Home

Where I-A Games Are Televised

Over The Air Networks

- ABC broadcasts the bulk of college football games on network television. ABC generally broadcasts games at 3:30pm EST and a primetime 8pm EST timeslot. ABC has contracts with the following conferences (in parenthesis is the final season of these contracts):

ACC (2010)
Big East (2013)
Big Ten (2016)
Big 12 (2015)
PAC-10 (2011)

ABC also has the rights to two bowl games, the Capital One Bowl and the Rose Bowl. In the years where the Rose Bowl also holds the BCS National Championship, ABC will also televise that game. ABC offers about half the games they broadcast in HD.

- CBS is the exclusive network TV provider of SEC football and usually airs one game per week at 3:30pm Eastern starting after the tennis U.S. Open. The current contract expires end of the 2008 season. The SEC has re-signed with CBS for another 15 years, starting in 2009 and ending with the 2023 season.

CBS also has contracts for two games involving Navy. They have a contract to broadcast Navy's home game vs. Notre Dame (every other season) and the annual Army-Navy contest. CBS also has two bowl games, the Sun Bowl and Gator Bowl. CBS offers all of their college football broadcasts in HD.

- NBC is the rightsholder for all Notre Dame home games until the end of the 2015 season. These games will usually air at 2:30pm or 3:30pm Eastern. NBC also has the rights to the annual Bayou Classic FCS matchup between Grambling and Southern. NBC offers all their Notre Dame broadcasts in HD.

- FOX does not hold any rights to any regular season college football, but is the new rightholder for the BCS, specifically the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and the newly created national championship game. The contract will expire after the bowl games ending the 2009 regular season. FOX also has the rights to the Cotton Bowl and those rights also expire after the 2009 season. FOX offers all their BCS games in HD.

Pay TV Networks

- ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU broadcast the bulk of college football on pay TV, along with select games on ESPN Classic. The suite of networks hold rights to the following conferences:

ACC (2010)
Big East (2013)
Big Ten (2016)
Conference USA (2010)
MAC (2010)
PAC-10 (2011)
SEC (2008, new contract runs from 2009 to 2023)
Sun Belt (2008)
WAC (2009)

Notes on these contracts:

ACC - The ACC is guaranteed six appearances per season on Thursday nights. ESPNU can choose games only after selections are completed by ABC, ESPN/ESPN2 and Raycom Sports.

Big 12 - ESPN has sublicensed seven games from FSN for airing on a national basis.

Big East - The Big East has signed a new contract to start with the 2008 season. There are various guarantees in terms of appearances on ABC and specific nights on ESPN.

Big Ten - No games may appear on ESPNU. Games that appear on ABC may be shown in outer markets on ESPN/ESPN2.

Conference USA - ESPN has rights to a set number of games and the conference championship game. The rest of the games revert to CBS College Sports. No C-USA game may appear on ESPNU.

PAC-10 - The games that ESPN will televise from the PAC-10 are part of the ABC contract. FSN still owns the pay TV rights to the conference.

SEC - The SEC has no provision for games to appear on ESPNU under the current contract. The new contract with ESPN will have games on ESPNU.

ESPN has a contract for all Army home games and most will be played on Saturday, with ESPN reserving the right to move games to weeknights. This contract expires after the 2009 season. ESPN currently has the rights to all bowl games not televised on network TV, except for the Insight Bowl and Texas Bowl.

ESPNU also shows several FCS games during the year and has contracts with the Gateway, OVC, MEAC and SWAC conferences.

ESPN networks air games at the following times on Saturdays (with some exceptions, all times Eastern):

Because of the sheer volume of conferences ESPN carries, games will also air on weeknights. Thursday is the prime weeknight slot, with games also airing on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. All games on ESPN and ESPN2 are televised in HD.

- FSN holds the pay TV rights to the Big 12 and PAC-10 conferences.

For the Big 12, the conference owns the first pay TV choice and the "regional" Big 12 game, which airs on just about all FSN-affiliated regional networks. FSN also approves all PPV airing for Big 12 games not chosen for TV. Any PPV games must air when ABC is not televising a Big 12 game. This means that FSN holds the rights to 20-25 games per season. The Big 12 contract expires after the 2011 season.

For the PAC-10, FSN shows usually at least one PAC-10 game per week and holds the rights to 18 games. This contract expires after the 2011 season.

FSN will televise all games in HD for 2008.

For the Big 12 games, FSN has sold seven games to ESPN/ESPN2 and five games to Versus. Versus has also sublicensed five PAC-10 games from FSN.

- CBS College Sports, formerly CSTV, has the rights to all MWC games and all C-USA games not selected by ESPN. The contract with C-USA ends after the 2010 season and the MWC contract expires after the 2016 season.

CBS College Sports has a contract for all home games for Navy, except the Notre Dame game. This contract ends after the 2009 season. All Navy games will be on Saturdays.

CBS College Sports will broadcast select games in HD in 2008.

- Versus will broadcast select Big 12, MWC, PAC-10 and Ivy League games. With respect to the MWC, this is in regards to a deal between Comcast and CBS College Sports. See the entry for "the mtn." under the regional television section. For the Big 12 and PAC-10 games, Versus has sublicensed five games from each conference from FSN. The only conference that Versus has a contract with is the Ivy League.

Versus is expected to broadcast select games in HD.
- The NFL Network has no conference contracts, but has signed up to televise the Insight Bowl and the Texas Bowl. Both games are broadcast in HD.

Regional/Syndication

- ESPN Regional Television is the regional syndicator of the Big East, MAC, Sun Belt and WAC conferences. Contracts with ESPN Regional TV are part of the national TV contracts with ESPN for these conferences. Starting in 2009, the SEC will have their regional telecasts syndicated by ESPN Regional TV.

- A partnership between the Big Ten and Fox Cable Networks, called the Big Ten Network, will air games Big Ten games not shown on ESPN/ESPN2 or ABC.

- "mtn." is the acronym for the Mountain West Conference's regional broadcaster, MountainWest Sports Network. This network was formed by CBS College Sports to distribute games not televised on the network. Comcast and CBS College Sports own the network jointly (50-50 split) and Comcast controls operations of the network.

- CSS (Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast) has a partnership with Conference USA as they will broadcast select C-USA games in a deal with CBS Collgege Sports.

- Raycom Sports is the regional syndicator of the ACC and SEC. The SEC contract expires after the 2008 season, the ACC after the 2010 season. Starting in 2008, all Raycom football games will be available in HD. 2008 will the final season of SEC broadcasts syndicated by Raycom.

The PAC-10 does not have a regional syndication package. Any games that are not chosen by their television partners can be televised by each university's contracted television package.

As noted above, the Big 12's regional game is owned by FSN and airs at 12pm or 12:30pm Eastern.

Internet Streaming

- ESPN360 is a broadband service provided to ISPs directly. ISPs are supposed to pay for the service instead of charging customers directly. The service shows ACC, Big East, Sun Belt and MAC games not being shown on TV. Games from ABC and ESPN Networks may also be shown here.

- CBS College Sports's All-Access package provides from streaming of select FCS games, C-USA games, non-televised MWC games and SEC telecasts from CBS.