List of cable television NFL over-the-air affiliates

Last updated August 12, 2024

To maximize TV ratings, as well as to protect the NFL's ability to sell TV rights collectively, games televised on ESPN or the NFL Network are blacked out in each of the primary markets of both teams (the Green Bay Packers have two primary markets, Green Bay and Milwaukee, a remnant of when they played some home games in Milwaukee each season, see below) under syndicated exclusivity regulations as the league sells via broadcast syndication a package featuring that team's games.

This station does not need to have affiliate connections with a national broadcaster of NFL games, though owned-and-operated stations of ABC and Hearst Television (even those Hearst stations not affiliated with ABC, and including their one independent station in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market) have first right of refusal due to both ESPN and ABC's common ownership by The Walt Disney Company (Hearst holds a 20% stake in ESPN). In recent years, the ABC O&Os have passed on airing the game, opting instead to air the network's Monday night schedule which includes the successful Dancing with the Stars .^[1] In other markets, stations who are the affiliates of MyNetworkTV or The CW (and, in at least one case, an independent station^[2]) have out bid more established local broadcasters in some markets. However, the home team's market must be completely served by the station and that broadcast can only air if the game is sold out within 72 hours of kick-off.

Under the agreement for the 2014 season between CBS and the NFL Network for Thursday Night Football simulcasts during the first half of the season, local rights to such games that are not carried by CBS are awarded to the markets' CBS affiliates, rather than syndicated. If the CBS affiliate opts out of the deal, the NFL will offer the package by syndication, typically with the Monday Night package.^[3] The CBS/NFL Network deal was extended for the 2015 season on January 18, 2015.^[4] For the 2016 season, two midseason TNF games were NFL Network-exclusive but produced by NBC; the NBC affiliates in those markets with teams competing carried those games in-market. With the 2018 move of the package to Fox, the two NFL Network-exclusive games produced by Fox actually varied between NBC and CBS affiliates rather than being exclusive to the Fox stations in each market.

On November 8, 1987, the first NFL game aired on ESPN was played between the New England Patriots and New York Giants. Technically, the game was only simulcast in the Boston market, with a separate broadcast produced for the New York market by ESPN sister property WABC-TV – at the time, WABC's union contract prohibited non-union workers (like those of ESPN) from working on live events broadcast on the station. This marked the only time since the AFL–NFL merger that a regular season game was locally produced for TV. The WABC broadcast featured WABC's own Corey McPherrin doing play-by-play, and Frank Gifford and Lynn Swann from Monday Night Football doing color commentary.

Note: Teams listed in italics are teams that have since relocated.

American Football Conference

Team	Stations	Cable network
Baltimore Ravens	WMAR (ABC 2) WJZ (CBS 13)	ESPN TNT
Buffalo Bills	WKBW (ABC 7) WIVB (CBS 4)	ESPN TNT
Cincinnati Bengals	WCPO (CBS 9) WKRC (ABC 12)	ESPN TNT
Cleveland Browns	WEWS (ABC 5) WUAB (IND 43)	ESPN TNT
Denver Broncos	KMGH (CBS 7) KUSA (ABC 9)	ESPN TNT
Houston Oilers	KTRK (ABC 13) and KHOU (CBS 11) KHTV (IND 39)	ESPN TNT
Indianapolis Colts	WNDY (MNT 23) WTTV (CBS 4)	ESPN TNT
Jacksonville Jaguars	WTLV (NBC 12) WJXT (CBS 4)	ESPN TNT
Kansas City Chiefs	KMBC (ABC 9) KCTV (CBS 5)	ESPN TNT
Los Angeles Raiders	KTTV (FOX 11) KCAL (IND 9)	ESPN TNT
Miami Dolphins	WPLG (ABC 10), WDZL (CW 39), and WBFS (IND 33) WCIX (CBS 6)	ESPN TNT
New England Patriots	WCVB (ABC 5) WLVI (CW 56)	ESPN TNT
New York Jets	WABC (ABC 7) and WWOR (MNT 9) WPIX (IND 11)	ESPN TNT
Pittsburgh Steelers	WPXI (NBC 11) WPGH (FOX 53)	ESPN TNT
San Diego Chargers	KGTV (ABC 10) KUSI (IND 51)	ESPN TNT
Tennessee Oilers	WPTY (ABC 24)	ESPN

National Football Conference

Team	Stations	Cable network
Atlanta Falcons	WSB (ABC 2), WXIA (NBC 11) and WTLK (IND 14) WAGA (CBS 5) and WTBS (IND 17)	ESPN TNT
Carolina Panthers	WCCB (FOX 18) WBTV (CBS 3)	ESPN TNT
Chicago Bears	WMAQ (NBC 5) and WLS (ABC 7) WGN (IND 9)	ESPN TNT
Dallas Cowboys	KXAS (NBC 5) KTXA (IND 21)	ESPN TNT
Detroit Lions	WKBD (UPN 50) WXYZ (ABC 7)	ESPN TNT
Green Bay Packers	WISN (ABC 12; Milwaukee) WITI (CBS 6; Milwaukee)	ESPN TNT
Los Angeles Rams	KTTV (FOX 11) KCAL (IND 9)	ESPN TNT
Minnesota Vikings	KARE (NBC 11) WCCO (CBS 4)	ESPN TNT
New Orleans Saints	WWL (CBS 4) WVUE (ABC 8)	ESPN TNT
New York Giants	WABC (ABC 7) and WWOR (UPN 9) WPIX (IND 11)	ESPN TNT
Philadelphia Eagles	WPHL (WB 17) WPVI (ABC 6)	ESPN TNT
Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals	KUTP (UPN 45) KPNX (NBC 12)	ESPN TNT
Seattle Seahawks	KCPQ (FOX 13) and KING (NBC 5) KSTW (IND 11)	ESPN TNT
San Francisco 49ers	KTVU (FOX 2) and KGO (ABC 7) KPIX (CBS 5)	ESPN TNT
St. Louis Rams	KDNL (ABC 30) KTVI (FOX 2)	ESPN TNT
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	WFLA (NBC 8) and WTSP (ABC 10) WWWB (WB 32)	ESPN TNT
Washington Commanders	WUSA (CBS 9) WJLA (ABC 7)	ESPN TNT

Notes

As previously mentioned, ESPN's games were typically simulcast on regular over-the-air television stations in each participating team's local market so that households without cable television could still see the telecasts. During the first season, the game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots (the very first regular season game aired by ESPN) saw WABC-TV ^[5] (ABC's flagship station out of New York City) produce a completely separate telecast from ESPN's. The reason behind this was that WABC's union contract at the time prohibited non-union workers, such as those at ESPN, from producing live events for WABC. The WABC broadcasts involved play-by-play man Corey McPherrin and Frank Gifford and Lynn Swann on color commentary.
In some cases, the ESPN's Monday Night Football program is moved to a sister station of the ABC affiliate to air live instead (for example, until 2011 in the Minneapolis–St. Paul market, when NBC affiliate KARE took over as the local broadcaster of MNF games, if the Minnesota Vikings were playing a game being simulcast on local ABC affiliate KSTP-TV, sister independent station KSTC-TV aired DWTS live). In 2016, for the opening week Monday night game (the second in a doubleheader) between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers, the ABC-owned stations in both markets (KABC-TV and KGO-TV) would broadcast World News Tonight and DWTS in their live Eastern Time Zone slots, thus airing at 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. PT respectively.
Upon the original launch of the Thursday and Saturday night games, few television service providers carried the NFL Network due to disputes during the network's terms in its carriage contracts during negotiations. These disputes were magnified throughout the 2007 season, as two high-profile matchups were to be broadcast by the network. The first was a matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers which was scheduled for the week after Thanksgiving and saw both teams at 10–1, vying for the top seed in the NFC, and the second was Week 17 Saturday night game between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants, where the Patriots had a chance to become the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to end a regular season undefeated. In the first case, fans were displeased that a matchup between two teams at such a critical point in the season was not available on broadcast television except in the Dallas and Green Bay markets. To avoid such a problem with the potential sixteenth victory for the Patriots, CBS and NBC bought broadcast rights to the game so it could be seen by a nationwide audience on both cable and broadcast television. This ended up causing another controversy, however, as the move by the networks infringed on the exclusivity that would normally have been enjoyed by WWOR-TV in New York City and WCVB-TV in Boston, which were the Giants' and Patriots' respective local over-the-air broadcasters for cable-televised games (the game aired on these stations, as well as on WCBS-TV, WNBC, WBZ-TV and WHDH in the teams' market areas).^[6]
On October 27, 1991, CBS aired Game 7 of the World Series nationally on that night yet it was pushed aside to WDCA IND 20 so WUSA could air the Washington Redskins game against the New York Giants.
Green Bay simulcast info: All TNT and NFLN games; ESPN games 1994-2005: WFRV 5 (ABC thru 1991 season, CBS thereafter). ESPN games thru '93 season: WLUK 11 (NBC) (Did not become Fox until 1995 season). ESPN games from 2006-present: WBAY 2 (ABC).
The NFL's anti-siphoning regulations affect both Monday Night Football on ESPN and NFL Network games. In the markets of the participating teams, the respective cable channel is blacked out. ESPN games air via broadcast syndication to an over-the-air station. Typically, the team's flagship station for the preseason games will hold such rights, as teams will usually sell the preseason, local ESPN, and if the CBS affiliate in that market declines the option, the NFL Network games as one package. Only over-the-air stations in the market of the participating teams (with the Green Bay Packers having two such markets) may bid on this syndicated package. Starting in 2014, CBS affiliates in the primary markets in question have the primary option to NFL Network-only games; if the local affiliate declines the option (as was in Cincinnati), the NFL will implement the same syndicated package rule. In 2016 and 2017, with the TNF package split between CBS and NBC, this depended on which network produces the game for NFL Network. With Fox taking over the TNF package in 2018, Fox affiliates will have the primary option of simulcasting NFL Network games. This led to controversy in 2007, when the New England Patriots were scheduled to play the New York Giants at Giants Stadium in their regular season finale on the NFL Network, in what was to be a chance to complete the first 16–0 regular season in NFL history. After the Senate Judiciary Committee threatened the NFL's antitrust exemption if it did not make the game available nationwide, the NFL relented and made the game the first in league history to be simulcast on three networks. The game aired on the NFL Network, as planned; on NBC, which would normally have the rights to prime time games; and, since the away team was an AFC team, on CBS.^[7] (WCVB in Boston holds the rights to the NFL's syndicated package for Patriots games, causing this game to be available on 3 over-the-air stations in the Boston TV market). This however, did not lead to the NFL offering this package to other channels; the games remain on the NFL Network as of 2019, although cable coverage of NFL Network has increased in the intervening period.
If the blacked-out nationally televised game is being shown on a cable network (such as ESPN or the NFL Network), all cable and satellite television providers in markets that are within the 75-mile radius, in addition already to the primary market of the home team (which is already blacked out), must black out the cable broadcaster's feed to customers in affected markets during the game (this is a condition of the channels' agreements with both the league and the providers). In addition, the game is not simulcast on a local broadcast station in the blacked-out markets. Local stations would still be able to show highlights during their newscasts after the game has concluded. In areas where the game is blacked out, ESPN and the NFL Network would generally offer alternate programming (ESPN traditionally switches to a simulcast of ESPNews). As ESPN and NFL Network games featuring the local teams are syndicated in the local markets under the NFL's anti-siphoning policies, the station that holds local rights to the cable broadcasts but cannot show the games originally scheduled to be carried would either run their own alternate programming or, if affiliated with a major network, show the regularly scheduled network programming for that night. During the pre-season, blacked out games can be aired in their entirety, but only on tape delay (generally after late-evening newscasts).

Related Research Articles

Monday Night Football is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that primarily broadcast on Monday nights. It was originally broadcast on ABC from 1970 to 2005, before moving exclusively to sister network ESPN in 2006, which remains the main channel for the broadcast. In 2020, MNF returned to ABC in select simulcasts with ESPN, and in 2022, it began featuring select exclusive ABC telecasts. In addition, ESPN2 has aired alternate telecasts of selected games since 2020 as the Manningcast, while ESPN+ has streamed MNF simulcasts in the United States since 2021.

NFL Network is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NFL RedZone. Dedicated to American football, the network features game telecasts from the NFL, as well as NFL-related content including analysis programs, specials and documentaries. The network is headquartered in the NFL Los Angeles building located next to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and broadcasts its worldwide feed from Encompass Digital Media in Atlanta, Georgia. The network has secondary East Coast facilities in the NFL Films building in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.

KDKA-TV, also known as CBS Pittsburgh, is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Jeannette-licensed WPKD-TV, an independent station. The two stations share studios at the Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh; KDKA-TV's transmitter is located in the city's Perry North neighborhood. KDKA-TV, along with sister station KYW-TV in Philadelphia, are the only CBS-affiliated television stations east of the Mississippi River with "K" call signs.

The NFL on CBS is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that are produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States. The network has aired NFL game telecasts since 1956. From 2014 to 2017, CBS also broadcast Thursday Night Football games during the first half of the NFL season, through a production partnership with NFL Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NFL on American television</span>

The television rights to broadcast National Football League (NFL) games in the United States are the most lucrative and expensive rights of any sport in the world. Television brought professional football into prominence in the modern era after World War II. Since then, National Football League broadcasts have become among the most-watched programs on American television, and the financial fortunes of entire networks have rested on owning NFL broadcasting rights. This has raised questions about the impartiality of the networks' coverage of games and whether they can criticize the NFL without fear of losing the rights and their income.

ESPN Sunday Night Football was the ESPN cable network's weekly television broadcasts of Sunday evening National Football League (NFL) games. The first ESPN Sunday night broadcast occurred on November 8, 1987, while the last one aired on January 1, 2006.

Anti-siphoning laws and regulations are designed to prevent pay television broadcasters from buying monopoly rights to televise important and culturally significant events before free-to-air television has a chance to bid on them. The theory is that if such a monopoly was allowed, then those unable or unwilling to obtain access to the pay television service would be unable to view the important and culturally significant events. Generally the laws allow pay-TV to bid for such monopoly rights only if free-to-air television has declined to bid on them.

In broadcasting, the term blackout refers to the non-airing of television or radio programming in a certain media market.

Thursday Night Football is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time.

On December 29, 2007, during the final week of the 2007 season, the New England Patriots defeated the New York Giants, 38–35, at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In what became a preview of Super Bowl XLII, the game was a close comeback win for the Patriots, giving them the first undefeated regular season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins and the only undefeated regular season since the league expanded to 16 games.

The National Football League television blackout policies are the strictest among the four major professional sports leagues in North America.

The history of the National Football League on television documents the long history of the National Football League on television. The NFL, along with boxing and professional wrestling, was a pioneer of sports broadcasting during a time when baseball and college football were more popular than professional football. Due to the NFL understanding television at an earlier time, they were able to surpass Major League Baseball in the 1960s as the most popular sport in the United States. Today, NFL broadcasting contracts are among the most valuable in the world.

NBC made history in the 1980s with an announcerless telecast, which was a one-shot experiment credited to Don Ohlmeyer, between the Jets and Dolphins in Miami on December 20, 1980), as well as a single-announcer telecast, coverage of the Canadian Football League during the 1982 players' strike, and even the first female play-by-play football announcer, Gayle Sierens.

On March 12, 1990, at the NFL's annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, the league new ratified four-year television agreements for the 1990 to 1993 seasons involving ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN and TNT. The contracts totaled US$3.6 billion, the largest package in television history. This contract saw each network having rights to one Super Bowl telecast as part of the package. The fourth Super Bowl (XXVIII) was up for a separate sealed bid. NBC won the bid, and since they were last in the rotation for Super Bowl coverage in the regular contract, ended up with two straight Super Bowls. CBS is the only other network to televise two Super Bowls in a row. NBC, which had held XXVII, was the only network to bid on XXVIII. Previously, the league alternated the Super Bowl broadcast among its broadcast network partners, except for Super Bowl I; CBS broadcast Super Bowl II, then the league rotated the broadcast between CBS and NBC until 1985 when ABC entered the rotation when that network broadcast Super Bowl XIX.

Recently, the NFL's TV broadcasters have suffered annual financial losses because advertising revenue is unable to keep up with the rising costs of broadcast rights.

Until the broadcast contract ended in 2013, the terrestrial television networks CBS, NBC, and Fox, as well as cable television's ESPN, paid a combined total of US$20.4 billion to broadcast NFL games. From 2014 to 2022, the same networks will pay $39.6 billion for exactly the same broadcast rights. The NFL thus holds broadcast contracts with four companies that control a combined vast majority of the country's television product. League-owned NFL Network, on cable television, also broadcasts a selected number of games nationally. In 2017, the NFL games attracted the top three rates for a 30-second advertisement: $699,602 for NBC Sunday Night Football, $550,709 for Thursday Night Football (NBC), and $549,791 for Thursday Night Football (CBS).

From 2014 to 2022, CBS, NBC, and Fox, as well as cable television's ESPN, paid a combined total of US$20.4 billion will pay $39.6 billion for exactly the same broadcast rights. The NFL thus holds broadcast contracts with four companies that control a combined vast majority of the country's television product. League-owned NFL Network, on cable television, also broadcasts a selected number of games nationally. In 2017, the NFL games attracted the top three rates for a 30-second advertisement: $699,602 for NBC Sunday Night Football, $550,709 for Thursday Night Football (NBC), and $549,791 for Thursday Night Football (CBS).

References

↑ WGN-TV To Carry Monday Night's Bears/Cowboys Game, Plus Local Pre-Game Show. Chicagoland Radio and Media. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
↑ Kwiatkowski, Jane (June 13, 2012). Murphy leaving channel 4 for Bills. The Buffalo News. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
↑ "Panthers' blowout loss sinks TV interest, too". Charlotte Business Journal. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
↑ Steinberg, Brian (January 18, 2015). "CBS, NFL Renew Deal For 'Thursday Night Football'". Variety . Retrieved January 18, 2015.
↑ TV Sports; Marathon Mystery Unseen Winner
↑ Dusty Saunders (January 2, 2008). "COMMENTARY : Antitrust threat prompted NFL's reversal". Rocky Mountain News . Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Archived from the original on February 10, 2008. Retrieved January 4, 2008.
↑ "Pats-Giants to be first three-network simulcast game in NFL history". ESPN/NFL. Associated Press. December 27, 2007. Retrieved October 18, 2010.

External links

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Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
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[chidal-1] WGN-TV To Carry Monday Night's Bears/Cowboys Game, Plus Local Pre-Game Show. Chicagoland Radio and Media. Retrieved October 7, 2012.

[bn613-2] Kwiatkowski, Jane (June 13, 2012). Murphy leaving channel 4 for Bills. The Buffalo News. Retrieved June 13, 2012.

[cbj-nflncbsgames-3] "Panthers' blowout loss sinks TV interest, too". Charlotte Business Journal. Retrieved October 23, 2014.

[tnfvariety-4] Steinberg, Brian (January 18, 2015). "CBS, NFL Renew Deal For 'Thursday Night Football'". Variety . Retrieved January 18, 2015.

[5] TV Sports; Marathon Mystery Unseen Winner

[6] Dusty Saunders (January 2, 2008). "COMMENTARY : Antitrust threat prompted NFL's reversal". Rocky Mountain News . Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Archived from the original on February 10, 2008. Retrieved January 4, 2008.

[7] "Pats-Giants to be first three-network simulcast game in NFL history". ESPN/NFL. Associated Press. December 27, 2007. Retrieved October 18, 2010.

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v t e Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime, CBS, Fox, NBC and NFL Network
Pregame	Charissa Thompson Tony Gonzalez Ryan Fitzpatrick Andrew Whitworth Richard Sherman Taylor Rooks Michael Smith Marshawn Lynch
Game coverage	Al Michaels - Play-by-Play Kirk Herbstreit - Color Commentary Kaylee Hartung - Sideline Reporter Terry McAulay - Rules Analyst
Former	Bryant Gumbel Dick Vermeil Tom Hammond Scott Hanson Adam Schefter Warren Sapp Bob Papa Matt Millen Joe Theismann Fran Charles Jim Mora Kara Henderson Sterling Sharpe Kurt Warner Jay Glazer Brad Nessler Mike Mayock Alex Flanagan Phil Simms Bob Costas Marshall Faulk James Brown Bill Cowher Deion Sanders Liam McHugh Tony Dungy Rodney Harrison Jim Nantz Tony Romo Tracy Wolfson Mike Tirico Cris Collinsworth Heather Cox Rich Eisen Steve Mariucci Curt Menefee Terry Bradshaw Howie Long Michael Strahan Greg Olsen Mark Sanchez Joe Buck Troy Aikman Erin Andrews Kristina Pink Mike Pereira Colleen Wolfe Steve Smith Sr. Joe Thomas Michael Irvin
Notable broadcasts	Bills Toronto Series 2007 New England Patriots–New York Giants game "The Miracle in Motown"
Other information	NFL on television (history) 2000s 2010s 2020s Cable TV NFL over-the-air affiliates NFL on Prime Video NFL Network Special