<P> Thursday Night Football (or simply TNF) is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights . Most of the games kick off at 8: 25 p.m. Eastern Time, but games in the package also air occasionally on Saturdays in the later portion of the season, as well as a single Sunday morning game from London in the NFL International Series (these games have been branded since 2017 as NFL Network Special). </P> <P> Debuting on November 23, 2006, the telecasts were originally part of NFL Network's Run to the Playoffs package, which consisted of eight total games broadcast on Thursday and Saturday nights (five on Thursdays, and three on Saturdays, originally branded as Saturday Night Football) during the latter portion of the season . Since 2012, the TNF package has begun during the second week of the NFL season; the NFL Kickoff Game and the Thanksgiving primetime game are both broadcast as part of NBC Sports' Sunday Night Football contract and are not included in Thursday Night Football, although the Thanksgiving primetime game was previously part of the package from 2006 until 2011 . </P> <P> At its launch, the package proved highly controversial mainly due to the relative unavailability of NFL Network at the time; the league used the games as leverage to encourage television providers to carry NFL Network on their basic service tiers, rather than in premium, sports - oriented packages that required subscribers to pay a higher fee; although, as with all other national cable telecasts of NFL games, the league's own regulations require the games to be syndicated to over-the - air television stations in the local markets of the teams . These issues were magnified in 2007, when a game that saw the New England Patriots close out a perfect regular season was simulcast nationally on both CBS and NBC, in addition to NFL Network and the local stations that the game was sold to, following concerns from politicians and other critics . </P> <P> In 2014, the NFL shifted the package to a new model to increase its prominence . The entire TNF package would be produced by a separate rightsholder, who would hold rights to simulcast a portion of the package on their respective network . CBS was the first rightsholder under this model, airing nine games on broadcast television, and producing the remainder of the package to air exclusively on NFL Network to satisfy its carriage agreements . The package was also extended to Week 16 of the season, and included a new Saturday doubleheader split between CBS and NFL Network . On January 18, 2015, CBS and NFL Network extended the same arrangement for a second season . In the 2016 and 2017, the NFL continued with a similar arrangement, but adding NBC as a second rightsholder alongside CBS, with each network airing five games on broadcast television each . In 2018, the NFL reached a long - term deal with Fox to hold the rights through 2022 . </P>

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