TNT Sports will make the first 30 minutes of their Premier League build-up show EKO (Early Kick-Off) available to watch for free on YouTube this season. It will be streamed on the platform for the first time when Manchester United visit Hull City in their 2026/27 season opener this Saturday afternoon.
EKO Show Details
EKO, presented by Liam MacDevitt or Olivia Buzaglo, begins at 11am and will also be shown on TNT Sports and streaming service HBO Max as usual. It will cover early team news ahead of the fixture and feature pre-match analysis from TNT pundits like Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole ahead of the 12.30pm kick-off, which is aired live on TNT and HBO Max.
The 30-minute show is designed to engage football fans ahead of the weekend’s matches, setting the scene for Premier League action. Crucially, the YouTube edition will not just replicate the linear broadcast, with a distinct style and presentation designed around how audiences engage with content on the platform.
Tailored for YouTube Audience
The hosts will bring a more relaxed and conversational tone, exploring the wider football story, from transfers and new managers to the players, teams and talking points dominating the Premier League in a way that is tailored to the YouTube audience.
In another first for TNT, EKO will be broadcast before all of their live Premier League games this season rather than just before their Saturday lunchtime kick-offs, which was the case last season. For example, TNT’s coverage of an 8pm Saturday kick-off will begin with an EKO programme starting at 6.30pm.
Executive Comments
Scott Young, an executive vice-president at parent company Warner Bros Discovery Europe, said: "We’re watching where football fans enjoy engaging with content. We firmly believe you need to be everywhere to start to engage an audience and that includes social media and YouTube. It’s adding to the content we’ve been making for many years."
He added: "The opportunity we’re now looking at is, how do we knock on the door with an audience on a Saturday morning and say, look, football is about to start. The narrative around football is about to kick off for the weekend."
"There are so many amazing stories around the Premier League when you get to a weekend and there’s a huge opportunity for us to engage with a current audience and a new audience via the platform of YouTube in addition to our traditional platforms TNT Sports and HBO Max."
"We’re in a test and learn phase. We want to hear from the audience through the season about what they’re enjoying in EKO and we hope the people who are yet to discover our brand of football, if they do that with the first 30 minutes being on YouTube, then they join us for the rest of the journey on the build-up programme and the live matches."
Broadcasting Rights
TNT have the rights to show 52 Premier League games this season, in addition to European competitions, Serie A fixtures, the FA Cup, and the Women's FA Cup.
