2015By Ken Fang on

Earlier today, we wrote about the debut of Fox NFL Kickoff’s new cast and on the Fox Television Network instead of on FS1 as it had been the past two years. But in some markets, the show did not air on the Fox affiliate and was either shuffled to co-owned or co-operated MyNetwork stations and in other cases, sent to co-owned or operated CW stations.

In the case of the Providence, RI-New Bedford, MA market, Fox NFL Kickoff was aired on the MyNetwork subchannel, 64.2 which is not carried by some cable and satellite providers.

Based on an informal survey on Twitter, here are some of the markets in which Fox NFL Kickoff did not air on the main Fox affiliate, but perhaps was shuffled to another channel (MyNetwork or even a co-owned or co-operated CW affiliate):

Baltimore
Buffalo
Chicago
Cleveland
Columbus, OH
Columbus, GA
Denver
Fresno
Hartford
Kansas City
Milwaukee
New Orleans
Providence
Raleigh, NC
San Diego
San Francisco-Oakland
SeattleTucson

A Fox spokesman told Awful Announcing that Fox NFL Kickoff was cleared in 90% of the country either on Fox or MyNetwork affiliates, but seeing some stations like Fox’s owned-and-operated KTVU in the Bay Area and Seattle’s Q13 not pick up the show certainly hurts the viewership as compared to Fox NFL Sunday which is cleared to close to 100% of the Fox stations.

Earlier this summer when Fox announced it was moving NFL Kickoff from cable to broadcast, it was promoting Kickoff as a compliment to Fox NFL Sunday, but with some viewers not aware of their MyNetwork either as a separate channel or a digital subchannel, they may not know that they can find it.

Or in the case of DirecTV, it does not pick up the digital subschannels claiming bandwidth isses and duplicate programming. There is also the instance of some Fox stations locked into existing programming contracts that have to expire before they can clear another network show.

So it may be a while before you can see Fox NFL Kickoff in your market. But if you have a MyNetwork or CW affiliate that is carrying it, you might be able to watch the new incarnation of the show.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

View all posts by Ken Fang

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