The television rights to broadcast National Football League (NFL) games are the most lucrative and expensive rights of any American sport. It was television that brought Professional Football into prominence in the modern era of technology. Since then, NFL broadcasts have become among the most-watched programs on American television, and the fortunes of entire networks have rested on owning NFL broadcasting rights. This has raised questions about the impartiality of the networks' coverage of games.
Currently, three American terrestrial television networks CBS ($3.73B), NBC ($3.6B) and Fox ($4.27B), as well as cable television's ESPN ($8.8B) are paying a combined total of $20.4 billion to broadcast NFL games through the 2011 season for CBS, Fox, and NBC and through 2013 for ESPN. However, the league imposes several strict television policies to ensure that stadiums are filled and sold out, to maximize TV ratings, and to help leverage content on these networks. League-owned NFL Network, on cable television, broadcasts 8 games per season nationally.
NFL preseason telecasts are more in line with the other major sports leagues' regular season telecasts, in that preseason games are more locally-produced telecasts, usually by a local affiliate of one of the above terrestrial television networks. Some preseason games will air nationally, however.
Current broadcasting contracts
The TV rights to the NFL are the most lucrative and expensive rights of not only any American sport, but any American entertainment property. With the fragmentation of audiences due to the increased specialization of broadcast and cable TV networks, sports remain one of the few entertainment properties that not only can guarantee a large and diversified audience, but an audience that will watch in real time.
Annually, the Super Bowl often ranks among the most watched shows of the year. Four of Nielsen Media Research's top 10 programs are Super Bowls . Networks have purchased a share of the broadcasting rights to the NFL as a means of raising the entire network's profile.
Under the current television contracts, which began during the 2006 season, regular season games are broadcast on five networks: CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, and The NFL Network.
Sunday regional games
Under the current contracts, the regional Sunday afternoon games (1 p.m. "early" and 4 p.m. "late" games) are broadcast on CBS and Fox. CBS holds what is generally called the AFC package (AFC away games), and Fox holds what is referred to as the NFC package (NFC away games).
The "AFC package" for CBS is summarized as the following:
- Sunday afternoon AFC intra-conference games (AFC at AFC)
- Sunday afternoon interconference away games (AFC at NFC)
The "NFC package" for Fox is summarized as the following:
- Sunday afternoon NFC intra-conference games (NFC at NFC)
- Sunday afternoon interconference away games (NFC at AFC)
In 1970, when the NFL and AFL merged, and home blackouts were put into place for AFC games (the AFL had lifted these during its run), this assured that all Sunday afternoon road games would be seen on the same network. The current package allows both CBS and Fox access to every stadium/market in the league for at least two games per season (unless an interconference game is chosen as a primetime national game). In 2003, both Miami's home games against NFC teams were televised in primetime, a rare exception which prevented Fox from airing a game from Pro Player Stadium that season.
Doubleheaders and singleheaders
Three games (with some contractual exceptions, see below) are broadcast in any one market each Sunday afternoon, with one network getting a "doubleheader" each week:
- A 1:00 p.m. ET (10:00 a.m. PT) game and a 4:15 p.m. ET (1:15 p.m. PT) game
While the other network broadcasting either :
- A 1:00 p.m. ET (10:00 a.m. PT) game
- Or a 4:05 p.m. ET (1:05 p.m. PT) game
4:05 p.m. games predominantly, but not exclusively, take place in the Mountain and Pacific time zones.
Since 1998, "early" games have the precise, official start time of 1:01 p.m. Eastern, which allows for one network commercial and the NFL broadcast copyright teaser animation. However, game times are generally advertised simply as top of the hour. In addition, the league revised the "late" games to start at 4:05 p.m. ET if it was part of a "singleheader," and to start at 4:15 p.m. ET if it was part of a "doubleheader." The additional 15 minutes for doubleheaders allowed the early games extra time to be played to completion, and avoid running over into the late game's kickoff. For singleheader games, only 5 minutes were added, to allow the network time for a short intro (since three hours had passed since the pregame show has aired), and one commercial break before kickoff. In those cases, there is no need to avoid early-game overlap, since there is no early game shown in that instance. In addition, it allows those games to end earlier, on average.
During the first sixteen weeks of the schedule, both Fox and CBS are given eight doubleheaders apiece. The two networks alternate doubleheaders, but not necessarily week-in and week-out. For example, in early October, CBS typically airs two or three consecutive double-header weekends, while Fox opts for single-headers those weeks due to their concurrent coverage of the baseball playoffs. Due to CBS' annual coverage of the U.S. Open, Fox normally has had exclusive double-header coverage of opening weekend since 1998. This means that the three AFC West teams in the Mountain or Pacific time zones – Denver, Oakland and San Diego – cannot play at home during the opening weekend, unless they are hosting an NFC opponent (which would be aired by Fox) or scheduled in primetime (regardless of opponent).
Starting in 2006, both networks air a double-header in week 17.
The NFL rules prohibit other NFL games from being shown on local television stations while a local team is playing a sold-out home game. The rules are designed to make sure ticket-holders show up at the stadium instead of watching the other game on TV. When the home team is being shown on the network with the NFL singleheader, the doubleheader station can only air one of its games. So when this happens, there are only two games shown in the market. When, however, the home team is being shown on the network with the NFL doubleheader, all three games can air in the market.
National games
National broadcasts of marquee match-ups occur on Sunday and Monday nights. Later in the season Thursday night games are added and broadcast on the NFL Network. After the completion of the college football season, Saturday night games are added as well and are broadcasted by the networks with the AFC & NFC packages. NBC has broadcast rights to Sunday night games. These are broadcast under a special "flexible schedule" (see below) that allows Sunday afternoon games late in the season to be moved to primetime. NBC also has broadcast rights to the opening night Kickoff game (see below).
Other regular season nationally-televised games include the kickoff game, games on Thanksgiving, and occasional Saturday afternoon games in December. Afternoon Thanksgiving games, and afternoon Saturday games, mirror the aforementioned AFC and NFC packages. AFC away games are on CBS and NFC away games are on FOX. Since Detroit and Dallas (the traditional hosts of Thanksgiving Day games) are both NFC teams, one of the two games must be an intra-conference game, and one must be an interconference game. That provides one game for FOX and one game for CBS, respectively.
Monday Night Football is currently aired on ESPN. NFL Network broadcasts Thursday and Saturday night games, including a Thanksgiving primetime game.
Certain Sunday afternoon "late" games can also be considered nationally televised. A marquee matchup at 4 p.m. is sometimes carried in every (or nearly every) market in that timeslot, and thus available to a wide national audience.
NFL Sunday Ticket
Satellite broadcast company DirecTV offers NFL Sunday Ticket, a subscription-based package, that allows all Sunday afternoon regional games to be watched. The only exception is that Sunday Ticket is subject to the same blackout rules as broadcast networks. This package is exclusive to DirecTV in the USA. In Canada, NFL Sunday Ticket is available on a per-provider distribution deal on both cable and satellite because Canadian law generally prevents one provider from offering a package on an exclusive basis.
Television policies
The NFL imposes several television and blackout policies to maximize TV ratings and to ensure that stadiums are filled and sold out for these games.
Sunday regional coverage
Regular season Sunday afternoon games (1 p.m. "early" and 4 p.m. "late") aired on CBS and Fox are distributed to affiliates by means of regional coverage. Each individual games is only broadcast to selected media markets.
Several factors determined which games are carried in each market. Each of the 32 NFL teams is assigned a "primary market." Generally, games are aired in the primary market as follows:
- All away games are aired in the primary market. This is a gesture to old policies based on the ability for fans to attend games. Away games were looked upon as too difficult to attend.
- All sold-out home games are aired in the primary market. Games which do not sel
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