nfl cbs

is the brand name of the CBS television network'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. Each football game is rated as an "A", "B", or "C" game, with "A" games likely being televised nationally and "C" games only in the two teams' home television markets. Significantly more behind-the-scenes resources are dedicated to "A" game coverage.
HistoryCBS' coverage began in the 1956 NFL season, before the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger. Prior to 1968, CBS had an assigned crew for each NFL team. Thus, CBS became the first network to broadcast some NFL regular season games to selected television markets across the nation. 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.
1950sCBS's first attempts to broadcast the NFL on television were notable for there being no broadcasting contract with the league as a whole. Instead, CBS had to strike deals with individual teams to broadcast games into the teams' own markets. Often the games would be broadcast with "split audio" -- that is, a game between two clubs would have the same picture in both TV markets, but different announcers (usually hometown announcers) for each market.
From 1956-1959, the Baltimore Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles only allowed away-game telecasts on CBS. When these three played at home, there was no need for the usage of split audio. Instead, the away teams telecasts were produced in a simple audio/video single feed.
The Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals only did home telecasts for their vast network. So if the Bears played the Colts in Baltimore or the Cardinals visited Forbes Field to play the Steelers in these years, it was likely that the games were not televised.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Browns had their own network, part of SNI and Carling Beer.
1960sIn 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 $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. 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.
In 1964, CBS experimented with a half & half format for their announcers. The first half would be called by the home teams' commentators while the second half would be done by the visitors' commentators. Also in 1964, CBS ditched the concept of using pooled video and split audio feeds. In 1962 and 1963, CBS would provide separate audio for a telecast. For instance, while a Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers telecast would have the same video, Chicago area viewers would hear Red Grange and George Connor call the action. Meanwhile, Green Bay/Milwaukee and environs would hear Ray Scott and Tony Canadeo describe the game. Ray Scott was no fan of the separate audio concept and temporarily left CBS for a job calling a regional slate of college football games for NBC. Ultimately, CBS dumped the four man crew and resumed the 1962-63 method for the great majority of games in 1965, 1966 and 1967.
On November 25, 1965 (Thanksgiving Day), CBS featured the first-ever color broadcast of an NFL game. Only a select few NFL games for CBS were in color that year, namely, the aforementioned Thanksgiving Day game at Detroit, the NFL Western Conference Playoff, the NFL Championship Game, the Playoff Bowl and the Pro Bowl. By 1968, all network regular season telecasts were in color.
On December 29, 1965, CBS acquired the rights to the NFL regular season games in 1966 and 1967, with an option for 1968, for $18.8 (in sharp contrast to the $14.1 million per year in 1964) million per year.
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%-95% of their NFL games.
The first ever AFL-NFL World Championship Game was played on January 15, 1967. Because CBS held the rights to nationally televise NFL games and NBC had the rights to broadcast AFL games, it was decided to have both of them cover that first game. Ray Scott, Jack Whitaker, Frank Gifford and Pat Summerall called the game for CBS. 39.9 million viewers would watch Bart Starr's MVP performance. The next three AFL-NFL World Championship Games, later renamed the Super Bowl, were then divided by the two networks: CBS televised Super Bowls II and IV while NBC covered III.