Quick Answer: There is no single football channel. The NFL sells its television rights by time slot, which means the day of the week tells you the network. Thursday night is Prime Video and has no channel number at all. Sunday afternoons are CBS and Fox. Sunday night is NBC. Monday night is ESPN, and roughly ten Mondays a season are simulcast free on ABC. Learn that one rule and you never have to look this up again.
Last checked October 30, 2026, against the NFL’s own 2026 schedule articles on NFL.com (published at the May 2026 schedule release) and Front Office Sports’ schedule report of May 14, 2026.
The Whole Season in One Table
| Slot | Network | Free with an antenna? |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday night | Prime Video | No, streaming only |
| Sunday 1:00pm ET | CBS or Fox | Yes |
| Sunday 4:05 and 4:25pm ET | CBS or Fox | Yes |
| Sunday night | NBC, also on Peacock | Yes, via NBC |
| Monday night | ESPN, often ABC as well | Only when it is on ABC |
| Saturday, Week 18 | ESPN (a doubleheader) | No |
| Thanksgiving Eve (Wed, Nov 25) | Netflix | No |
| Thanksgiving (Thu, Nov 26) | CBS, Fox and NBC | Yes |
| Black Friday (Nov 27) | Prime Video | No |
| Christmas Eve (Thu, Dec 24) | Prime Video | No |
| Christmas Day (Fri, Dec 25) | Netflix for the 1 PM and 4:30 PM ET games, Fox for the 8:15 PM ET game | Only the Fox night game |
The pattern holds all season. What moves is which specific game lands in each slot, because the league flexes matchups between slots late in the year with a couple of weeks of notice.
Right Now: Holiday Week Moves Games to New Places
The weekly pattern holds until Thanksgiving. Then four holiday dates break it, and two of them need a Netflix subscription. The table below lists each one with the matchup the NFL scheduled.
| Date (2026) | Game | Time (ET) | Where to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed, Nov 25 | Packers at Rams | 8:00 PM | Netflix |
| Thu, Nov 26 | Bears at Lions | 1:00 PM | CBS |
| Thu, Nov 26 | Eagles at Cowboys | 4:30 PM | Fox |
| Thu, Nov 26 | Chiefs at Bills | 8:20 PM | NBC and Peacock |
| Fri, Nov 27 | Broncos at Steelers | 3:00 PM | Prime Video |
| Thu, Dec 24 | Texans at Eagles | Night game | Prime Video |
| Fri, Dec 25 | Packers at Bears | 1:00 PM | Netflix |
| Fri, Dec 25 | Bills at Broncos | 4:30 PM | Netflix |
| Fri, Dec 25 | Rams at Seahawks | 8:15 PM | Fox |
Late in the season the league can flex games between slots with about two weeks of notice, so check your guide the week of the game. The Christmas Eve kickoff time was not listed in the sources we checked.
What Channel Is My Team’s Game On?
For Sunday afternoon games the network is decided by the home team’s conference, not by who you support. AFC home games go to CBS. NFC home games go to Fox. Your team therefore alternates between the two depending on where it is playing.
| Conference | Sunday afternoon home games on | Teams |
|---|---|---|
| NFC | Fox | Packers, Cowboys, Eagles, Bears, Lions, Seahawks, 49ers, Commanders, Saints, Vikings, Rams, Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers, Giants, Cardinals |
| AFC | CBS | Steelers, Chiefs, Bills, Ravens, Bengals, Browns, Broncos, Raiders, Patriots, Texans, Colts, Jaguars, Titans, Dolphins, Jets, Chargers |
Primetime is the exception. Any team can be scheduled into Thursday, Sunday night or Monday night, and in those slots the conference rule does not apply. The game goes to whoever owns the night. Popular teams appear in primetime far more often, so the Cowboys, Chiefs, Packers and Eagles turn up on NBC, ESPN and Prime Video regularly.
Why the Game Is Not There Even Though It Says It Is on Fox
This is the part that frustrates people most, and it is almost never a problem with your channel number. On Sunday afternoons, CBS and Fox do not show every game everywhere. Each network broadcasts the game your region has been assigned, based mostly on which team is local to you. Someone in Philadelphia and someone in Denver can both turn to Fox at the same moment and see completely different games.
If the game you want is not assigned to your market, it will not appear at all, no matter what you do to the box. Two real routes around it:
- NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube carries out-of-market Sunday afternoon games. It is expensive, and it covers only the Sunday CBS and Fox windows, not primetime. It is no longer sold by DIRECTV.
- NFL RedZone jumps between every game in progress instead of showing one start to finish. Far cheaper, and better if you follow the league generally rather than one out-of-market team.
Channel Numbers for the Networks That Carry Football
| Network | DIRECTV | DISH | Fios | Cable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBS | Local | Local | Local | Varies, free with an antenna |
| Fox | Local | Local | Local | Varies, free with an antenna |
| NBC | Local | Local | Local | Varies, free with an antenna |
| ABC | Local | Local | Local | Varies, free with an antenna |
| ESPN | 206 | 140 | 570 | Varies by market |
| NFL Network | 212 | 154 | Varies | Varies by market |
| Prime Video | App only, no channel number anywhere | |||
| Netflix | App only, no channel number anywhere | |||
The four broadcast networks are local stations, so they have no national number. Press Guide and search the network name, run an antenna channel scan, or look up your exact number with our Channel Finder.
The Cheapest Way to Watch Most of the Season
Start with an antenna. CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC all broadcast free over the air, and between them they carry every Sunday afternoon game in your market, Sunday Night Football, all three Thanksgiving games and the Monday games simulcast on ABC. That is the large majority of the football most people actually watch, for a one-off hardware cost of about $30 to $50 and no monthly bill. Our guide to watching live TV for free covers what an antenna will actually pick up where you live.
Add Prime Video for Thursdays and you have covered nearly the whole season for a fraction of a cable package. What you would still be missing is the late-season Saturday slate and the Christmas Day games on Netflix.
One Change Worth Knowing About This Year
ESPN completed its purchase of NFL Network in February 2026 and also took over distribution of NFL RedZone, with the NFL receiving a 10 percent equity stake in ESPN in return. NFL Network is still a channel on your provider and did not move. What did change is that three games which used to be NFL Network exclusives are now on ESPN, and Front Office Sports reported in May 2026 that ESPN has 26 regular-season games this season, seven of them NFL Network games. If a game you expected on 212 is not there, check ESPN before you assume something is wrong. Our guide to NFL Network on DIRECTV has the full channel detail for satellite viewers.
When You Cannot Find the Game
| Problem | Likely fix |
|---|---|
| Game says Fox but Fox is showing another game | Regional assignment. That game is not licensed to your market. |
| Cannot find a channel number for tonight’s Thursday game | There is not one. Thursday is Prime Video, an app. |
| Monday game is not on ABC | Only about ten Mondays a season are simulcast. The rest are ESPN only. |
| Preseason game is missing entirely | Preseason is local. It is only carried in the two teams’ markets. |
| Guide shows a different game than the listings site | Late flex scheduling. Your provider’s guide is the one to trust on game day. |
| Antenna gets NBC but not CBS | Rescan channels, and check the transmitter direction for that station. |
The author specializes in U.S. cable, satellite, and streaming TV services, with hands-on experience analyzing channel lineups, regional restrictions, equipment requirements, and contract terms. All the content is written with clear, easy-to-understand explanations to help readers compare services accurately and make informed decisions.