Main article: NFL on television
In the United States, the National Football League has television contracts with four networks: CBS, ESPN, FOX, and NBC. CBS televises all Sunday afternoon AFC intraconference games, while FOX does likewise for the NFC.[52] If a game is interconference, the conference affiliation of the visiting team determines which network will host the game.[53] NBC carries the primetime Sunday Night Football package, the NFL Kickoff game, and a primetime Thanksgiving game. ESPN carries all Monday Night Football games.[52] The NFL's own network, NFL Network, carries Thursday Night Football games.[54]
The Super Bowl television rights are rotated on a three-year basis between CBS, FOX, and NBC.[52] In 2011, all four stations signed new nine-year contracts with the NFL, each running until 2022; CBS, FOX, and NBC are estimated by Forbes to pay a combined total of $3 billion a year, while ESPN will pay $1.9 billion a year.[55] The league also has deals with Spanish-language broadcasters Telemundo and ESPN Deportes, which air Sunday and Monday Night Football, respectively.[56][57]
The NFL has a blackout policy in which games are 'blacked out' on local television in the home team's area if the home stadium is not sold out. Clubs can elect to set this requirement at only 85%, but they would have to give more ticket revenue to the visiting team; teams can also request a specific exemption from the NFL for the game. The vast majority of NFL games are not blacked out; only 6% of games were blacked out during the 2011 season.[58] According to Nielsen, the 2012 NFL regular season was watched by 200 million individuals, accounting for 80% of all television households in the United States and 69% of all potential viewers in the United States. NFL regular season games accounted for 31 out of the top 32 most-watched programs in the fall season and an NFL game ranked as the most-watched television show in all 17 weeks of the regular season. At the local level, NFL games were the highest-ranked shows in NFL markets 92% of the time.[59] Super Bowls account for the 22
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