NFL on CBS
This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. (January 2023) |
NFL on CBS | |
---|---|
American football telecasts | |
Presented by | |
Opening theme | See Multi-camera |
Running time | 210 minutes or until game ends |
Production companies | National Football League CBS Sports |
Original release | |
Network | CBS Nickelodeon (2021–present) Paramount+ (2021–present) |
Release | September 30, 1956 January 23, 1994 | –
Release | September 6, 1998 present | –
Related | |
The NFL Today NFL on Yahoo! NFL on Nickelodeon |
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 (with the exception of a break from 1994 to 1997). 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.
History
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CBS' coverage began on September 30, 1956 (the first regular season broadcast was a game between the visiting Washington Redskins against the Pittsburgh Steelers), before the 1970 AFL–NFL merger. Prior to 1968, CBS had an assigned crew for each NFL team. As a result, CBS became the first network to broadcast some NFL regular season games to selected television markets across the country. From 1970 until the end of the 1993 season, when Fox won the broadcast television contract to that particular conference, CBS aired NFL games from the National Football Conference. Since 1975, game coverage has been preceded by pre-game show The NFL Today, which features game previews, extensive analysis and interviews.
1950s
In August 1956, the DuMont Television Network, the NFL's primary television partner, ended network operations after years of decline. DuMont had already sold the rights to the NFL Championship to NBC in 1955, and when DuMont ended its regular season coverage, CBS acquired the rights.
CBS's first attempts to broadcast the
Often the games would be broadcast with "split audio" – that is, a game between two franchises would have the same picture in both teams' "networks" (the visiting team's home city and
The 1957 Pro Bowl was offered to NBC, then CBS. Both declined to carry the game. ABC was then offered to televise and accepted, but could not gain enough clearance of affiliates in time to make it a profitable venture. Thus they also dropped out and the game was not televised.
By 1959, CBS had at least 11 teams under contract. The Cleveland Browns were still the lone exception.
1960s
1960 saw the addition of a new team to the NFL in the form of the Dallas Cowboys. At this point, out of the 13 NFL teams, 10 were aligned with CBS. Two joined forces with NBC (the Colts and the Steelers) and one (the Browns) rejoined its partner, the syndicated Sports Network. Also, the Chicago Cardinals moved to St Louis. So both the expansion Cowboys and relocated Cardinals would cut severely into the monstrous Chicago CBS Network. A silver lining of this however was that WBBM viewers would at least, be able to see at least away games of their Bears on TV, after being virtually shut out from pro football telecasts for years.
Then-CBS affiliate
The end of each team having its own TV coverage
In 1962, the NFL followed the American Football League's (AFL) suit with its own revenue sharing plan after CBS agreed to telecast all regular season games for an annual fee of US$4.65 million. CBS also acquired the rights to the championship games for 1964 and 1965 for $1.8 million per game, on April 17, 1964.
CBS executive vice president
The fallout from the JFK assassination
On November 24, 1963, just two days after the
Half and half format
In
CBS' afternoon
On November 25, 1965 (
On December 29, 1965, CBS acquired the rights to the NFL regular season games in 1966 and 1967, with an option to extend the contract through 1968, for $18.8 million per year (in sharp contrast to the $14.1 million per year it paid for the rights in 1964). On February 14, 1966, the rights to the 1966 and 1967 NFL Championship Games (the Ice Bowl) were sold to CBS for $2 million per game. 1967 also marked the last year that CBS had separate commentator crews for each team for about 90% to 95% of their NFL games.
The beginning of the Super Bowl era
For the
In Week 11 of the 1966 season, the Philadelphia-San Francisco game was a regional telecast with a single audio feed. San Francisco play-by-play announcer Bob Fouts worked with Philadelphia analyst Tom Brookshier, while Chick Hearn was called in for CBS Control duty. For that year's Thanksgiving Day game, CBS aired a "day/twilight" doubleheader that were both in color. For the San Francisco-Detroit game, Van Patrick and Frank Gifford called the first half while Bob Fouts and Gifford worked the second half. For the Cleveland-Dallas game, Jack Buck and Pat Summerall were on the call for the first half, while Frank Glieber and Summerall announced the second half. Week 12's Green Bay-Minnesota game was the Sunday doubleheader telecast. Hal Scott called the first half, while Ray Scott called the second half. Tony Canadeo was the analyst for the full game and Jim Morse had CBS Control duties. For Week 12, St. Louis-Dallas was the main doubleheader game with Jack Buck and Eddie LeBaron working the first half and Jack Drees and LeBaron calling the second half.
The first
The Ice Bowl
The 1967 NFL Championship Game between the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys featured play-by-play being done by Ray Scott for the first half and Jack Buck for the second half, while Frank Gifford handled the color commentary for the entire game.[6] Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier served as sideline reporters. Gifford and Summerall were intimately aware of the personality differences that existed between Dallas head coach Tom Landry and Green Bay head coach Vince Lombardi because they had both played on the New York Giants during Landry's and Lombardi's tenure at the Giants. Over 30 million people would tune in to watch the game.
On third-and-goal at the Dallas two-foot line with 16 seconds remaining, Green Bay quarterback
Frank Gifford recounted in his 1993 autobiography The Whole Ten Yards that he requested and received permission from CBS producers to go into the losing locker room for on-air post-game interviews—a practice unheard of in that era. Gifford, as a New York Giants player and a broadcaster, already enjoyed a friendship with Don Meredith, and he approached the quarterback for his thoughts on the game. The exhausted Meredith, in an emotion-choked voice, expressed pride in his teammates' play, and said, in a figurative sense, that he felt the Cowboys did not really lose the game because the effort expended was its own reward. Gifford wrote that the interview attracted considerable attention, and that Meredith's forthcoming and introspective responses played a part in his selection for ABC's Monday Night Football telecasts three years later.[11]
No copy of the complete telecast is known to exist. Some excerpts (such as the announcers' pre-game comments on the field) were saved and are occasionally re-aired in retrospective features. The Cowboys' radio broadcast on KLIF, with Bill Mercer announcing, and the Packers' radio broadcast on WTMJ, with Ted Moore announcing, still exist.[12]
The beginning of the semi-merit system
The August 11, 1968, exhibition game between Detroit and Philadelphia was originally scheduled for Mexico City, but was cancelled due to growing student demonstrations on August 8. The following day, the game was rescheduled to Philadelphia.
When CBS decided to abandon its practice of using dedicated announcing crews for particular teams in 1968, the network instituted a semi-merit system in its place, with certain crews (such as Ray Scott and Paul Christman or Jack Buck and Pat Summerall) being assigned to each week's most prominent games regardless of the participating teams.
On December 22, 1968, CBS interrupted coverage of a
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, CBS used a marching band-like instrumental arrangement of the song "Confidence" (from Leon Carr's score for the 1964 off-Broadway musical The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) as the theme for their NFL broadcasts.
With 1969 being the final season before the AFL–NFL merger, this was also the final season where both leagues would have Thanksgiving doubleheaders. Starting in 1970, only two games would be played on Thanksgiving, with the Lions and Cowboys hosting those games, and an AFC team rotating as the visiting team between Detroit and Dallas every year.
Monday night games on CBS
During the early 1960s, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle envisioned the possibility of playing at least one game weekly during prime time for a greater television audience. An early bid by ABC in 1964 to have the league play a weekly game on Friday nights was abandoned, with critics charging that such telecasts would damage the attendance at high school games. Undaunted, Rozelle decided to experiment with the concept of playing on Monday night, scheduling the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions for a game on September 28, 1964. While the game was not televised, it drew a sellout crowd of 59,203 spectators to Tiger Stadium, the largest crowd to watch a professional football game in Detroit up to that point.
Two years later, Rozelle would build on this success as the NFL began a four-year experiment of playing on Monday night, scheduling a total of five Monday night games on CBS from 1966 to 1969 (including two in 1968).[13][14][15][16][17] The first prime-time telecast on CBS was on Saturday night, September 10, 1966, with the Baltimore Colts opening the season against the Green Bay Packers at Milwaukee.[18] The first Monday night national telecast was on October 31, 1966, with the St. Louis Cardinals winning at home over the Chicago Bears, 24–17.[19] NBC followed suit in 1968 and 1969 with games involving AFL teams.
The Chicago-St. Louis game on October 31, 1966, was a national Monday night telecast except in St. Louis. Jack Drees and Frank Gifford called the first half and Lindsey Nelson and Gifford did the second half. This was almost certainly the first NFL prime time game ever televised in color. The Green Bay-St. Louis game from a year later on October 30 was likewise, also a prime time "coast to coast" telecast. Jack Drees again did play-by-play for the first half, while this time, Ray Scott did play-by-play for the second half, and Frank Gifford was the analyst for the full game.
During subsequent negotiations on a television contract that would begin in 1970, Rozelle concentrated on signing a weekly Monday night deal with one of the three major networks. After sensing reluctance from both NBC and CBS in disturbing their regular programming schedules, Rozelle spoke with ABC.
Despite the network's status as the lowest-
1970s
When the AFL and the NFL officially merged in 1970, the combined league divided its teams into the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). It was then decided (officially announced on January 26, 1970) that CBS would televise all NFC teams (including playoff games) while NBC would carry games from all AFC teams. For interconference games, CBS would broadcast them if the visiting team was from the NFC and NBC would carry them when the visitors were from the AFC. This was in line with the NFL television blackout rules of the time, meaning that every televised game of a local NFL team would be on the same channel (at the time, home games were banned from local television regardless of sell-out status, while road games are required to be aired in the teams' primary media markets, and select neighboring markets as well, even if it is not the most popular team in the market). The two networks also divided up broadcast rights to the Super Bowl on a yearly rotation.
By 1971, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) introduced the Prime Time Access Rule, which freed local network affiliates in the top 50 markets (in practice, the entire network) to take a half-hour of prime time from the networks on Mondays through Saturdays and one full hour on Sundays. Because nearly all affiliates found production costs for the FCC's intended goal of increased public affairs programming very high and the ratings (and by association, advertising revenues) low, making it mostly unprofitable, the FCC created an exception for network-authored news and public affairs. After a six-month hiatus in late 1971, CBS would find a prime place for 60 Minutes in a portion of that displaced time, 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. (Eastern; 5:00 to 6:00 Central Time) on Sundays, in January 1972.[20] This proved somewhat less than satisfactory, however, because in order to accommodate CBS' telecasts of late afternoon National Football League games, 60 Minutes went on hiatus during the fall from 1972 to 1975 (and the summer of 1972). This took place because football telecasts were protected contractually from interruptions in the wake of the infamous "Heidi Game" incident on NBC in November 1968.
Due largely to CBS' live broadcast of NFL games, as well as other sports events aired by the network that run past their scheduled end time, 60 Minutes sometimes does not start until after 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, with the program starting right after the conclusion of game coverage (however, on the West Coast, because the actual end of the live games is much earlier in the afternoon in comparison to the Eastern and Central Time Zones, 60 Minutes is always able to start at its normal 7:00 p.m. Pacific start time, leaving affiliates free to broadcast local newscasts, the CBS Evening News, and other local or syndicated programming leading up to 60 Minutes). The program's success has also led CBS Sports to schedule events leading into 60 Minutes and the rest of the network's primetime lineup, causing (again, except on the West Coast) the pre-emptions of the Sunday editions of the CBS Evening News and affiliates' local newscasts.
On January 16, 1972, the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Miami Dolphins 24–3 in Super Bowl VI in New Orleans. The CBS telecast had an estimated household viewership of 27,450,000 homes, the highest-rated single-day telecast ever at the time. Although Tulane Stadium was sold out for the game, unconditional blackout rules in the NFL prohibited the live telecast from being shown in the New Orleans market. This would be the last Super Bowl to be blacked out in the television market in which the game was played. The following year, the NFL allowed Super Bowl VII to be televised live in the host city (Los Angeles) when all tickets were sold. In 1973, the NFL changed its blackout policy to allow games to be broadcast in the home team's market if tickets are sold out 72 hours in advance (all Super Bowls since the second have sold out, as it is the main event on the NFL schedule, and there is high demand for Super Bowl tickets).
Labor disputes
A CBS technicians strike in
Interestingly, the San Francisco-Green Bay game at Milwaukee also had nine TV cables cut, but the picture was only out for eight minutes at the start of the second half. Finally, in the Los Angeles-Atlanta game (called by Jack Drees, George Connor, and Gil Stratton), there were no replays because they had two less cameras in use because of the strike. That Sunday, CBS was also forced to preempt Face the Nation because of the strike, which is notable because it came just two days before the Presidential election.
Also in Week 8 of the 1972 season, the
The scheduled telecasts of two New York Jets home games, Week 8 vs. Washington and week 12 vs. New Orleans, were cancelled due to the labor dispute.
Simulcasts in the San Francisco Bay Area and other experiments
On November 4,
The NFL Today debuts
In
Soundtracks, new graphics, and record Super Bowl ratings
By
CBS' 1976 telecast of Super Bowl X between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys was viewed by an estimated 80 million people, the largest television audience in history at the time. CBS' telecast featured play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall (calling his first Super Bowl in that role) and color commentator Tom Brookshier.
On October 12, 1976, Commissioner Pete Rozelle negotiated contracts with the three television networks to televise all NFL regular-season and postseason games, as well as selected preseason games, for four years beginning with the
At the height of the disco fad, from 1977 to 1979, CBS used Meco's "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band," a disco arrangement of John Williams's theme from Star Wars, as a musical theme.
Vin Scully and Alex Hawkins were assigned to call the 1977 NFC Championship Game between the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings. Late in that game, Hawkins quipped as Roger Staubach was shown running off the field "You know, Vin, that Roger Staubach runs like a sissy." Scully responded by remarking "You know, Hawk, they tell me you didn't always wear your helmet when you played!" CBS Sports fired Hawkins the day after the game.
On January 15, 1978, the
It's Giants football now, third and two. We thank our producer Bob Rowe, our director Jim Silman, and our CBS crew, spotter and statistician John Mara and Tom McHugh here at Giants Stadium. As the clock winds down on the Philadelphia Eagles, a game they thought would project them into a possible wildcard position, it would bring them 7–5 had they won, but a late interception by the Giants will preserve a Giant victory, an upset win as the Giants lead 17–12, we're inside 30 seconds, the Eagles have no timeouts. [At this point, the snap and fumble take place.] Wait a minute... here's a free fla- I don't believe it! The Eagles pick it up and Herman Edwards runs it in for a touchdown! An incredible development!
Also in 1978, CBS experimented with three-man booths during the first half of the season.
Pat Summerall and John Madden were paired together for the first time on the telecast of the Minnesota–Tampa Bay game on November 25, 1979. Madden substituted for Tom Brookshier, who was unavailable to work the telecast. Madden would also join Summerall and Brookshier for the Atlanta–Oakland game in Week 7. In Week 15, Summerall worked the Dallas–Philadelphia game on Saturday with Brookshier, then the Chicago–Green Bay game the next day with Sonny Jurgensen.
1980s
In
In 1981, ABC and CBS set all-time ratings highs, with ABC finishing the season with a 21.7 rating and CBS with a 17.5 rating; NBC was down slightly to 13.9. On October 18, 1981, Game 5 of the National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Montreal Expos, which was supposed to be televised on NBC that Sunday afternoon, was postponed due to snow. The cancellation of that game allowed CBS to achieve record breaking television viewership levels for a regular-season professional football broadcast. It was rated as the most watched afternoon of regular-season NFL football broadcasts on a single network in television history.
In 1981, CBS introduced a new opening theme for the NFL games, a peppy,
The beginning of the Summerall-Madden era
Going into the 1981 NFL season, CBS Sports executives decided that
Director Sandy Grossman began working alongside John Madden and Pat Summerall on CBS in 1981, and their partnership lasted 21 seasons. Madden insisted that Grossman and producer Bob Stenner watch coaches’ films of the NFL teams, which helped Grossman choose the best shots to pair with Madden's commentary. Madden credits him for being the first director to widen the camera shot to incorporate footage of outside linebackers. He created these broadcasts out of a production truck crammed with television monitors that formed a screen shot. During a New York Giants-Cincinnati Bengals game in 1991, Stenner and Grossman made 1,100 decisions about camera angles and the like.
On January 24, 1982, CBS Sports' broadcast of Super Bowl XVI – in which the San Francisco 49ers (led by quarterback Joe Montana) defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, 26–21 – became the highest rated Super Bowl of all time, with a 49.1 rating/73 share. Summerall and Madden called their first Super Bowl together as they went on to become one of the most popular NFL announcing teams ever. During the Super Bowl XVI telecast, the telestrator made its major network debut, which the network introduced as the "CBS Chalkboard" during their sports coverage. Madden utilized the device effectively to diagram football plays on-air to viewers. The telestrator is generally credited with popularizing the use of "telestration" during sports commentary.
In 1982, the NFL signed a five-year contract with the three television networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) to televise all NFL regular season and postseason games starting with the 1982 season.
1982 NFL strike
During the 1982 season, the NFL allowed CBS to rebroadcast Super Bowl XVI during the first Sunday of the
CBS originally wanted to air some
On January 8, 1983, CBS began their coverage of the NFL playoffs. As a consequence to the strike, which shortened the regular season from a 16-game schedule to only 9 games, a special 16-team playoff format (which was dubbed the "Super Bowl Tournament") was instituted. Geographical divisional standings were ignored and instead, the top eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their regular season records. Ultimately, this resulted in the early round playoff games being regionally televised for the first and to date, only time.
Announcer shifts
Tom Brookshier was suspended for the final week of the
For the 1985 season, the NFL showed a ratings increase on all three networks for the season, with viewership of CBS' telecasts increasing by 10%, NBC telecasts by 4%, and ABC telecasts by 16%.
Beginning in Week 4 of the 1986 season, CBS adapted a theme for its game broadcast, an intense, kinetic, synthesizer-laced theme that has affectionately been referred to as "Pots and Pans" (because of the background notes that often resembled the banging of those particular cooking objects). In 1989, the "Pots and Pans" theme was revamped to give it a more smooth, electronic style. This theme was also known for integrating the play-by-play announcer's voice-over introduction into the theme, it integrated three voice-over segments, one for the visiting team, home team and game storyline to set the latter element into the broadcast; this practice was common with CBS Sports' themes of the 1980s.
CBS starts broadcasting in stereo
CBS' broadcast of
At the NFL's annual meeting in Maui, Hawaii on March 15, 1987, Commissioner Pete Rozelle and Broadcast Committee Chairman Art Modell announced new three-year television contracts with ABC, CBS, and NBC, effective with the 1987 season. Beginning in 1987, CBS started broadcasting NFL games in stereo. On December 8, 1987, Cathy Barreto became the first woman to direct an NFL game at the network television level for the Minnesota Vikings–Detroit Lions telecast. On April 18, 1989, the NFL and CBS Radio jointly announced agreement extending CBS' radio broadcast rights to an annual 40-game package through the 1994 season.
The Fog Bowl and the first Turkey Leg Award
On New Year's Eve, 1988, CBS was at Chicago's Soldier Field for a playoff game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears. During the second quarter, a dense fog rolled over, cutting visibility to about 15–20 yards for the rest of the game. Television and radio announcers, and the fans in the stadium had trouble seeing what was happening on the field. A CBS helicopter providing aerial coverage for the game was forced to land. Terry Bradshaw, who was working the game with Verne Lundquist, later said he was more frustrated than at any time when he was a player.
For the
1990s
For CBS' coverage of Super Bowl XXIV at the end of the 1989 season, CBS introduced a brand new theme[29] for its NFL broadcasts, using a considerably more traditional and standard (but still peppy and bombastic) theme than the one used the previous four seasons; the theme was used until the 1991 NFC Championship Game.
On March 12, 1990, at the NFL's annual meeting in
On September 9, 1990, The NFL Today overhauled its talent lineup, consisting of
CBS broadcasts its final Super Bowl as the NFC package holder
At
To
In September 1993, The NFL Today celebrated its 19th season as a half-hour pre-game show. It was the highest-rated program in its time slot for 18 years, longer than any other program on television.
Losing the NFL to Fox (1994–1997)
The steady downturn in programming fortunes related to the struggling U.S. economy and a dearth of new primetime hit shows that CBS experienced during the tenure of network president
The NFL accepted Fox's bid on December 18, 1993, giving that network rights to televise NFC regular season and playoff games effective with the 1994 season, as well as the exclusive U.S. television rights to Super Bowl XXXI (held in 1997) under the initial contract. This stripped CBS of NFL telecasts following the 1993 season after 38 years, resulting in CBS not broadcasting any NFL games for the next four years.[33][34] The Fox network had only debuted seven years earlier and did not have an existing sports division; however, it would establish its own sports division and began building its own coverage by hiring many former CBS personalities (such as Pat Summerall, John Madden, James Brown, Terry Bradshaw, Dick Stockton and Matt Millen), management and production personnel.[35]
The acquisition of NFL rights by Fox made that network a major player in American television by giving it many new viewers (and affiliates) and a platform to advertise its other programs. In the meantime, CBS lost several affiliates, and ratings for its other programming languished. On May 23, 1994,
CBS apparently underestimated the value of its rights with respect to its advertising revenues and to its promotional opportunities for other network programs.[35] To this day, CBS admits that it has never fully recovered from the loss of key affiliates through the New World-Fox deal. It took a particularly severe hit in Atlanta, Detroit and Milwaukee, as the network found itself on the verge of having to import the signals of nearby affiliates via cable and satellite after being turned down for affiliation deals by other major network stations in those markets. Ultimately, the network was relegated to UHF stations with marginal signals in certain areas within their markets (because of satellite television, the NFL Sunday Ticket in local markets, and rules of the time, satellite subscribers were required to use antennas to pick up local affiliates). CBS purchased one of these stations, WWJ-TV (channel 62), only days before its longtime Detroit affiliate, WJBK (channel 2), was set to switch to Fox. The ratings impact in these three markets was significant; the former CBS affiliates were all considered to be ratings contenders, especially during the NFL season. With CBS ending up on UHF stations that had virtually no significant history as a former Fox or first-tier independent station (or former Big Three affiliate for that matter), ratings for CBS programming in these markets declined significantly. In Milwaukee, for instance, WITI (channel 6)'s switch from CBS to Fox resulted in several of CBS' remaining sports properties, most notably the Daytona 500, not being available to cable subscribers for much of 1995 until Weigel Broadcasting signed carriage agreements with providers to add new CBS station WDJT-TV (channel 58).The vast resources of Fox founder Rupert Murdoch allowed that network to grow quickly, primarily to the detriment of CBS. The loss of the NFL came in part because CBS Sports suddenly went into cost-cutting mode in the wake of its money-bleeding, $1 billion deal with Major League Baseball (1990–1993).[34][38] The network had already developed a stodgy and overly budgeted image under Laurence Tisch, who had become chief executive officer of CBS in 1985. Tisch was already notorious for having made deep cuts at the network's news division and for selling off major portions of the company (such as the 1988 sale of its Columbia Records division to Sony).
When CBS lost the NFL to Fox, the "Tiffany Network" struggled to compete in the ratings with a slate of programming whose audiences skewed older than programs broadcast by the other networks, even though the network still finished ahead of Fox, whose programming at the time of the NFL deal was almost exclusively limited to primetime and children's programming. One of the few bright spots in terms of ratings and audience demographics for CBS in the Tisch era, the Late Show with David Letterman (which often dominated The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in its first two years) saw its ratings decline in large part due to the affiliation switches, at times even finishing third behind Nightline on ABC.[39]
CBS televised its last game as the rights holder of the NFC package on January 23, 1994, when the
I'll tell you the tough thing, the tough thing is to say goodbye for so many thousands of people throughout the years that
1993 NFC Championship Gameon January 23, 1994.
Attempts at replacement programming
CBS made a bid on
In 1994, CBS had a new series of
One of the often cited reasons for the
The following year, in 1996, CBS added college football games featuring the Southeastern and Big East conferences on Saturday afternoons. It was the beginning of a rebuilding process that would eventually lead to the return of the NFL to the network.
The NFL returns
In addition, the current AFC deal also saw CBS indirectly acquire rights to air most games played by the Pittsburgh Steelers, which air locally on KDKA-TV (a longtime CBS affiliate, which became a CBS O&O after parent company Westinghouse Electric Corporation bought CBS in late 1995 and has long been one of CBS's strongest stations) and often get the highest television ratings for an NFL franchise due to the team's rabid fanbase on a national level. Coincidentally, before the AFL–NFL merger (when the Steelers went to the AFC voluntarily to balance out the number of teams between conferences), Steelers road games had aired on KDKA-TV as part of the network's deal to air NFL games, while league rules at the time mandated that home games could not be televised at all during this period, even if they did sell out tickets.
After acquiring the new package, CBS Sports then named former NFL Today host Greg Gumbel, as their lead play-by-play announcer (Gumbel had moved to NBC Sports, where he worked from 1994 to 1998 after CBS lost the NFL to Fox). Phil Simms (who at the time, was at NBC as part of the lead announcing team alongside Dick Enberg and Paul Maguire) was hired as the lead color commentator. On September 6, 1998, after 1,687 days since the last broadcast of The NFL Today, host Jim Nantz welcomed back viewers to CBS for its coverage of the NFL.
Given the challenge of making its coverage of the AFC different from that of NBC, CBS passed over longtime NBC veterans
"When CBS got the NFL back (in 1997), everything picked up again," Pilson said.[46] On November 8, 1998, CBS televised the first NFL game to be broadcast in high-definition, between the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills at Giants Stadium. It was also the first time two Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks started against each other in the NFL (Vinny Testaverde for the Jets and Doug Flutie for the Bills).
2000s
On January 28, 2001, CBS Sports, Core Digital and Princeton Video Image introduced state-of-the-art, three-dimensional replay technology called "
The 2001–02 NFL playoffs marked the first time that the league scheduled prime time playoff games for the first two rounds, in an attempt to attract more viewers. Saturday wild card and divisional playoff games were moved from 12:30 and 4 p.m. Eastern Time to 4:30 and 8 p.m., respectively. As a result, the league abandoned its practice of scheduling playoff games held mainly in colder, northern regions for daylight hours only; any stadium, regardless of evening January temperatures, could host prime time playoff games.
Jim Nantz and Greg Gumbel swap roles
In 2004, Jim Nantz and Greg Gumbel swapped roles on the network's NFL broadcasts.[50] Nantz took Gumbel's place as the lead play-by-play announcer while Gumbel took Nantz's spot as the host of The NFL Today. Following the 2005 season, CBS discontinued the use of sideline reporters in its regular season NFL coverage until 2014.
In Week 1, the
In the 2005 season, the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Doplhins was moved two days earlier from its originally scheduled date due to the threat of Hurricane Wilma. The game aired in the local markets of the two teams.
Beginning in the 2006 season, James Brown (returning to CBS from Fox) replaced Greg Gumbel as the host of The NFL Today. Gumbel returned to play-by-play duties.
The next group of broadcast contracts, which began with the 2006–07 season, resulted in a size-able increase in total rights fees. Both Fox and CBS renewed their Sunday afternoon broadcast packages through 2011, in both cases with modest increases. On February 6, 2006, CBS Sports announced the return of James Brown, who left CBS eleven years earlier to become studio host of Fox NFL Sunday, to the network as the host of The NFL Today. As previously mentioned, Greg Gumbel moved back to play-by-play, teaming with Dan Dierdorf. CBS decided to not feature sideline reports for the 2006 regular season. However, the network did use Lesley Visser, Sam Ryan, Solomon Wilcots and Steve Tasker to report from the sidelines and around the stadium for its telecast of Super Bowl XLI.
In the 2006 season, CBS' coverage of the
HDTV coverage
As late as 2006, CBS aired only three of its NFL games in
Former CBS Sports Executive Vice President Tony Petitti (who left CBS in April 2008 to become the head of the newly established MLB Network) claimed the network would probably air all of its NFL games in high definition by 2009. When asked about the move, Petitti commented that CBS was focused on building a new studio for The NFL Today pre-game show. However, another CBS executive had previously indicated[55] that, because CBS was an "early adopter" with its first HD game in 1998, it is already "at capacity" and would have to replace newly purchased equipment in its network center with even more expensive equipment. However, CBS did carry its entire slate of games in 2009 in HD, though a few non-essential camera positions for some games (mainly used only in analysis situations) continued to be shot in 4:3 SD.
Beginning with the
CBS introduces the "CBS Eye-lert"
For the 2007 season, CBS announced the advent of "CBS Eye-lert",[56] a service that allows viewers to be notified via e-mail and text message when the start time of a program will be delayed. The "Eye-lert" was eventually extended on-air to a banner graphic that appears during the prime time lineup within sports broadcasts and segments of delayed regularly scheduled evening programs.
During Week 7 of the
2010s
With an average U.S. audience of 106.5 million viewers,
On November 28, 2010, CBS broadcast its 5,000th NFL game.[61]
On December 14, 2011, the NFL, along with Fox, NBC and CBS, announced a nine-year extension of the league's rights deal with all three networks to the end of the 2022 season. The extended contract includes the continued rotation of the Super Bowl yearly among the three networks, meaning CBS would air Super Bowls XLVII (2013), 50 (2016), LIII (2019), and LV (2021).[62]
The late-afternoon regional games held on December 1, 2013 (Denver Broncos–Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals–San Diego Chargers) drew a 16.7 household rating, a 29 share, and 28.106 million viewers from 4:25 to 7:47 p.m. Eastern Time.[63]
On November 24, 2014, CBS presented a special Monday night game between the
In 2017, Beth Mowins became the first woman ever to call a football game for CBS, when she called the Cleveland Browns-Indianapolis Colts game with Jay Feely in Week 3.
On the first Sunday of the
CBS broadcasts via a secondary audio program and the internet
For the
Super Bowl XLVII was broadcast for free on the
2014–2017: Thursday night games
In January 2014, reports surfaced that the NFL was shopping a selection of up to eight games from its
On February 5, 2014, it was announced that CBS would air eight, early-season Thursday night games during the
On January 18, 2015, the NFL announced that CBS and the NFL Network would again partner, with the same broadcast schedule, during the 2015 NFL season.[76] The contract is again only for one year, while CBS's Sunday contract is 12 years long. The contract was renewed for another two years for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, with the network load reduced to five games each year. CBS also partnered with Yahoo! Sports during the 2015 season, with Yahoo live streaming a CBS-produced game around the globe. The game was not available on CBS except in the local markets of the teams (Jacksonville and Buffalo). CBS again produced Yahoo! Sports's webcast of the Jaguars' 2017 game against the Baltimore Ravens.
On January 31, 2018, the NFL announced that Fox won the rights to televise Thursday Night Football for the next five seasons; this came after CBS requested a lower rights fee to compensate for declining viewership.[77][78]
Tony Romo joins CBS
Following his retirement from the NFL,
While there was no controversy regarding Romo deciding to retire and move on to broadcasting, some critics questioned Romo being immediately hired for the number one position ahead of broadcasting veterans Dan Fouts, Trent Green, or Rich Gannon, all of whom served in the number 2–4 positions respectively for CBS, with Fouts having once been the color commentator on Monday Night Football. While some critics had speculated that Romo was handed the top position so quickly because he wore a star on his helmet,[81] other reports cited CBS having grown tired of Simms in the role, which was a mutual feeling shared by Simms himself.[82] Nonetheless, none of the ex-players and coaches in a lead position on other networks at the time of Romo's hiring (Troy Aikman, Cris Collinsworth, and Jon Gruden) started their broadcasting career in the lead position.[83] Simms jokingly asked Romo "How does that seat feel?" during Week 1 of The NFL Today.[84]
Once the 2017 NFL season got underway, Romo received critical praise for his work as a recent ex-player, most notably for his ability to predict offensive plays and read defensive formations from the booth, and "adding an enthusiasm that had been lacking with Simms".[85][86][87][88]
Romo and Nantz received further acclaim for their broadcasting of the 2018 AFC Championship Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots, as "Nantz continually set Romo up to make his predictions and analysis prior to the snap", and some suggested that Chiefs head coach "Andy Reid could have used Romo on his defensive staff, because the former quarterback knew just about every play the Patriots were going to run down the stretch". According to The Guardian, the "beauty of Romo's analysis is that it feels like he's in on the fun with you."[89][90] Romo and Nantz called Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.
CBS's coverage of Super Bowl LIII utilized a total of 115 cameras, including
2020s
CBS also gained rights to air a second Wild Card game, as the NFL expanded its postseason from 12 to 14 teams (7 in each conference). As part of gaining the rights to air the second game, which was played on January 10 at 4:40 ET, CBS's sister network Nickelodeon also aired a self-produced broadcast of the game, in an effort to promote a younger audience.
CBS will air two Wild Card games and one AFC Divisional game in odd-numbered years, two Wild Card games and both AFC Divisional games in even-numbered years, the AFC Championship Game (in the afternoon in even-numbered years, primetime in odd-numbered years), and the Super Bowl every three years.
Following Cam Newton's positive COVID-19 test, the New England Patriots-Kansas City Chiefs game, originally scheduled for Sunday afternoon, was postponed to Monday, October 5 at 7:05 p.m. ET to be broadcast nationally.[96] This was CBS's first Monday night telecast since November 24, 2014. The Kansas City Chiefs won 26–10.
In October 2020, Amazon acquired rights to simulcast one of CBS's NFC Wild Card games on Amazon Prime Video, as part of its digital rights to the league (expanding upon its involvement with Thursday Night Football).[97]
On October 13, 2020, due to multiple positive COVID-19 tests in the Tennessee Titans organization, the Titans-Buffalo Bills game was moved to Tuesday, which was the seventh Tuesday NFL game in history. The Titans ultimately won the game 42–16.
On March 18, 2021, the NFL along with CBS,
The broadcast teams for two games late in the 2021 season were impacted by COVID-19 protocols: Tom McCarthy filled in for Jim Nantz alongside Tony Romo for the Week 18 game between the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Trent Green filled in for Charles Davis on color commentary alongside Ian Eagle for a divisional playoff game featuring the Cincinnati Bengals and Tennessee Titans.
On January 30, 2022, during the Verizon Halftime Report, all of the commentators were inaudible due to a technical fault involving an unannounced Walker Hayes halftime performance at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium. The speakers were unnoticeably placed in front of the CBS set.
The 2022 season marked Greg Gumbel's final season working NFL games on CBS, although he remained with the network as a studio host for NCAA March Madness coverage.[106]
Usage of Nickelodeon
CBS elected to capitalize on its re-merger with Viacom by incorporating its popular kids' channel Nickelodeon into NFL coverage. The idea for Nickelodeon to televise an NFL game was that of CBS Sports' chairman Sean McManus. During negotiations, McManus brought the idea up to the league, which was looking to reach younger and diverse audiences.[107] While the network has aired sports-related programming in the past (such as its athletics game show Nickelodeon Guts,[108] and its Kids' Choice Sports awards), this marked the first live sporting event to ever be televised by Nickelodeon.[109]
McManus explained that the production planned to "respect the integrity of the game", but that there would be features "to make it look and feel very, very different than a CBS broadcast, which it should. I think it's really going to be fun."[107] Coordinating producer Shawn Robbins described the broadcast as being a "Nick-ified", "co-viewing" experience for parents and children, and that it would still "look somewhat the same", as they did not want to "mess with your football and put stuff on if that's going to take away from the viewing experience."[110]
Noah Eagle (son of CBS Sports commentator Ian Eagle, and radio play-by-play voice of the Los Angeles Clippers) served as play-by-play announcer, alongside former wide receiver and Good Morning Football and The NFL Today analyst Nate Burleson. They were also joined by two Nickelodeon actors, Gabrielle Nevaeh Green and Lex Lumpkin (who are both cast members of Nickelodeon's comedy series All That), as analyst and field reporter respectively.[111] Emphasis was placed on educating viewers of the rules of football; this included appearances by Sheldon Cooper (as played by Iain Armitage on CBS sitcom Young Sheldon) to explain penalties.[112] Robbins told The New York Times that Green was accidentally sent an 800-page package of game notes that was intended for Tony Romo.[112]
The New Orleans Saints-Chicago Bears playoff game on January 10, 2021, as it was broadcast on CBS, was called by their lead commentary team of Jim Nantz (play-by-play) and Tony Romo (color). Due to COVID-19 protocols (which had also caused him to miss the previous week's game), Romo worked remotely. Nantz, as well as reporters Jay Feely and Tracy Wolfson, were present on-site in New Orleans.[113]
In the lead-up to Super Bowl LV, Nickelodeon aired further programming previewing the game, while CBS added classic Nick elements such as green slime to segments of its Super Bowl broadcast.[114]
Following the success of the 2021 Wild Card game, the NFL extended its partnership with Nickelodeon by allowing them rights to another Wild Card game in January 2022, the
For the 2023 season, Nickelodeon is scheduled to air another Christmas Day game, the Las Vegas Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs.[117] In addition, Nickelodeon is planning to air Super Bowl LVIII, marking the first time that the Super Bowl will have an alternate telecast on another network.[118]
Market coverage and television policies
As with
Under NFL broadcasting rules, CBS must televise all of its assigned games in the home market of the visiting team (and, if it is sold out, the city where the game is being played) in its entirety. If a game is non-competitive, the network may switch all but the two home markets to another game. If a game is delayed or interrupted by severe weather, the network may switch to another game until the resumption of play. If the home team's game is blacked out, the local CBS affiliate is not allowed to replace it with another game.
From 1970 to 1993, CBS exclusively covered games involving only NFC opponents and interconference games in which the road team was a member of the NFC. From 1998 to 2013, CBS exclusively broadcast AFC-only games and interconference games featuring an AFC road team. Since the 2014 season, while AFC-only games still form the bulk of CBS's coverage, the league reserves the right to move games between CBS and Fox regardless of conference affiliation to maximize viewership – for example, high-profile NFC matchups that would be relegated to regional coverage because they occur during Fox's singleheader week can be moved to CBS' afternoon window.[119]
Local preseason television coverage
Since CBS re-obtained the NFL broadcast rights in 1998, a number of the network's local stations have televised preseason football games, mostly including the network's graphics and production that viewers would normally see during regular season national/regional broadcasts.
A number of NFL teams and their broadcasting departments have teamed up with CBS Sports to produce games; as of 2011[update], these teams include the New York Jets (WCBS-TV in New York City), Los Angeles Chargers (KCBS-TV in Los Angeles) and Green Bay Packers (WGBA-TV in Green Bay and co-flagship WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee; since former CBS O&O WFRV-TV in Green Bay lost the local rights to the preseason games, Packers coverage on WGBA and WTMJ currently uses an in-house graphics package, although the telecasts continue to use a CBS technical and announcing team).
However, there are some that used a few, but not all, elements of the NFL on CBS production presentations, and they are mostly in-house productions between the teams and their individual flagship station; these include the Pittsburgh Steelers (KDKA-TV),
On-air staff
Digital on-screen graphics
1992–1993
CBS Sports debuted on-screen graphics (as opposed to simple text) for its event telecasts in 1991. These graphics used a small score graphic that contained the score and game clock, which was removed during plays. The graphics were gray, beveled edged rectangles, with logos shown in a beveled edged square.
1998–2000
From
2001
Starting in Super Bowl XXXV,[122] the bug took on a more rectangular shape, with the score and quarter/time positions flipped. The scores were now displayed in white text against a gold background, and the quarter and time beneath them in a white text on a blue background. The down and distance and ball location popped out in two separate boxes underneath the main bug. New this season, the bug is situated on the left or right of the screen depending on which team has possession. The team-specific colors for graphics were dropped, and would not be used again by CBS until 2013.
2002–2005
In 2002, a new bug with more of a horizontal orientation was introduced. The CBS Sports logo that previously adorned the top of the bug was replaced with the CBS "eye" logo in blue and white. The bug was divided into two rectangles, the left one housing the time and quarter and the right the teams and scores, all in white text on blue. As in years past, the down and distance were contained in a pop-out box, also in the blue and white scheme.
In 2002, the graphics package itself remained the same as in 2000 and 2001. However, the look was updated in 2003[123][124] to more closely match the design of the score box. In 2004 and 2005, the top two games each week were presented in high definition. These HD broadcasts used a score box optimized for the 16:9 frame, the first time that a U.S. network had used graphics optimized for high definition.
In Week 3 of the 2004 season, CBS unveiled a constant scoring update bar on the bottom of the screen (the first of its kind). This was initially called "Game Trax", and complimented "Stat Trax", unveiled the year before which was the first system to show player statistics updates popping out of the score display after a play (now standard on all networks).
2006–2008
The 2006 season introduced a new graphics package[125] for The NFL on CBS, including a new logo (which also formed the base of SEC college football[126] and NCAA college basketball logos) and new NFL Today studio set, as part of a network-wide overhaul of the graphics package. The digital on-screen graphics were also changed, with red and a light shade of blue introduced from the new logo. A more complex scoring bug included the new NFL on CBS logo and six circle segments stacked in columns of two emanating from the logo. The first two featured the quarter and time, the next two the team abbreviations (all in white text on the darker blue) and the last two each team's respective scores in black text on a white background. The entire bug was trimmed in the red and lighter blue; the down and distance pop-out changed to a half-ellipse shape.
When a team scores a touchdown, the columns that emanate from the logo collapse into the logo. The logo then quickly spins around to show the scoring team's logo, a full bar the shape of the combined boxes quickly protruding showing the word "TOUCHDOWN", with the bug sparkling. After about three or four seconds of this graphic showing, the aforementioned animation takes place once more, this time with the bug returning to normal. In all instances of points scored, the changed score flashes a few times to indicate a change in score, with a touchdown score changing after the "TOUCHDOWN" graphic is shown. Notably, this score box was not optimized for high definition as the previous package was, even on HD games.
2009–2012
In 2009,[127] the score bug was changed to a top-screen banner, although the graphics package used from 2006 remained the same. This bug featured, horizontally left-to-right, the CBS "eye" logo, the down and distance against a white background, each team's logo, initials and points, and then the quarter and remaining time. When the down and distance was not displayed, that and the CBS "eye" logo were replaced by a blue and red "NFL on CBS" logo. When there was a penalty, the word "FLAG" replaced the down and distance on a yellow background, with the penalty description dropping down from below the team's initials; when there is an official review, the down and distance would be replaced by "OFFICIAL REVIEW" on a red background. For challenges, a drop-down below the teams initials with a dark red background shows with the word "CHALLENGE." The play clock would flash red when it hit the 5-second mark and stays red until the play clock is reset. When a team scored a touchdown, the entire bar would change, displaying the scoring team's logo on the left and the team's main color as the background, with the word "TOUCHDOWN" with the letter spacing widening for a few moments before returning to normal. After such, the team's score will be highlighted their color, and the previous score will be replaced by the new score (this also happens when the team's PAT or 2-point conversion is ruled to be good). After this occurs, stats of players involved immediately appear in the bottom of the banner.
A small white indicator showed on the top of the bar, on top of whatever team currently had possession of the ball. At times, at the bottom of the bar, various player statistics (such as quarterback ratings), game stats (such as drive summaries), and situational issues in the game (such as amount of timeouts remaining), would pop open for a few moments whenever it is needed. For Week 3 of the 2009 season, the possession indicator was changed to a small dot next to the team's logo due to the addition of timeout indicators across the top.
Beginning with the
2013–2015
CBS debuted a new graphics package[128] starting with the network's coverage of Super Bowl XLVII;[129] the package was used for all CBS game telecasts beginning with the 2013 season.[130] Originally optimized for a 4:3 display, the elements are now optimized for the 16:9 format as a result of the network's incorporation of the AFD #10 broadcast tag.
The lower third graphics adopt the column layout for player info graphics[131] used by several other sports broadcasters. The portion containing the player's name is stacked on the left, with the team's primary color in the background of the name panel. Other statistics are shown on a gray background on panels to the right. The score banner is gray with team abbreviations listed over their primary color and next to their logo. For Sunday game broadcasts, the NFL on CBS logo is placed on the left; the "NFL" portion disappears and is replaced by the down and distance, "Flag", or "Official Review". Also for the Sunday broadcasts, challenges and statistics drop down from the bar. The only scoring play which used an animation is a touchdown, which involves the team logo and the word "Touchdown" appearing in place of the banner. Timeout indicators are located above the team abbreviations for Sunday broadcasts, and a possession indicator is located to the right of the abbreviation.
Since the network began airing the evening games in 2014,[132] Thursday Night Football games use a package with the usual CBS curved-edged graphics, however incorporating a generic "TNF" logo in lower thirds instead of the CBS logo because Thursday broadcasts also air on the NFL Network. A "TNF" text logo is also used in the border of full screen graphics where the "NFL on CBS" text is usually seen. The score bar is located on the bottom of the screen instead of the top, with the "NFL on CBS" text replaced by a "CBS TNF" mark, and the "TNF" portion disappearing to show down and distance. The usual play clock location is instead home to an NFL Network logo, with the play clock moved next to the game clock for Thursdays only. Any information that drops down from the bar on Sundays instead pops up from the bar on the Thursday broadcasts, with timeout indicators flipped to the bottom.
For the London
2016–2020
During Super Bowl 50, CBS unveiled a major rebranding of the CBS Sports division, including a new logo and on-air graphics—moving its scoreboard to the bottom of the screen, and using outlined, rectangular graphics with a steel blue base and use of gradients.[133] Beginning with Week 6 of the 2017 NFL season, the records for each team were displayed to the right of the timeout indicators. The records are not displayed during the playoffs and the first week of the regular season. Beginning with Super Bowl LIII and the subsequent 2019 season, the scoreboard received minor updates to elements such as its play clock (with its red background beginning to drain with five seconds remaining). A significantly different graphics scheme was used for Thursday Night Football games.
The
During Week 13 of the 2020 season, the game between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles was used as a rehearsal to test the effects and workflows for the Nickelodeon broadcast. Eight dedicated cameras were used to augment those being shared with the main CBS production, in order to provide camera angles optimized for the augmented reality effects (such as a wider end zone view for the "slime cannon").
2021–present
CBS Sports unveiled a new graphics package during Super Bowl LV, as part of a wider rebranding of the CBS Sports division to comply with the network's new corporate identity (including extensive use of the CBS eye as a visual motif). The insert graphics maintain a similar overall structure to the designs used since 2016, except being flat and black with no borders, and extensive use of the new CBS corporate font.[133][137][138]
During the 2021 season, CBS introduced a new feature known as "RomoVision" in collaboration with Genius Sports and NFL Next Gen Stats, which displays a top-down overlay of the field with players represented by X and O symbols during selected replays to assist in visualizing plays. In 2022, the feature received a George Wensel Technical Achievement Award at the Sports Emmy Awards.[139]
During Super Bowl LVIII, CBS debuted an updated scoreboard, returning to a gradient-based appearance with revised typography, although the remainder of the graphics continued to follow the designs used since 2021.[140] Nickelodeon opted to keep the previous scoreboard design, which was first used in the 2022 Nickmas game, in order to match those in the main broadcast, on its alternate broadcast, this time being based on SpongeBob SquarePants.
Music
Nielsen ratings
The Sunday afternoon, October 14, 2007, game between the
The November 4, 2007, broadcast of a game between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts drew a 20.1 rating[142] and 33.8 million viewers for CBS.
During the 17-week 2008 season (September 4 – December 28, 2008), CBS' regular-season game telecasts were watched by an estimated cumulative audience of 150.9 million viewers, 14% higher than NBC's 132.4 million viewers, 3% higher than Fox's 146.9 million viewers, and 52% higher than ESPN's 99.4 million. The cumulative audience is based on the total number of viewers (persons 2+) who watched at least six minutes of NFL game coverage since the start of the 2008 regular season.[citation needed]
For the 2009 season, the network's regular-season telecasts averaged 19.509 million viewers (counting only seven airings during the season by Nielsen).[143] For the first thirteen weeks of the 2013 season, the CBS game telecasts averaged 26.5 million viewers.[144]
The February 11, 2024 broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII on CBS and Nickelodeon became the most watched telecast in U.S. television history, averaging a combined 123.7 million viewers.
See also
- The NFL Today
- NFL on Fox
- NBC Sunday Night Football
- ESPN Monday Night Football
- Thursday Night Football
- College Football/SEC/Big Ten on CBS
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It was dubbed Super Bowl 41½ and it attracted an audience worthy of, well, American Idol. CBS drew a 20.1 rating and 33.8 million viewers for the Patriots-Colts game on November 4, the highest-rated regular-season Sunday-afternoon NFL telecast on any network since Fox drew a 22.2 for a Cowboys-49ers game in '96. The game was the highest-rated program since the Academy Awards. If only those viewers would tune into Katie Couric
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