Watch Thursday Night Football live without cable.
Table of Contents
- What channel is Thursday Night Football on?
- These streaming services will carry Thursday Night Football for local fans
- Out-of-market fans need Prime to watch Thursday Night Football
- Thursday Night Football TV schedule 2023 + Local affiliates
- How to watch Thursday Night Football on Fubo
- How to watch Thursday Night Football on DIRECTV STREAM
- How to watch Thursday Night Football on YouTube TV
- How to watch Thursday Night Football on Hulu + Live TV
- Why NFL+ is a great option for streaming Thursday Night Football
- Watching TNF FAQ
Learn the best, and cheapest, options for live streaming Amazon’s Thursday Night Football, with and without Amazon Prime.
FOR LOCAL FANS ONLY. | $74.99 / month | 7 Day Free Trial |
Watch Thursday Night Football on mobile and tablet only. | $39.99 / year | 7 day free trial |
Amazon paid a reported $1.2 billion for the rights to its own weekday NFL game, Thursday Night Football (TNF), which is set to live stream on Amazon Prime Thursday nights starting in week 2 of the 2023 season.
With the exception of local fans in the home and away team’s media markets who can watch Thursday Night Football on TV, and mobile viewers on NFL+, the Thursday Night Football franchise is now a streaming exclusive game.
What channel is Thursday Night Football on?
Thursday Night football’s channel lineup depends on where the fan is located. Whether NFL fans can watch TNF on over-the-air channels depends on whether they are local, meaning they live in the same TV market as one of the teams featured on TNF. Local NFL fans can still watch the Thursday Night Football broadcast with former Ohio State QB Kirk Herbstreit and Al Michaels without signing up for Amazon Prime.
Local fans
- Watch TNF on one of your local channels (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC)
Everyone else
- Watch TNF on Amazon Prime, and on mobile with NFL+
To quote Sports Media Watch:
Amazon will be the exclusive home of 15 Thursday night games per year, sharing them only with over-the-air affiliates in the participating markets.
Sports Media watch
This means that the Thursday Night Football broadcasts will also air on local channels like FOX, CBS, NBC, and ABC. If you are in-market for one of the team’s participating in the game, you can watch Thursday Night Football with cable, an air antenna, or on a live TV streaming service without taking the step of opening the Amazon app.
These streaming services will carry Thursday Night Football for local fans
Note: you still have the option of watching TNF on Amazon, even if you live in the same market as one of the teams.
So, what we have here is a classic in-market vs. out-of-market distinction for watching Thursday Night Football, not a streaming exclusive. This means that if you are an in-market fan, meaning you live in the same city as your NFL team, you can watch TNF on DIRECTV STREAM, Hulu + Live TV, fuboTV, and YouTube TV, all of which carry every local channel, regardless of location.
| DIRECTV STREAM | Fubo | Hulu + Live TV | Paramount+ | YouTube TV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| $74.99 / month | $74.99 / month | $69.99 / month | $5.99 / month | $72.99 / month |
Out-of-market fans need Prime to watch Thursday Night Football
Since Amazon is no longer sharing its rights for TNF with NBC or NFL Network, if you live out-of-market for the teams that are featured in the game, then the only option is to watch on Prime.
Thursday Night Football TV schedule 2023 + Local affiliates
| Week | Date | Home Team | Road Team | Home Affiliate | Road Affiliate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thursday, Sep. 7 | Kansas City Chiefs | Detroit Lions | KSHB-TV (NBC 41) | Detroit Lions Television Network |
| 2 | Thursday, Sep. 14 | Philadelphia Eagles | Minnesota Vikings | WTXF (Fox 29) | KMSP (Channel 9) |
| 3 | Thursday, Sep. 21 | San Francisco 49ers | New York Giants | KTVU (Channel 2) | WCBS-TV (Channel 2) |
| 4 | Thursday, Sep. 28 | Green Bay Packers | Detroit Lions | NBC 4 and NBC 26 | Detroit Lions Television Network |
| 5 | Thursday, Oct. 5 | Washington Commanders | Chicago Bears | WTTG (Fox 5) | WFLD (Channel 32) |
| 6 | Thursday, Oct. 12 | Kansas City Chiefs | Denver Broncos | KSHB-TV (NBC 41) | KCNC (Channel 4) |
| 7 | Thursday, Oct. 19 | New Orleans Saints | Jacksonville Jaguars | WWL-TV (Channel 4) | WJAX-TV (Channel 47) or WFOX-TV (Channel 30) |
| 8 | Thursday, Oct. 26 | Buffalo Bills | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | WIVB-TV (CBS 4) | WMOR-TV (Channel 32) |
| 9 | Thursday, Nov. 2 | Pittsburgh Steelers | Tennessee Titans | WPGH-TV (Channel 53) | WKRN-TV (ABC 2) |
| 10 | Thursday, Nov. 9 | Chicago Bears | Carolina Panthers | WFLD (Channel 32) | The Panthers Television Network |
| 11 | Thursday, Nov. 16 | Baltimore Ravens | Cincinnati Bengals | WBFF (Channel 45) | WKRC-TV (Channel 12) |
| 12 | Thursday, Nov. 23 | Seattle Seahawks | San Francisco 49ers | KCPQ (Fox 13) | KPIX-TV (CBS 5) |
| 13 | Thursday, Nov. 30 | Dallas Cowboys | Seattle Seahawks | KTVT (CBS 11) | KCPQ (Fox 13) |
| 14 | Thursday, Dec. 7 | Pittsburgh Steelers | New England Patriots | WPGH-TV (Channel 53) | WBZ-TV (CBS 4) |
| 15 | Thursday, Dec. 14 | Las Vegas Raiders | Los Angeles Chargers | KVVU-TV (Fox 5) | KCBS-TV (Channel 2) and KCAL-TV (Channel 9) |
| 16 | Thursday, Dec. 21 | Los Angeles Rams | New Orleans Saints | KABC-TV (ABC 7) | WWL-TV (Channel 4) |
| 17 | Thursday, Dec. 28 | Cleveland Browns | New York Jets | WEWS-TV (Channel 5) | WCBS-TV (CBS 2) |
Let’s count our blessings that TNF isn’t a pure streaming exclusive game.
These types of games have been a staple of the 2023 MLB season, with Apple, Peacock, YouTube, and Amazon all messing with the viewing routines of baseball fans. Yankee fans have been consistently irate over the YES Network blackouts in favor of Prime.
Leaving the TNF games to air on a local channel in each market is the right thing to do, even if it happened by accident.
How to watch Thursday Night Football on Fubo
Only local fans of the participating teams can watch TNF on Fubo.
For example, a TNF game between the Cowboys and NY Giants would be available on local affiliates in Dallas and NYC on Fubo.
Outside of these markets, fans are forced to watch the game on Amazon Prime, or choose NFL+ for a mobile-only streaming option.
How to watch Thursday Night Football on DIRECTV STREAM
As with Fubo, DIRECTV STREAM will only carry TNF for local fans in the TV markets of the participating teams. Outside of these local TV markets, football fans can choose between Amazon Prime and NFL+.
How to watch Thursday Night Football on YouTube TV
You may notice a pattern here. YouTube TV is another live TV streaming service that only offers the TNF live-stream to local fans in the TV markets of the participating teams.
Regional and out-of-market fans can choose between the mobile-only TNF stream on NFL+, or opt to watch the game on Amazon Prime.
How to watch Thursday Night Football on Hulu + Live TV
Hulu + Live TV is another streaming service that carries the local affiliates that broadcast TNF, but as with other competitors, regional and out-of-market fans will be forced to choose between NFL+ and Amazon Prime to stream the game.
Why NFL+ is a great option for streaming Thursday Night Football
If you’ve read this far, you know that TNF is available on one of your local affiliates if you are a local fan.
For the rest of us, NFL+ is an attractive alternative to Amazon Prime if you plan to watch TNF on a mobile device or tablet.
Most football fans don’t know that NFL+ has the rights to all of the marquee NFL games through the Super Bowl, including TNF. This means that TNF is available across most of the country on mobile devices for a bargain rate of just $40 per season.
Watching TNF FAQ
No, NFL Sunday Ticket is an out-of-market package that offers access to regular-season NFL games with regional restrictions regardless of the viewer’s location. Nationally televised NFL games, like Thursday Night Football, MNF, the NFL Playoffs, and the Super Bowl, are unavailable with the NFL Sunday Ticket package. However, if you signed up for Sunday Ticket through YouTube TV, you can stream Thursday Night Football if you are a local fan for one of the participating teams.
Not usually, no. Sling TV only carries local affiliates in select markets and doesn’t offer CBS in any market without an air antenna. The vast majority of Sling TV users won’t be able to stream TNF on Sling. The exception will be for local fans in markets where Sling TV carries ABC, FOX, or NBC. For example, Sling TV carries FOX, ABC, and NBC in the NY market. If the Jets or Giants appear on TNF, local fans in NY would be able to stream the games on Sling TV Blue witoiut having to toggle over to the Amazon app.