Hello Members,

Each weekend in autumn and early winter, hundreds of thousands of professional football fans sit down in front of their television set to watch their favorite NFL team in action. NFL broadcast contracts are some of the most popular and lucrative in all of professional sports and are governed by a set of rules created by the National Football League.

Broadcasting Networks: Unlike the other major professional sports, which rely on each team's regional television network to broadcast the vast majority of games, all NFL games are produced and broadcast by national networks, although not all games are aired coast-to-coast. Currently, there are five networks airing National Football League games: CBS, FOX, ESPN, NBC, and the league's own channel, the NFL Network. CBS and FOX have exclusive rights to air Sunday afternoon games, while NBC holds the rights air to air prime-time Sunday night contests.

Sunday Afternoon Broadcasts: Each network's affiliate can pick which game or games it wishes to broadcast, though the final decision ultimately lies with the network. Typically, an affiliate will select a game involving a team in its home market, such as the FOX station in New York selecting a game involving the New York Giants, or a game with regional interest, such as the CBS station in Syracuse selecting a game involving the Buffalo Bills.

Prime-Time Broadcasts: The rule allowing over-the-air broadcast does not extend beyond the set boundaries of a team's television market. For example, with the New England Patriots, the over-the-air broadcast rights extend only to the Boston market and no where else within the region. Those games can be broadcast on an over-the-air station within the designated television markets of the two teams playing. The over-the-air station receives the broadcast feed from the cable network and simulcasts it. This rule is in place to allow non-cable subscribers within a team's television market to watch the game.

Other National Broadcasts: All playoff games are also broadcast nationally with each game being played in its own time slot. The broadcast rights to all playoff games are divided among the regular-season networks, with NBC holding the rights to broadcast the two Saturday games during wild card weekend. CBS has the rights to all other AFC playoff games, and FOX holds the rights to all other NFL playoff games, up to and including the conference championship games.


Thank You
John Wilson
lifestream.tv