This is a timeline of UK television coverage of
American Football on UK television..
1980s
1982
7 November – Coverage of American sport gets its first regular coverage on UK television when
Channel 4 starts broadcasting
American football on a weekly basis.[1] Weekly highlights of the
NFL are shown each Sunday teatime. Prior to this, American football was occasionally shown on ITV's World of Sport.
1983
30 January – Live American Football is seen in the UK for the first time when Channel 4 broadcasts live coverage of
Super Bowl XVII.[2]
1984
29 March –
Screensport launches[3] and coverage of American Football is a significant part of its output throughout its time on air.
1985
No events.
1986
No events.
1987
Autumn – As part of its newly launched overnight schedule,
London Weekend Television shows late night highlights of American sport, including
college football. The coverage is also broadcast on
Anglia Television due to Anglia simulcasting LWT's overnight schedule. The coverage ends approximately a year later.
1988
No events.
1989
No events.
1990s
1990
No events.
1991
Spring –
Sky Sports shows live coverage of the newly created
World League of American Football. Channel 4 also covers the competition with a weekly Saturday morning highlights programme.
31 March – On its first night on air,
Channel 5 launches its overnight weekday live and recorded coverage of American sports.
1998
25 January – Channel 4 ends its coverage of
American Football when it shows
Super Bowl XXXII. This ends a relationship with the sport that had existed since Channel 4's first week on air.
September – Channel 5 becomes the new home of terrestrial coverage of the NFL.
1999
No events.
2000s
2000
No events.
2001
No events.
2002
5 December –
NASN launches to show live and recorded coverage of North American sports.
2003
No events.
2004
1 February – Channel 5's first spell of providing regular coverage of the NFL ends with its live coverage of
Super Bowl XXXVIII.
2005
January – ITV broadcasts
American Football for the first time when it shows the play-offs and the
Super Bowl. ITV also broadcasts these events in 2006 and 2007 until the rights move to the BBC in 2008.[6]
1 February – NASN is renamed
ESPN America following the sale in late 2006 of the channel to
ESPN.[10]
2010s
2010
1 March – A European edition of SportsCenter starts to be broadcast five nights a week on
ESPN America.[11] The programme includes full coverage of news and action from the NFL and the NCAA.
Channel 5 ends its live overnight coverage of American sport, when it decides not to continue its coverage of
American Football. This brings to an end its coverage of American sport which had been a mainstay of Channel 5's weeknight overnight programming since the channel's launch.
21 June –
ESPN America begins broadcasting in high definition.[12]
April – ESPN America stops broadcasting a European version of SportsCentre, instead opting to broadcast an edited version of the 2am show produced in
Los Angeles.
September – The BBC broadcasts Monday Night Football but does so for just one season as for the 2013/14 season, terrestrial coverage of the NFL moves to Channel 4.[14]
2013
1 August –
BT Sport launches and the channel's output includes extensive coverage of the
College Football season. As well as extensive live coverage, college football programming also includes various ESPN-produced College football magazine shows such as College Gameday and College Football Final via a long-term agreement with
ESPN to carry its original programming (including original documentaries and studio programmes), and events whose international rights are owned by
ESPN International.[15]
8 September – Channel 4's
American Football coverage expands when it signs a new two-year deal with the NFL to become the terrestrial home to the game for the nest two seasons. The deal sees the return of the
Super Bowl to Channel 4, 16 years after it had last shown the event.[16]
9 September – Eurosport becomes the new broadcast of the
NFL's Monday Night Football.[17] Eurosport broadcasts the weekly game for the next two seasons.
9 September – The BBC announces that the
NFL will return to its screens after Channel 4 opted not to renew its rights from the 2015 season after failing to reach a deal with the NFL.[19] The deal includes the rights to show the
NFL London Games live with at least one match being exclusively live. The BBC also show weekly highlights and magazine shows, which starts in November. The deal included live television, radio and online rights to screen the
Super Bowl alongside Sky Sports.[20]
2016
No events.
2017
No events.
2018
No events.
2019
No events.
2020s
2020
3 September – Sky Sports NFL launches. It is an in-season rebrand of Sky Sports Action and provides round-the clock coverage of the NFL. As well as live and recorded coverage of games, output includes simulcasts of magazine shows from
NFL Network such as Good Morning Football and NFL Total Access.[21] The channel broadcasts until early February 2021. This has been repeated in subsequent years.
14 September – Channel 5 resumes its coverage of the
NFL when it starts showing the weekly Monday night game plus a weekly highlights show.[22][23]
2021
No events.
2022
September – Sky Sports begins showing coverage of
Notre Dame home matches.
9 September – After seven years on the BBC, terrestrial coverage of the
NFL returns to ITV. The deal includes the rights to show two of the three
NFL London Games and the
Super Bowl in addition to a weekly highlights programme.[24]
2023
August – BT Sport is relaunched as
TNT Sports following the sale of BT Sport to
Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA.[25][26] and TNT decides not to show
NCAA competitions.[27][28] Consequently, for the first time in two decades, UK viewers are unable to full coverage of the
College Football season with the only College Football action aired in the UK being Notre Dame's seven home games which are shown on Sky Sports.
18 November – Following an agreement with
ESPN, Sky Sports starts showing three
College Football games a week plus the Bowl season and ESPN's pre-game show College Gameday. The deal also includes the 2024 College football season.[29]