OT: Deciphering NFL broadcast rules
Can someone explain the how CBS and Fox determine what games to broadcast in a given location?
I live in Chicago. I HATE the Bears (Vikings fan since Joe Kapp played). I thought I had an idea of what I could expect to see when the Bears are home and when they're away. But, yesterday made NO sense. The Bears were @ Seattle on Fox. So, we got no early game on Fox but did get early and late games on CBS. What games did we get? Early: KC v Philly, Late: Pitt v Cinncy. WTF!
There seems to be a lot of Packer fans in Chicago-land (which is understandable) and we get Packer broadcasts for the most part (GB was @ Rams yesterday). But, those two CBS games made ZERO sense to me.
I've been a DirecTV subscriber for quite some time now, perhaps I'll shame them into giving me NFL Sunday Ticket for the rest of the season for free. I ended up watching the Vikings game on-line (and am glad I did!)
So, if anyone can shed a little light on how things work, I would truly appreciate it.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:05 PM ^
If you have an issue with the cost of Sunday Ticket, about midway through the season, DirecTV usually offers a cheaper "buy the rest of the season" package.
I have been a subscriber for a long time and I absolutely love it. They have a lot of added features like a player tracker for fantasy players that pops up a message on your screen when player does something point-worthy. Plus there is the red zone channel and the game mix so you can watch 8 games at once.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:09 PM ^
Plus there is the red zone channel and the game mix so you can watch 8 games at once.*head asplode*
September 28th, 2009 at 4:12 PM ^
CBS and Fox split the weeks they have doubleheaders, so since yesterday was a CBS doubleheader day, there was no early Fox game. If you want coverage maps for Pro Football, as well as announcing schedules, I highly recommend Awful Announcing, found at http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:55 PM ^
in NFC -> AFC matchups, the network of the visiting team gets the broadcast. KC is in AFC, so CBS broadcast ; had the Eagles been at KC, Fox would have broadcast.
September 28th, 2009 at 5:20 PM ^
I mean, does the NFL have an aversion to its fans actually being able to see its product?
If I flip on Fox one weekend, and I don't like the game, and there's no game on CBS due to the doubleheader rule, I just stop watching pro football.
Does the NFL contract with TV under the assumption people will just watch whatever game they are spoon-fed? If I had a choice I might watch the other game, but I don't so I go for a walk instead.
September 28th, 2009 at 11:24 PM ^
This is getting fu**ed up. I get negged for expressing puzzlement at NFL TV rules that prevent people from watching NFL football games?
September 28th, 2009 at 4:17 PM ^
Here's what I want to know: How come Ypsilanti is considered close enough to Detroit for Lions games to be blacked out, but too far when Jimmy John's is doing a 1$ Sandwich promotion in "The Detroit area"? Blatant hypocrisy there, I tell ya.
September 28th, 2009 at 5:17 PM ^
Pitt vs Cincy
That should be a good game. Cincy is undefeated and Brian Kelly is guaranteed to explode on the sideline...ohhh, not THAT Pitt vs Cincy...
September 28th, 2009 at 6:07 PM ^
THAT's what makes no sense; the NFL broadcast rules assume that we're all just DYING to watch ANY game so we'll watch anything. Wrong! When is the NFL going to wake up and make all of the games available (for free or cheap)?
September 28th, 2009 at 6:13 PM ^
OK, since Fox = NFC and CBS = AFC, and the Bears are NFC, does that mean that if the Bears are home that I'll get another Fox game? Or, I'll get another game only if Fox has that weekend's double header? Or, do I get screwed because the Bears are home and therefore only get one game on Fox even if they have the doubleheader weekend? **Head ASPLODE**
What determines what game is broadcast in Chicago? You'd think it would be NFC North and then something interesting. If CBS has the AFC, why wouldn't they show the Falcons v Pats game? At least that had the potential to be a good show. Granted, the Steelers v Bengals was a good game but I still could care less about either team. At this point, I'd like to see a Saints game since they appear to be for real.
September 28th, 2009 at 6:16 PM ^
I think the AFC/CBS and NFC/FOX is actually based on the road team for some reason.
It's a goofy setup they use and I've completely stopped trying to pay attention to how they pick what games you get.
September 28th, 2009 at 10:32 PM ^
All bears games will be shown in Chicago, barring a blackout. When the bears are at home, no other game is permitted to be on tv in the same time slot, by nfl rules (to force those who bought tickets to actually show up). When they are on the road, you will get 3 NFL games on Sunday Afternoon: one on the singleheader network, and two on the doubleheader network. Each network gets 8 exclusive doubleheaders, in addition to the double doubleheader run week 17.
After that, the networks and affiliates decide what games are to be shown where. The chicago affiliate selects the game that it believes will most interest it's fans. In the case where a network has a singleheader, they will always select a game in the timeslot opposite the home team's game being shown.
The reason you didn't see Falcons-Pats was that Fox was the singleheader network for the week. Since the bears played on fox, this was the only game Fox could show locally. The website I've linked below has the nfl coverage maps for each week, so that you can find what game is being shown in your area. In addition, I've linked the wikipedia page on NFL television, which fully explains the NFL's Television contracts.
http://the506.com/nflmaps/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_on_television
Edit: all AFC road games are on CBS and all NFC road games are on FOX. This gives both networks access to all 32 NFL stadiums.