TMC
12-17-2023, 10:24 PM
https://awfulannouncing.com/fox/30-anniversary-nfl-nfc-broadcasting-rights-cbs.html
To anyone under 40, watching games on Fox is engrained (https://www.overtimeheroics.net/2023/08/04/celebrating-30-years-of-fox-nfl-sunday/) in the weekly NFL experience (https://www.profootballhof.com/news/2018/12/how-foxs-25-seasons-of-covering-the-nfl-changed-the-game/#:~:text=THE%20NFL%20RIGHTS%20ARMS%20RACE&text=Fox's%20bid%20of%20%241.58%20billion,ended%20up%20benefiting%20the%20players.).
To those of us old enough to remember the lay of the TV land in 1993, it might seem impossible to explain to younger generations just how unthinkable the idea (https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/12/13/18137938/nfl-fox-deal-rupert-murdoch-1993-john-madden-terry-bradshaw-howie-long-jimmy-johnson-cbs-nbc) of NFL football on Fox (https://www.fox5dc.com/news/fox-sports-behind-the-scenes-celebrating-30-years-of-nfl-broadcasts) was at the time.
While some might compare it to the recent wave of streaming services snagging broadcasting rights, it’s less like Amazon getting an NFL game (https://awfulannouncing.com/amazon/thursday-night-football-nfl-success.html) and more like if Twitch became the new home of Monday Night Football.
So, on December 17, 1993, when (https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/12/18/fox-lands-contract-to-televise-the-nfl/7c20a84e-aa1b-4226-a0b4-fe724031cc17/) the NFL announced that it had selected Fox’s $1.58 billion bid (https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1993/12/26/and-the-fourth-shall-be-first-how-fox-stalked-the-nfl-and-bagged-tv-deal/f848a209-8ffd-44f6-a09b-99b28d75d203/) for NFC games (https://www.deseret.com/1994/1/28/19089151/is-it-a-fumble-fox-gets-the-nfc-is-the-fourth-network-s-gain-greater-than-cbs-s-loss), it felt like a seismic shift (https://www.deseret.com/sports/2023/9/21/23883968/rupert-murdoch-retiring-national-football-league-fox-nfl) in our understanding of the American television landscape (https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-01-14-9401140129-story.html).
“When I was a kid, Fox was kind of a backwater television network,” wrote Allen Kenney for Awful Announcing in 2016 (https://awfulannouncing.com/2016/foxs-splashy-b1g-deal-reminiscent-of-foxs-1993-nfl-deal.html), “It aired something like seven original shows that I can recall off the top of my head.” Namechecking The Simpsons, Married…With Children, In Living Color, and Beverly Hills 90210, the implication was that while Fox had a few hits here and there, it was still very much the “other” network aside from NBC (https://variety.com/1993/tv/news/nbc-nfl-shut-out-cbs-116661/), ABC, and CBS (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-24-sp-5079-story.html).
To anyone under 40, watching games on Fox is engrained (https://www.overtimeheroics.net/2023/08/04/celebrating-30-years-of-fox-nfl-sunday/) in the weekly NFL experience (https://www.profootballhof.com/news/2018/12/how-foxs-25-seasons-of-covering-the-nfl-changed-the-game/#:~:text=THE%20NFL%20RIGHTS%20ARMS%20RACE&text=Fox's%20bid%20of%20%241.58%20billion,ended%20up%20benefiting%20the%20players.).
To those of us old enough to remember the lay of the TV land in 1993, it might seem impossible to explain to younger generations just how unthinkable the idea (https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/12/13/18137938/nfl-fox-deal-rupert-murdoch-1993-john-madden-terry-bradshaw-howie-long-jimmy-johnson-cbs-nbc) of NFL football on Fox (https://www.fox5dc.com/news/fox-sports-behind-the-scenes-celebrating-30-years-of-nfl-broadcasts) was at the time.
While some might compare it to the recent wave of streaming services snagging broadcasting rights, it’s less like Amazon getting an NFL game (https://awfulannouncing.com/amazon/thursday-night-football-nfl-success.html) and more like if Twitch became the new home of Monday Night Football.
So, on December 17, 1993, when (https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/12/18/fox-lands-contract-to-televise-the-nfl/7c20a84e-aa1b-4226-a0b4-fe724031cc17/) the NFL announced that it had selected Fox’s $1.58 billion bid (https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1993/12/26/and-the-fourth-shall-be-first-how-fox-stalked-the-nfl-and-bagged-tv-deal/f848a209-8ffd-44f6-a09b-99b28d75d203/) for NFC games (https://www.deseret.com/1994/1/28/19089151/is-it-a-fumble-fox-gets-the-nfc-is-the-fourth-network-s-gain-greater-than-cbs-s-loss), it felt like a seismic shift (https://www.deseret.com/sports/2023/9/21/23883968/rupert-murdoch-retiring-national-football-league-fox-nfl) in our understanding of the American television landscape (https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-01-14-9401140129-story.html).
“When I was a kid, Fox was kind of a backwater television network,” wrote Allen Kenney for Awful Announcing in 2016 (https://awfulannouncing.com/2016/foxs-splashy-b1g-deal-reminiscent-of-foxs-1993-nfl-deal.html), “It aired something like seven original shows that I can recall off the top of my head.” Namechecking The Simpsons, Married…With Children, In Living Color, and Beverly Hills 90210, the implication was that while Fox had a few hits here and there, it was still very much the “other” network aside from NBC (https://variety.com/1993/tv/news/nbc-nfl-shut-out-cbs-116661/), ABC, and CBS (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-24-sp-5079-story.html).