TNT Sports to stream first 30 minutes of live Premier League coverage on YouTube starting with Hull v Manchester United

TNT Sports will make the first 30 minutes of its live Premier League broadcasts available on YouTube this season, beginning on Saturday with Manchester United’s visit to Hull. The pre-match programme EKO – Early Kick Off – will be offered free-to-air for the first time alongside broadcasts on TNT Sports and HBO Max.

EKO will be presented by Liam MacDevitt or Olivia Buzaglo and is scheduled to start at 11am. The show will include the early team news for the featured game, which is released 75 minutes before kick-off, and pre-match contributions from TNT’s main pundits such as Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole.

Saturday lunchtime live games broadcast by TNT and HBO Max kick off at 12.30pm, and the broadcaster has changed its approach so EKO will air before all of its live Premier League fixtures this season rather than only before Saturday lunchtime kick-offs as last season.

Under the revised schedule, coverage for an 8pm Saturday kick-off will begin with an EKO programme starting at 6.30pm. The shift extends the Early Kick Off slot to precede every live match carried by TNT this campaign.

The 30-minute show is being produced with a magazine-type tone and will discuss wider topics beyond the individual match, including transfers and new players, with the stated aim of broadening TNT’s match audience.

“TNT’s coverage is evolving and this will help us reach more football fans earlier in the day,” Scott Young, an executive vice-president at the parent company, Warner Bros Discovery Europe, said. “We have a large number of loyal subscribers, but it’s also important to reach fans off-platform. I think everyone is really looking forward to the return of the Premier League, especially after the excitement generated by the World Cup.”

The new distribution of EKO, free-to-air on YouTube as well as on TNT Sports and HBO Max, will begin with Manchester United’s trip to Hull on Saturday.