I’m completely stumped by the NFL broadcasting schedules for Sunday Day games. Does anyone have a clue how this stuff works? For example, today in Chicago we got the Bears - Browns game at Noon on CBS. Fox was showing no game, we get Minnesota - Green Bay in the afternoon on Fox. There’s no game on CBS now.
In most weekends we get 2 games at Noon, one on CBS and one on Fox. What’s different this weekend? I feel like we occasionally used to get 2 games in the afternoon time slot but I haven’t seen that yet this year. When and how is it determined how many games a market gets in a given time slot? Does the scheduling of the local team’s game have any effect on that?
It’s pissing me off this week that I only get to watch 2 games today due to the fucking World Series crapping on everything. Can anyone explain the rhyme or reason to any of this?
According to this it looks like Chicago might have suffered from the Detroit blackout. What in the fuck is that all about!? Motherfucking half-assed Lions fans.
See the underlined part. This makes no sense. There is almost always a second game on the other channel at the same time as the Bears game. According to the map 95% of the country had another game on the other channel when their home team was playing. I’m so confused.
No. The FOX game at noon was blacked out because the Bears had a home game. The “other” station can’t broadcast against the network that is carrying the home team.
FOX had the doubleheader this week but you missed the first half of it because of the Bears home game.
Or to quote directly from 506: “No games can air at the same time as a local team’s home game on another network”
Why is it that only Chicago was blacked out from any games? There were 7 other teams playing home games today, most in the early slot. What an unbelievably arcane system.
It wasn’t only Chicago. In Toronto, we get the Buffalo stations and there was no other game at 1:00. If you look at the early FOX map, you can also see a blackout around Baltimore. The late game has blackouts around San Diego and Nashville.
That’s 5 of the 6 CBS games for the week, the other being the Jets game which is unique because the Giants were also playing at the same time and obviously, you can’t black them out.
ETA: Don’t get me wrong, it is stupid and arcane but if you can get over that, it is logical.
CBS and Fox split weeks for carrying the “doubleheader” (i.e., showing both an early game and a late game nationally). In a week that Fox has the doubleheader (which usually means running one or two “late” games (4:15 ET start) nationally), CBS will only show one game in your market.
The primary exception to that rule is if you’re in the home market for an NFL team, they’re home that week, and their game starts during the afternoon (either 1pm or 4:05/4:15). In that case, the home game will be televised on either CBS or Fox (unless it’s blacked out because it isn’t sold out), and it’ll be the only game on TV during that time slot. Generally speaking, the network which is prevented from showing a game during the conflicting slot (CBS or Fox) will then show a game in the other slot. If that network was supposed to have had the “doubleheader” that week, you’re out of luck, you only see a single game on that network.
This week in Chicago was an example of this. The Browns/Bears game was on CBS* at noon in Chicago, but Fox had the double-header. So, Fox didn’t show a game at noon.
As the Bears are in the NFC, most of their games are on Fox. The only Bears games that may be on CBS are the two games that the Bears host against AFC teams per year (since the AFC is on CBS), unless those games end up on one of the national packages (NBC Sunday night, ESPN Monday night, or NFL Network on Thursday night).
Those San Diego, Buffalo and Baltimore grey areas kind of disappear in the edges of the map compared to the Giant grey blob in the middle around Chicago.
They really need to do away with this alternating double header thing. It’s almost if the two networks are cutting off their noses to spite their faces. By demanding they get all the love one week they ensure they get fucked themselves next time around.
I suspect that what the networks believe the system does is ensure that, in half of the weeks of the season, they can each carry a “premiere” game that (probably) won’t suffer from having another high-interest game running at the same time on the other network.
Well, since those networks have an equal chance of being that “other” network it seems like it’d be a wash. The actual reason is probably as simple as the need for predictability of ratings so the ad sales people can pitch to clients a less variable number of eyes on a given ad. Having games on both channels at all times would increase the total number of viewers without a doubt, but the networks couldn’t promise advertisers a certain return. They are essentially sacrificing the big picture in favor of the small one.
Good God, Omniscient! What are you whining about? That rule has been in place since I was watching games in the 70s. It’s not like this is some sort of new concept. If you haven’t noticed it before, it obviously hasn’t been that much of a problem for you, now, has it?
The key is to live in an area that isn’t beholden to one team. If Chicago had two NFL teams, one in each conference, you wouldn’t have to worry about it.
General info about TV scheduling: There are only two stations that can show the morning and afternoon game, Fox and CBS. Each one (I forget which is which) can only only show AFC games, the other can only show NFC games. During alternating weeks, they can show a doubleheader. So, on most weekends, there are three games between the two channels.
And yet the stupid fucks at the NFL home office have put competing games up against NY games twice so far this season, and the competing ones were also NY games. Fuckers!
I’ll grudgingly give them a pass on the World Series, but I definitely think they should have simply switched from Giants @ Eagles to Eagles @ Giants (it was the first meeting this year) and kept it at 4pm as god intended. But hey, I get the logistical nightmare of making that switch with only two weeks notice.
But the Yom Kippur Giants/Jets collision was a clusterfuck of the highest order. Yom Kippur isn’t scheduled two weeks in advance; if the NFL wants to respect that holiday, do it when you make the fucking schedule in the first place. Stupid fuckers.
