The Nfl On Cbs Article Index for
The 		Website Links For
Nfl 		 

Information About

The Nfl On Cbs
  CATEGORIES ABOUT NFL ON CBS
   
1956 television program debuts
   
1950s american television series
   
1960s american television series
   
1970s american television series
   
1980s american television series
   
1990s american television series
   
2000s american television series
   
cbs network shows
   
cbs sports
   
national football league on television
   
1994 television program series endings
   
1998 television program debuts
   
APPAREL
BABY
BEAUTY
BOOKS
CAR TOYS
CELL PHONES
DVD'S
ELECTRONICS
GOURMET FOOD
GROCERIES
HEALTH & PERSONAL
HOME & GARDEN
JEWELRY
MUSIC
MUSIC INSTRUMENTS
OFFICE PRODUCTS
SOFTWARE
SPORTING GOODS
TOOLS & HARDWARE
TOYS
VIDEO GAMES
SHOPPING HOME
MORE SHOPPING...



The ''NFL on CBS'' is the brand name of CBS 's coverage of the National Football League 's American Football Conference games, produced by CBS Sports .

As with Fox's Coverage , the network's stations are divided into different groups based on the most popular or closest team to that market or, if that doesn't apply, based on the allure of a particular game.


HISTORY

CBS' coverage began in the 1956 NFL Season , before the 1970 merger of the NFL and the AFL ( American Football League , not to be confused with Arena Football League ). Prior to 1968 , CBS had an assigned crew for each NFL team. From 1970 until the end of the 1993 Season , when Fox won CBS' contract, CBS aired the NFL's National Football Conference games. Since 1975 , game coverage has been preceded by pre-game show '' The NFL Today ''. CBS did not broadcast any NFL games during the seasons from 1994 to 1997 , but won AFC rights, taking over from NBC , in the 1998 season.

In December 1993 , CBS (which had been home to NFL games for 38 years) lost their rights to then fledging Fox Network . Fox offered a then-record $1.58 billion to the NFL over four years for the rights, significantly more than the $290 million CBS was willing to pay. Fox was only seven years old and had no sports division, but it began building its own coverage by hiring many former CBS personalities such as Pat Summerall , John Madden , James Brown , Terry Bradshaw , and Dick Stockton . Fox's NFL rights ownership made the network a major player in American television by giving it many new viewers (and affiliates) and a platform to advertise its other shows. In the meantime, CBS lost several affiliates, and ratings for its other programming languished.

CBS apparently underestimated the value of its rights with respect to its Advertising revenues and to its Promotionial opportunities for other network programming. The vast resources of Rupert Murdoch allowed the Fox to grow quickly, primarily to the detriment of CBS. In spring 1994, Fox's parent News Corporation struck an alliance with New World Communications , by now a key ownership group with several VHF CBS affiliates in NFC markets, and wary of a CBS without football. Nearly all of New World's stations converted ''en masse'' to Fox beginning that fall.

In early 1998, CBS, still stung by Fox's surprise bid four years earlier, aggressively sought to reacquire some broadcasting rights. CBS agreed to pay $4 billion over eight years ($500 million per season) to air American Football Conference games.

The next group of broadcast contracts, which begin with the 2006 - 2007 season, will result in a sizeable increase in total rights fees. Both Fox and CBS have renewed their Sunday afternoon broadcast packages through 2011 , in both cases with modest increases.

The song used since the beginning of the 2003 season was composed by Los Angeles Electronic Music group E.S. Posthumus and is called '' Posthumus Zone ''.

Recent important games covered by CBS include Super Bowl XXXVIII on February 1 , 2004 , and the long-awaited rematch played under heavy Snow fall between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots in the 2004 -season AFC divisional round of the playoffs on January 16 , 2005 .


Additional notes

  • On September 17 , 1961 , CBS Sports broadcasted the first remote 15-minute pre-game show, the first of its kind on network sports television. '' Pro Football Kickoff '' originated from NFL stadiums around the country with a comprehensive look at all the day's games.




  • CBS Sports decided going into the 1981 NFL Season that John Madden was going to be the star of their NFL coverage. But they had trouble figuring out who was going to be his play-by-play partner. So in September (for the first four games of the season), they paired Vin Scully with Madden while Pat Summerall was busy covering the U.S. Open tournament for CBS. For the next 4 games of the season in October, they paired Pat Summerall with Madden while Vin Scully called Major League Baseball 's National League Championship Series and World Series for CBS Radio . After the eighth week of the NFL season, the big wigs at CBS Sports decided that the laconic, brass-voiced Pat Summerall's style was more in tuned with John Madden than the lyric, poetic Vin Scully. As a consolation prize, CBS Sports gave Vin Scully the "B" team assignment and the right to call the NFC Championship Game on CBS Television with Hank Stram . Meanwhile, Pat Summerall called that game on CBS Radio with Jack Buck while John Madden prepared to do the Super Bowl with Summerall in Pontiac, Michigan . Vin Scully, reportedly wasn't happy about the demotion as well as in his eyes, having his intelligence be insulted. As a result, Scully bolted to NBC (where he started a memorable seven year run as their lead Major League Baseball announcer) as soon as his contract with CBS was up.






  • In September 1993 , '' The NFL Today '' celebrated its 18th year as a 30-minute pre-game show. It and held the distinction of being the highest- Rated program in its time slot for 18 years, longer than any other program on television.


  • In November 1996 , Sean McManus is named President of CBS Sports. McManus would lead CBS' efforts in reacquiring broadcast rights to the National Football League.





  • On January 28 , 2001 , CBS Sports , Core Digital, and Princeton Video Image introduce state-of-the-art, three dimensional replay technology called " EyeVision " for its coverage of Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa. In CBS Sports' first Super Bowl broadcast since 1992 , it draws 131.2 million viewers for the Baltimore Ravens win over the New York Giants. Super Bowl XXXV was thus the most watched television program of the Year .





CURRENT COMMENTATOR PAIRINGS (AS OF 2005 )

Listed in descending order of prominence, in the format Play-by-play / Color Commentary / sideline reporter (where applicable)

# Jim Nantz / Phil Simms / Bonnie Bernstein (producer Lance Barrow , director Michael Arnold )
# Dick Enberg / Dan Dierdorf / Armen Keteyian
# Kevin Harlan / Randy Cross
# Gus Johnson / Steve Tasker
# Ian Eagle / Solomon Wilcots
# Don Criqui / Steve Beuerlein
# Bill Macatee / Rich Gannon
# Craig Bolerjack / Rich Baldinger


ALPHABETICAL LIST OF PAST AND PRESENT COMMENTATORS


A



B



C



D



E



F



G



H



J



K



L



M



N



O



P



R



S



T



U



V



W



SEE ALSO



REFERENCES

# NFL Today - CBS SportsLine.com
# Schedules - CBS SportsLine.com
# TV Theme - CBS, NFL (1980).wav
# TV Theme - CBS, NFL.wav
# TV Theme - CBS, NFL2.wav
# CBS Sports announces broadcast pairing for 2005 NFL season
# Super Bowl XVIII - L.A. Raiders 38, Redskins 9
# Super Bowl XXI - Giants 39, Broncos 20
# Super Bowl XXIV - 49ers 55, Broncos 10
# Super Bowl XXVI - Redskins 37, Bills 24
# CBS NFL Today (1976, Video)
# The game-opening music for CBS from the early 1980s.
# The pregame show music for CBS from the early 1980s.
# CBS NFL (1982, Video)
# CBS NFL (1986)
# CBS NFL (1991, video)
# CBS Super Bowl X (1976, Video)