Android users experienced a lot of issues earlier in the season with the NBC Sports Live Extra app for Android devices being practically unusable. NBC, to their credit, upgraded the Android app to improve the viewing experience. Technically, however, it’s a difficult job to keep all Android users happy as the app works well on most of the popular Android devices, not all. It’s the nature of the beast, unfortunately.
NBC launched a brand-new feature for its first year of Premier League TV coverage, which is Premier League Extra Time. The feature is actually overflow channels that most TV providers offer to its subscribers, so you can watch live games that are not being shown live on NBC or NBCSN. Plus many of the games are available as video on-demand for later viewing.
1. If your TV provider offers Premier League Extra Time, consider yourself fortunate. There are still a small number of TV providers who are not providing the service. Or, for example, Tivo users who have Xfinity Comcast are not able to access the Premier League Extra Time features via on-demand.
1. The only complaint is that some TV providers don’t make Premier League Extra Time available, but that’s no fault of NBC Sports. That’s a decision for each TV provider. NBC is making the overflow channels available free-of-charge.
Production, analysts and commentary are key ingredients in making a successful launch, but the marketing and promotion to let people know that Premier League matches are now on NBC Sports is just as crucial.
1. NBC scored a home run hit with their Ted Lasso viral videos starring Jason Sudeikis. The NBC network gained instant credibility on both sides of the Atlantic, making sure that the words “NBC” and “EPL” were on the tips of the tongues of all US soccer fans.
2. NBC scored another hit with the advertising it did on the NBC subway cars in New York City. The subway cars were so popular that fans of some of the clubs made special pilgrimages to see them in person, and to share the photos on social media for everyone else to see.