NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American
sports-oriented pay television
Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...
network owned by the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...
(NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com,
NFL Films
NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries for and about the NFL, as well as ...
, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and
NFL RedZone. Dedicated to
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...
, 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
SoFi Stadium () is a 70,240-seat sports and entertainment indoor stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California, United States. SoFi occupies the former site of the Hollywood Park Racetrack, from Los Angeles International Airport ...
in
Inglewood Inglewood may refer to:
Places
Australia
*Inglewood, Queensland
* Shire of Inglewood, Queensland, a former local government area
*Inglewood, South Australia
*Inglewood, Victoria
* Inglewood, Western Australia
Canada
* Inglewood, Ontario
*Inglewo ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
, and broadcasts its worldwide feed from Encompass Digital Media (formally Crawford Communications) in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to t ...
. The network has secondary
East Coast facilities in the
NFL Films
NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries for and about the NFL, as well as ...
building in
Mount Laurel, New Jersey
Mount Laurel is a township in Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia and part of the South Jersey region. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 41,864, reflecting an increase of ...
.
As of February 2015, NFL Network is available to approximately 71,867,000 pay television households in the United States (totaling 61.7% of U.S. households with at least one television set).
History
NFL Network was launched on November 4, 2003, only eight months after the owners of the league's 32 teams voted
unanimously
Unanimity is agreement by all people in a given situation. Groups may consider unanimous decisions as a sign of social, political or procedural agreement, solidarity, and unity. Unanimity may be assumed explicitly after a unanimous vote or imp ...
to approve its formation. Originally located in the
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
suburb of
Culver City,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
, the league invested $100 million to fund the network's operations.
NFL Films
NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries for and about the NFL, as well as ...
, which produces commercials, television programs, and feature films for the NFL, is a key supplier of NFL Network's programming, with more than 4,000 hours of footage available in its library. As a result, much of the network's highlights and recaps feature NFL Films'
trademark style of slow-motion game action, sounds of the game, and sideline conversations between players and/or team staff. Both the network's site and app, were launched in 2004 (on NFL.com) and 2009, respectively.
Beginning with the
2006 season, the network began to broadcast eight regular-season NFL games during Thursday
prime time
Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
, branded as ''
Thursday Night Football
''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') 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 (8:20 prior to 20 ...
''. In addition to live games, the network has provided coverage of the
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...
since 2006; its coverage competes with that provided by
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
and
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially ...
. It was simulcast in a co-production with
Fox Sports for the
2018 edition, though this was only a one-year agreement as exclusive over-the-air broadcast rights moved to
ABC for the 2019 edition, which saw ESPN produce a different broadcast for 'casual' fans. In 2020, the network simulcast ESPN's coverage of
that year's draft which was produced remotely from the basement of commissioner
Roger Goodell’s home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On September 8, 2021, the network moved with the rest of NFL Media to a 200,000 square foot space on the campus of ''Hollywood Park'', a development that also features
SoFi Stadium
SoFi Stadium () is a 70,240-seat sports and entertainment indoor stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California, United States. SoFi occupies the former site of the Hollywood Park Racetrack, from Los Angeles International Airport ...
in
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...
. In addition to office and studio space, the facility also features NFL Media's first outdoor studio and space to host studio audiences.
Branding
At the
2008 NFL Draft
The 2008 NFL Draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27 ...
, NFL Network unveiled a revised logo that was updated to match the revised NFL logo introduced around the same time. Unlike the updated logo for the league, the NFL Network's logo included subtle changes such as using a darker shade of blue and changing the "NFL" lettering to match that of the new league logo. During the
2012 NFL Draft, the network debuted an overhauled logo resembling that used by sister network NFL Red Zone; the network also began to play down the "HD" branding used on-air, as the vast majority of cable providers currently carrying NFL Network transmit the channel's
standard definition feed as a
downscaled letterboxed version of the
high definition
High definition or HD may refer to:
Visual technologies
*HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format
*HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format
*HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape
* HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
feed. The logo underwent another minor change during the
2015 NFL season when as part of the league's year-long celebration of
Super Bowl 50
Super Bowl 50 was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2015 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) ...
, the logo took a gold hue in line with the league celebrating the game's golden anniversary.
The network unveiled an updated ticker at the start of the 2017 season, replacing the one used since the 2012 rebranding.
Programming
NFL game telecasts
Thursday Night Football
Thursday Night Football was the branding used for Thursday Night NFL games airing on NFL Network.
Prior to the 2012 season, the NFL Network aired live primetime games on Thursdays beginning in mid-November. Starting with the
2012 season, the network began televising one live Thursday night game each week from Weeks 2 through 15 (excluding Thanksgiving Day), as well as one live Saturday night game during Week 16. As a result of the addition of these extra games, every NFL team now appears in at least one timeslot-exclusive nationally televised game (either a Thursday, Sunday, or Monday Night contest, a Thanksgiving game, or a 9:30 a.m ET London game). As with the games broadcast by ESPN's ''
Monday Night Football
''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...
'', the NFL Network telecasts are also aired on a designated broadcast television station in the primary
markets of the participating teams, although prior to the suspension of blackout rules in 2015 stations in the home team's market only carried it if the televised game
sold out all remaining available tickets 72 hours prior to the game's start time.
When ''Thursday Night Football'' premiered, veteran television announcer
Bryant Gumbel
Bryant Charles Gumbel (born September 29, 1948) is an American television journalist and sportscaster, best known for his 15 years as co-host of NBC's '' Today''. He is the younger brother of sportscaster Greg Gumbel. Since 1995, he has hoste ...
served as
play-by-play
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present
In linguis ...
announcer, with former
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
and current
NBC analyst
Cris Collinsworth serving as
color commentator for the broadcasts. Collinsworth won the Sports
Emmy for best game analyst for his work on the NFL Network telecasts.
Dick Vermeil
Richard Albert Vermeil (; born October 30, 1936) is a former American football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles for seven seasons, the St ...
replaced Collinsworth for two games in 2006;
Marshall Faulk and
Deion Sanders replaced Collinsworth when needed in 2007.
In August 2007, the network televised the
Pro Football Hall of Fame Game between the
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...
and the
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...
as NBC opted to cover that year's preseason game in China, which was later canceled. The 2007 schedule began on November 22 (
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...
night), with a game between the
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 20 ...
and the
Atlanta Falcons at the
Georgia Dome
The Georgia Dome was a domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of the Georgia World Congress Cent ...
in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...
. Gumbel and Collinsworth returned as the booth announcers.
Bob Papa, also the radio voice of the
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...
on local
sports talk station
WFAN, announced the games starting in 2008. Former
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at For ...
general manager
Matt Millen was named Collinsworth's replacement at the same time. Former
Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...
quarterback
Joe Theismann joined Papa and Millen in the booth for the 2010–11 season. In May 2011, NFL Network announced that
Brad Nessler and
Mike Mayock would serve as the announcers for that season's game broadcasts.
In the 2014 season,
CBS Sports
CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street (Manhattan), 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS ...
took over the production of all of the games in the package, and gained the right to simulcast 8 of the games on broadcast television.
In 2016,
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and it ...
also gained a portion of the package under a similar arrangement.
Fox Sports took over the package in 2018.
Beginning with the
2022 NFL season,
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one ...
took over the broadcast rights for Thursday Night Football. This broadcast deal removed the NFL Network simulcast from Thursday Night Football for the first time, although NFL Network will replay Thursday Night Football games multiple times on Friday and Saturday.
NFL Network Exclusive Game Series
''NFL Network Exclusive Game Series'' is the current branding used for broadcasts of
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...
(NFL) games aired by NFL Network. These games include the
NFL International Series
The NFL International Series is a series of American football games during the National Football League (NFL) regular season that are played outside the United States. Since 2017, the series has two sub-series: the NFL London Games in the Uni ...
, as well as select Saturday games.
In 2007, NFL Network used ''Saturday Night Football'' to brand these games (alongside the overall blanket title ''Run to the Playoffs''), from 2008 through 2016 the games were branded as "special editions" of ''Thursday Night Football'' or a variant thereof (such as ''Thursday Night Special''). From 2017 until 2021, ''NFL Network Special'' was used. The branding ''NFL Christmas Special'' has also been used for Christmas Day games in the package.
Preseason coverage
NFL Network televises all 65
preseason games each August. Some of the games air live on the network; however, a majority of these contests air on a
tape-delayed
In radio and television, broadcast delay is an intentional delay when broadcasting live material, technically referred to as a deferred live. Such a delay may be to prevent mistakes or unacceptable content from being broadcast. Longer delays las ...
basis and use the local broadcast of one of the teams involved. Live preseason game broadcasts on NFL Network are blacked out in the home markets of both participating teams, where the game is broadcast on a local station; in those affected areas, an alternate feed of NFL Network is shown instead with a different preseason game, documentary programming, or a previously aired game. Prior to 2014, NFL Network occasionally broadcast selected preseason games as special editions of ''Thursday Night Football''.
Studio shows
On weekdays, ''
Good Morning Football'' airs live from 7-10 am ET, followed by a repeat from 10 am-1 pm ET.
On Sundays, the ''NFL GameDay Morning'' pre-game show airs from 9 am-1 pm ET, ''NFL GameDay Live'' from 1-7:30 pm ET, ''NFL GameDay Highlights'' from 7:30-8:30 ET, and ''NFL GameDay Prime'' from 11:30 pm–12:30 am ET.
Other football
Arena Football League
NFL Network held the broadcast rights to the revived
Arena Football League
The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...
from 2010 to 2012. Starting with the 2010 season, the network broadcast a weekly ''Friday Night Football'' game each week during the regular season and playoff games at 8:00 p.m.
Eastern Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...
from March to August, in addition to rights to playoff games and the
ArenaBowl. The NFL stated that unlike when the NFL last showed interest in arena football, there would be no attempts to buy into the league. Broadcasters for the games included
Kurt Warner
Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend ...
,
Tom Waddle,
Paul Burmeister,
Fran Charles,
Charles Davis and
Ari Wolfe
Ari Michael Wolfe (born January 7, 1971) is an American sportscaster. Wolfe currently calls events for ESPN, Stadium Network, Tennis Channel, the Kansas City Chiefs, Pac-12 Networks and NBC Sports. Additionally, Wolfe serves as an anchor and re ...
.
NFL Network ceased airing Arena Football League games partway through the
2012 season as a result of ongoing labor problems within the league. The season's remaining games were carried on a
tape delay before the network terminated the league broadcast contract outright at the end of the season; the rights were then obtained by
CBS Sports Network
CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known a ...
.
College football
In 2006, NFL Network began a foray into televising
college football bowl game
In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...
s, acquiring rights to the newly established
Texas Bowl in Houston (whose management rights were held by the
Houston Texans at the time), the
Insight Bowl, as well as two all-star events—the
Senior Bowl (which features prospects that had completed their college eligibility) and the
Las Vegas All-American Classic (which, however, was cancelled at the last minute due to financial and sponsorship issues). These games were intended to help make NFL Network more attractive to television providers. The
2006 Insight Bowl
The 2006 Insight Bowl, a college football bowl game held on December 29 at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, pitted the Texas Tech Red Raiders against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. This game is tied fo ...
, played between
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...
and
Texas Tech, would also achieve notoriety for featuring the largest comeback victory in
Division I FBS bowl game history, with Texas Tech coming back from a 38–7 third-quarter deficit to win 44–41 in overtime.
On April 14, 2007, the network televised the
Nebraska Cornhuskers' spring football game. The network again aired the Insight, Texas and Senior bowls in late 2007 and early 2008. In addition, it carried two games between
historically black colleges and universities
Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. M ...
during the 2007 season, including the
Circle City Classic at the
RCA Dome
The RCA Dome (originally Hoosier Dome) was a domed stadium in Indianapolis. It was the home of the Indianapolis Colts NFL franchise for 24 seasons ( 1984–2007).
It was completed at a cost of $77.5 million, as part of the Indiana Convention C ...
in
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of U.S. state and territorial capitals, state capital and List of U.S. states' largest cities by population, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat, seat of ...
. Rights to the Insight and Texas Bowls were later acquired by
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
(with the former later moving to
Fox Sports).
In May 2019, NFL Network announced a four-year deal with
Conference USA
Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...
to air a weekly regular-season game on Saturday afternoons beginning in the
2019 season. NFL Network opted out of the agreement after one season.
Since 2019, NFL Network has annually carried the
Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic, a college football kickoff game that features a matchup of two
historically black colleges and universities
Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. M ...
(HBCUs) on the Sunday before
Labor Day
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United ...
. The
HBCU Legacy Bowl, a postseason all-star game involving draft-eligible HBCU players, also has broadcast rights held by NFL Network.
In the
2022 season, NFL Network returned to carrying regular college football games through a weekly sub-license agreement with
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
.
High school football
NFL Network aired two high school all-star games in June 2007: the
Bayou Bowl between players from
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
and
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...
on June 9 (via a live feed from
regional sports network FSN Southwest), and the
Big 33 Football Classic between players from
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
and
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
on June 16 (sharing its feed with CN8 (now the
Comcast Network) and cable outlets in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsyl ...
and Ohio).
Canadian Football League
On July 1, 2010, NFL Network began airing live
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...
games simulcast from Canadian sports network
TSN
TSN may refer to:
Science and technology
* Translin, DNA binding protein involved in microRNA function
* Taxonomic serial number, a stable and unique taxonomic serial number issued by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System
* The Science Netwo ...
. NFL Network aired the league's Thursday games, three Saturday games during the month of July, and then Friday night games beginning in September (after
ArenaBowl XXIII). NFL Network did not air CFL games during August as it carried a heavy amount of NFL preseason game broadcasts. In addition, NFL Network did not carry any playoff games, including the
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...
championship, as those games are all played on Sundays opposite NFL regular season games. Those games were instead broadcast on the
ESPN3
ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an online streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communication ...
online service (ESPN owns a 20% interest in TSN, in a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
with majority parent
Bell Media
Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
). On May 25, 2012, NFL Network announced it would not renew its contract with the CFL. The package was subsequently acquired by the
NBC Sports Network, then by the
ESPN networks
WatchESPN was a branding of the Internet television website and mobile application operated by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Cor ...
.
NFL Network expressed interest in picking up CFL games again beginning in the 2019 season after its previous deal with ESPN expired. To accommodate this, the NFL insisted that the CFL move its schedule over a month earlier than it currently runs, so that the network can use the league to fill air time between the
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...
and
training camp. As such a change would require a rework of the league's collective bargaining agreement, it was unable to fulfill that request
and instead renewed its agreement with ESPN.
Alliance of American Football
On January 31, 2019, NFL Network signed a multi-year deal to air
Alliance of American Football
The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan are ...
games, broadcasting two games per week, most of them on Saturday and Sunday nights. As with all other AAF games, the broadcasts were produced in conjunction with CBS Sports. The league ultimately folded in the middle of its
inaugural season.
High definition
NFL Network HD is a
1080i high definition
High definition or HD may refer to:
Visual technologies
*HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format
*HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format
*HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape
* HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
simulcast feed of NFL Network that launched in August 2004. It is available nationally on satellite providers
DirecTV and
Dish Network
DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV ...
, and regionally on
Verizon FiOS,
AT&T U-verse and most
Comcast
Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
and
Cogeco Cable systems.
In mid-October 2008, in-studio programs began to air in "enhanced HD", featuring contained additional scores and statistics on a dedicated wing on the right side of the screen that was only visible on the HD feed. Content that is presented in
4:3 standard definition is shown with
stylized pillarboxes, or for some footage, blurred pillarbox wings. On May 1, 2009, ''NFL Total Access'' began airing in full HD without pillarboxing or enhanced graphics; this was followed by the upgrade of ''NFL GameDay'' to HD the following September.
Most providers began to exclusively carry the HD feed of the network during 2011, transmitting a
downscaled and
letterboxed version of the HD feed to provide the channel in 4:3 standard definition for analog viewers without any deviation, including the "NFL HD" logo. The standard definition feed was discontinued entirely in July 2012, concurrent with the introduction of the network's current logo.
NFL RedZone channel
The NFL RedZone channel is a special game-day only channel that broadcasts on Sundays during the regular season from 1:00 to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time (10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Pacific Time). ''RedZone'' provides "whip around" coverage of all Sunday afternoon games airing in-progress on
CBS and
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
. Whenever a team enters the
red zone, the coverage will switch full-screen over to the live feed of that game's television broadcast, and attempt to cover a potential scoring result (touchdown or field goal). The coverage is hosted by
Scott Hanson
Scott Richard Hanson (born June 24, 1971) is an American television anchor and reporter for NFL Network. He has served as sports reporter and anchor for several regional stations and was hired by NFL Network in 2006. He is currently the host ...
. This is not to be confused with the completely separate and different Red Zone channel available only on
NFL Sunday Ticket.
Starting in 2016 NFL Network during the offseason replayed one week of NFL RedZone every Sunday from the previous season.
International distribution
Canada
NFL Network was approved for distribution on Canadian television providers by the
CRTC in 2004; Live ''Thursday Night Football'' games are blacked out on the feed distributed in Canada to protect local rightsholders
TSN
TSN may refer to:
Science and technology
* Translin, DNA binding protein involved in microRNA function
* Taxonomic serial number, a stable and unique taxonomic serial number issued by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System
* The Science Netwo ...
and
CTV 2.
NFL Network is also offered as part of
DAZN's NFL Game Pass service as of 2017.
United Kingdom
It was reported that the network would be made available in the United Kingdom in 2008.
The agreement marks the 25th anniversary of live NFL coverage on Sky Sports and will see ‘Sky Sports NFL’ launching from September 3 ahead of the 2020 season, which kicks off on September 10.
Germany
Since the 2017 season, NFL Network is a part of the IPTV subscription service
DAZN, which also offers NFL RedZone to German viewers.
Brazil
NFL Network is available on NFL GamePass Free Tier. NFL RedZone is available on the Pro Tier.
Carriage and distribution complications
The launch of the ''Thursday Night Football'' package led NFL Network to increasingly insist on carriage on lower subscription tiers of television providers; in particular, demanding carriage on a basic package and a carriage fee of $0.61 per subscriber. Time Warner Cable and other major cable providers wished to place it on a sports tier. Cable companies felt that a channel with such marginal interest, few live games, and filler programming, would be tough to sell outside of the football season. In February 2008, ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' reported that the NFL had been in discussion with
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
executives over the possibility of partnering with
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
to bolster NFL Network; one analyst suggested the possibility of NFL Network being combined into its lesser-viewed, but better-carried
ESPN Classic channel.
2006 free preview
NFL Network offered a free preview from December 24 to 30, 2006 to
Suddenlink Communications systems in
West Texas
West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio.
No consensus exists on the boundary betwe ...
, and to
Time Warner Cable and
Cablevision
Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...
systems in the New York City area. The package included the
Texas Bowl and
Insight Bowl, but excluded that week's NFL game between the
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...
and
Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...
(which was already scheduled to air on a local broadcast station under existing NFL policy). However, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision were only interested in showing the Texas Bowl, which featured the
Rutgers Scarlet Knights, who developed strong local appeal in 2006 and barely missed a berth in the
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, includ ...
. The NFL denied that request and would only offer the free preview if Cablevision and/or Time Warner Cable made the entire preview week available to customers.
TWC then offered to carry the free preview on a digital tier. Cablevision, however, continued to refuse to carry any NFL Network programming other than the Texas Bowl. It even announced that Cablevision would put it on channel 14 (normally occupied by a television listings channel that was used as an overflow feed for
MSG Network and
FSN New York
MSG Sportsnet (visually branded on-air as MSGSN) is an American regional sports network owned by MSG Entertainment; it operates as a sister channel to MSG Network. The network serves the New York City metropolitan area, whose reach expands to cov ...
) at 6:00 p.m. until the end of the network's postgame coverage. The NFL, however, stated that it would not accept that request.
On December 21, however, after New Jersey legislators threatened legal action, Cablevision changed its mind and indeed showed not only the game between Rutgers and
Kansas State, but also the entire free preview schedule. Time Warner had made a similar announcement only hours earlier. Suddenlink agreed on December 22 to carry the entire free preview for their customers in West Texas.
[NFL Network and Suddenlink Cable Reach Agreement](_blank)
Texas Tech website The free preview did not lead to long-term carriage deals, and the standoff continued between all three cable companies and the NFL Network.
2007 Packers vs. Cowboys controversy
2007 saw fresh controversy about the NFL Network. That year, the network happened to hold the rights to some match-ups with major implications. The first came in late November when the one-loss
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...
hosted the one-loss
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the th ...
. Green Bay's
Brett Favre
Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 201 ...
was also having one of the best seasons of his career and would eventually lead the resurgent Packers to the
NFC Championship Game
The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semi-final playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the world ...
. Most fans could not see the game because of carriage restrictions, more noticeable because it involved nationally respected teams in a highly anticipated match-up. This controversy would pale in comparison to the final game the NFL Network would broadcast that season.
2007 Patriots vs. Giants controversy
In December 2007,
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
of
wrote a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell asking for the league to settle their differences in time for the
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
-
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...
game on December 29 that would be broadcast on ''
Saturday Night Football
''ESPN Saturday Night Football on ABC'' (branded for sponsorship purposes as ''ESPN Saturday Night Football on ABC presented by Capital One'') is an American weekly presentation of prime time broadcasts of National Collegiate Athletic Association ...
''. The game was the Patriots' record-sealing win that made them the first undefeated team through the regular season in 35 years. Kerry urged for a solution to be decided upon in time so that Americans could witness "a historic event". An agreement was worked out between the NFL and two of the league's television partners, NBC and CBS, to allow the NFL Network broadcast of the game to be
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simult ...
on those networks, resulting in the first NFL simulcast since
Super Bowl I and the first three-network simulcast in the history of the league.
In addition,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
area
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
owned-and-operated station
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by Fox Te ...
(channel 9), and
Hearst Television-owned
ABC affiliates
WCVB-TV (channel 5) in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...
and
WMUR-TV (channel 9) in
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusett ...
, expressed dissatisfaction over the CBS/NBC simulcast, stating it violated their agreements with the network. The stations had already been scheduled to air the game, as per NFL rules. Greg Aiello, an NFL spokesperson, stated that NBC and CBS would not have agreed to present the simulcast without clearing the game nationally, including the aforementioned markets. WWOR came to an agreement with the network and showed the game along with WNBC and
WCBS-TV (channel 2) in the New York City market. WCVB also would still televise the game and stated that it was still working toward resolving issues with the NFL Network over additional coverage rights.
The result of these arrangements was that viewers in the New York, Boston and New Hampshire areas could see the game on up to four networks. Also in addition, satellite provider
Dish Network
DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV ...
and radio companies
Sirius XM Radio and
Entercom, expressed dissatisfaction over the NBC/CBS simulcast.
RCN Corporation, the 12th-largest cable provider in the U.S., stated that the league's deal with CBS and NBC "devalues its contract with the league’s in-house service." Greg Aiello, an NFL spokesperson, said he was unaware of dissatisfaction among NFL Network affiliates over the simulcast and if any were seeking a rebate or other form of compensation because the game was being more widely distributed. If that were the case, he said, those discussions would “take place privately with our TV partners.”
Comcast
On November 10, 2006,
Comcast
Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
announced it would add NFL Network on its digital tier in time for the debut of ''Thursday Night Football''.
[Cox Adds NFL Network Game Package](_blank)
Multichannel On August 6, 2007, Comcast moved NFL Network from the digital tiers to the ''Sports Entertainment Package''. This led to a court battle between NFL Network and Comcast, with the ruling in favor of Comcast; the NFL Network later appealed the ruling. Comcast sent NFL Network a cease-and-desist letter to stop encouraging subscribers to drop their Comcast service.
Media Buyer Planner Comcast's carriage agreement with the NFL Network ended in mid-2009.
Multichannel On February 26, 2008, a New York appellate court reversed course on a May 2007 judgment that allowed Comcast to move the network from its second-most distributed tier to the company's sports tier. At that time, a court date had not been set. Four judges at the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, ruled the language "concerning ''additional programming package'' was ambiguous and that ''neither party has established that its interpretation of the relevant contracts is a matter of law.''"
Comcast's deal with the NFL Network was set to expire on April 30, 2009.
According to messages sent out to Comcast,
Midco, and some Cable Systems customers with or without
set-top boxes, NFL Network might be removed from some customers' channel lineups. The message said: "In spite of our efforts to continue carrying NFL Network/NFL Network HD, the NFL may terminate our rights. As a result these networks may be removed from lineups as soon as 5/1." On April 10, 2009, it was confirmed that Comcast would remove the channel on that date due to failing to reach a carriage agreement. However, on April 30, 2009, NFL Network announced that it would continue to be carried on Comcast in the interim while both sides tried to reach an agreemenet on a new contract. On July 30, 2009, NFL Network was made available to lower-tiered Comcast digital cable subscribers.
NFL Network later filed a discrimination case against Comcast with the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...
, claiming that since Comcast does not charge an extra fee for the sports channels it owns,
Versus
Versus (Latin, 'against') may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Versus'' (2000 film), a Japanese zombie film
* ''Versus'' (2016 film), a Russian sports drama film
* ''Versus'' (2019 film), a French thriller film
* Versus (TV channel), form ...
and
Golf Channel, it considered Comcast's move to charge extra for NFL Network unfair. On October 10, 2008, the FCC ruled as follows:
Comcast trial
The trial before an administrative law judge (as ordered above) began on April 14, 2009. On April 17, 2009, Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts testified that the provider was willing to move the channel from the Sports Entertainment Package to a lower-priced base package if the subscriber fee was reduced to 25¢ per month (at that time, NFL Network was charging 75¢ per month). He claimed that overall, Comcast saved $50 million a year in license fees by leaving the channel on its Sports Package, which in turn led to savings for its customers.
On April 30, 2009, NFL Network ''Total Access'' correspondent
Lindsey Soto reported Comcast would continue to carry the network after its contract expired at midnight as negotiations proceeded. On May 19, 2009, the NFL and Comcast reached a ten-year agreement to place NFL Network on Comcast's Digital Classic package by August 1, 2009, for a monthly price between 45 and 50¢, instead of the 70¢ fee that the NFL originally requested. This deal led to speculation that other cable operators would end their holdouts and try to reach deals that would bring the network to a wider audience.
, the NFL Network was available only on the Digital Preferred or Sports package on Comcast's Xfinity system in Atlanta, Georgia, and not on a Digital Classic package (which does not exist). This is contrary to the above-mentioned agreement between Comcast and the NFL.
Time Warner Cable
On December 20, 2007, the NFL Network proposed to
Time Warner Cable to enter into binding
arbitration
Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or ' arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ...
, which would have a neutral third party determine the price and tier for NFL Network on the provider's systems, based on fair market value of the service. The NFL Network noted that the process could take some time and offered to make the December 29, 2007 game between the then unbeaten
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
and New York Giants immediately available to Time Warner Cable subscribers, upon “written agreement to participate in the arbitration process and to be bound by its result.” The network was willing to make the binding arbitration available to cable providers not carrying the NFL Network and for an extension of Comcast's current contract.
Time Warner Cable denied the binding arbitration proposal, saying "the operator has successfully reached agreements with hundreds of programming networks without the use of arbitration. We continue to believe that the best way to achieve results is to privately seek a resolution and not attempt to negotiate through the press or elected officials.” TWC stated that it would be willing to make the network available on its sports tier, as a premium service, or make the game available to its subscribers on a per-game basis, at a retail price set by the NFL, with 100% of attendant revenue going to the league.
The network refused and stated:
On September 21, 2012, the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...
reported that Time Warner Cable and
Bright House Networks had reached an agreement to carry NFL Network. Within hours, both NFL Network and NFL RedZone began to be carried on many Time Warner Cable systems in time for that week's games, with full distribution across the company's systems planned to be completed by September 27, in time for the next ''Thursday Night Football'' game.
Cogeco
On November 10, 2006, Canadian cable provider Cogeco Cable announced that it had reached a carriage agreement with the NFL Network to carry the network on its "Sports & Information Tier". NFL Network had previously insisted that it would only allow cable providers to carry the network on basic tiers; Time Warner Cable stated it would only carry the network on a digital sports tier.
This makes Cogeco the only major cable provider to reach an agreement with the NFL Network by placing it directly on a digital sports tier without any repercussions from the network. When it was announced that NFL Network would carry ''Run to the Playoffs'' on Cogeco but not on a digital basic tier, it was stated that Cogeco's ''Sports & Information Tier'' "has about 30% penetration across all Cogeco subscribers and 60% penetration among Cogeco
digital-cable homes."
[NFL Network Is Still Plugging Holes](_blank)
Multichannel
Insight Communications
In 2004,
Insight Communications reached a carriage agreement with the NFL Network to carry the network on the provider's digital tier, in addition to carrying NFL Network On Demand and NFL Network HD.
[NFL Network Suits Up Insight](_blank)
Multichannel At first, Insight did not carry the "Run to the Playoffs" games due to the extra surcharge providers pay to carry the games.
Insight did not show the first-ever game, between the
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...
and the
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division.
The t ...
on November 23, 2006, but the game that aired the following week and future games were available due to a long-term agreement that was later reached.
[NFL Network Scores Insight Deal](_blank)
Multichannel Following Insight's January 2012 acquisition by Time Warner Cable, TWC chose to let the carriage agreement for NFL Network and NFL RedZone expire on August 1, 2012, which resulted in the two channels being removed from Insight's systems in
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
,
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It bo