The
DuMont Television Network obtained rights to the
1955 game from the Los Angeles Newspaper Charities just one week before the game date. As they had trouble lining up
affiliates to cover the game on such short notice, the telecast was cancelled.
Both
NBC and
CBS passed on the rights to the
1957 game.
ABC apparently considered televising the game, but could not gain enough clearance of
affiliates to make a telecast feasible. So for the third straight year, there was no telecast.
Although Hawaii does not have an NFL team of its own, the Pro Bowl games played there from
1980–
2009 were still subject to the NFL's
blackout policies, requiring the game to be blacked out within the state of Hawaii if all seats were not sold out by the specified 72-hour deadline.[12][13]
Because ABC Sports had rights to both the Pro Bowl and the
NHL All-Star Game, through their association agreement with
ESPN, from
2000 through
2003, excluding
2002, ABC aired both games on the same day. ABC dubbed these doubleheaders as “All-Star Sunday”.
In
2004–
2006,
ABC (who by the early 2000s, had been suffering through several years of dismal
ratings) sold its rights to the Pro Bowl (which had been part of the Monday Night Football package since
1995) to sister network
ESPN. In those years, the ESPN Sunday Night Football crew covered the game. Prior to the game being moved to ESPN, ABC considered moving the game to Monday night.
Under the eight year television contract beginning in
2006, the network that broadcasts the
Super Bowl would also get the Pro Bowl. Typically,
CBS and
Fox would utilize their "B" or "Number 2" broadcasting crew.
The
2010 game was the first time ever that the Pro Bowl was held prior to the championship game. It was held the weekend before
Super Bowl XLIV.[25]NFL CommissionerRoger Goodell said the move was made after looking at alternatives to strengthen the Pro Bowl.[26] The game was also moved up in order to prevent a conflict that would have occurred if the game had taken place on February 13 or 14 (CBS would have rights, and based on the
52nd Grammy Awards, would have moved the game to the Saturday, as they did in
2007), with the game facing against the
NBA All-Star Game,
Winter Olympics, and
Daytona 500.[27]
CBS gave up the rights to the 2013 game to NBC.[28]
ESPN currently has the rights to air the
Pro Bowl, It began in 2015. Starting in 2018, the game will be simulcast on broadcast network ABC, marking the return of the Pro Bowl to network television for the first time since 2014, while being ABC's first telecast since 2003.[29] In 2019, ESPN's telecast of the Pro Bowl also aired on children's channel
Disney XD.
Early in the first quarter of the
2020 Pro Bowl, an
ABC Newsspecial report (which was also
simulcast on ESPN, but not Disney XD) interrupted the game following up on the developing story of
NBA star
Kobe Bryant's
death.[31] Disney XD's simulcast abruptly ended[32] with roughly six minutes remaining in the second quarter due to the breaking news of Bryant's death.
ABC,
ESPN, and
Disney XD aired a television special in place of the
2021 game—the Pro Bowl Celebration[33]—which would feature segments and interviews honoring the Pro Bowl roster, and highlights of the
2020 season, and promoting the digital Pro Bowl event.[34][35]