Hey NFL fans, if you’re a Thursday Night Football watcher, you may have found it difficult to watch midweek football. That’s because you can no longer catch the game on cable or even your local broadcast TV station. So what channel is Thursday Night Football on?
Well, a year ago, Amazon and the National Football League signed a $13 billion deal for Prime Video to be the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football for 11 years. That partnership kicked off during the 2022-23 season, and set records for Prime membership signups (according to an internal memo).
So, since Amazon Prime is the “channel” that hosts Thursday Night Football, how can you watch Thursday Night Football games? Is there a way to get free access to them? We’ll tell you what we know, so you can plan your 2023-24 NFL season.
You have to be a Prime member to watch Thursday Night Football on Amazon.
Is Amazon Prime worth it? Besides the free shipping, Prime discounts, and other perks, the exclusive Thursday Night Football broadcast might be enough to push you to shell out the $139/year membership fee.
Thursday Night Football is part of Amazon Prime’s streaming video service, Prime Video, and non-Prime members don’t have the ability to access the stream.
TIP: Due to the exclusive nature of the Amazon-NFL deal, you won’t be able to find the broadcast on broadcast TV (even if they’re your local team) or cable TV networks (nope, not even the NFL Network).
There are going to be 17 Thursday Night Football games during the 2023-24 season.
Who plays Thursday Night Football? There are going to be 17 Thursday Night Football games broadcast on Prime Video during the 2023-24 season — that’s two more than the previous season. Here’s the full 2023 – 24 schedule of all the games:
- Aug. 24, 7 p.m. ET – Indianapolis Colts at Philadelphia Eagles (Preseason)
- Sept. 14, 7 p.m. ET – Minnesota Vikings at Philadelphia Eagles
- Sept. 21, 7 p.m. ET – New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers
- Sept. 28, 7 p.m. ET – Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers
- Oct. 5, 7 p.m. ET – Chicago Bears at Washington Commanders
- Oct. 12, 7 p.m. ET – Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs
- Oct. 19, 7 p.m. ET – Jacksonville Jaguars at New Orleans Saints
- Oct. 26, 7 p.m. ET – Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Buffalo Bills
- Nov. 2, 7 p.m. ET – Tennessee Titans at Pittsburgh Steelers
- Nov. 9, 7 p.m. ET – Carolina Panthers at Chicago Bears
- Nov. 16, 7 p.m. ET – Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens
- Nov. 24, 7 p.m. ET – Miami Dolphins at New York Jets (Black Friday)
- Nov. 30, 7 p.m. ET – Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys
- Dec. 7, 7 p.m. ET – New England Patriots at Pittsburgh Steelers
- Dec. 14, 7 p.m. ET – Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas Raiders
- Dec. 21, 7 p.m. ET – New Orleans Saints at Los Angeles Rams
- Dec. 28, 7 p.m. ET – New York Jets at Cleveland Browns
Mark your calendars — the Nov. 24 game will actually be on a Friday — Black Friday. So expect to see lots of Amazon Black Friday deals during the commercials.
Prime has offered several alternate broadcasts of the game, including a ‘Dude Perfect’ version & ‘Next-Gen Stats.’
In addition to the standard national broadcast, Amazon has some alternate viewing options available which include:
- TNF with Dude Perfect: Features a split screen of the popular trick-shot YouTubers Dude Perfect reacting to the game in real-time.
- Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats Replay: it has the same audio as the national broadcast but has a sidebar of stats visible at all times and features interesting information, like player speed and acceleration.
- TNF en Español Replay: A Spanish-language version of the broadcast.
TIP: Missed a game? Prime members can watch all of the games on demand after the broadcast — even the alternate viewing options. (For example, the record-breaking Chargers vs. Chiefs game.)
Not wanting to pay the membership fee? You could sign up for a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime.
A 30-day free trial of Prime won’t get you the full season of Thursday Night Football, but it’ll give you 22% of the Thursday Night Football broadcasts and a good idea of whether you’d use the subscription.
If you start the 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime Video on Sept. 14, 2023, you would have access to the maximum five games during your trial period:
- Week 3: Sept. 21 – New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers
- Week 4: Sept. 28 – Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers
- Week 5: Oct. 5 – Chicago Bears at Washington Commanders
- Week 6: Oct. 12 – Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs
- Week 7: Oct. 19 – Jacksonville Jaguars at New Orleans Saints
Plus, you’d be able to start your holiday shopping with the October Prime Early Access Sale and early Amazon Black Friday sales.
RELATED: How to Watch the Big Game for Free if You Don’t Have Cable
Sharing your Amazon account to watch Thursday Night Football is tricky because of Prime Video limitations.
Can you share an Amazon Prime membership? You can have up to two adults (with separate logins) per Amazon Prime account. And although you can have up to three devices streaming Prime Video content simultaneously, Prime Video only lets two screens stream the same program at the same time — that means only two devices per account can watch Thursday Night Football live.
But that said, $67 per year is better than $134, so if you have a football buddy willing to split the cost of Prime, that amounts to just $4.47 per game. (We’ve got lots more info about sharing subscriptions.)
If 22% of a season isn’t good enough for you, you might consider splitting the cost of a Prime membership with another football buddy. Here’s how you add an adult to your Prime Household:
- Log in to your Amazon Prime account
- Visit the Amazon Household page
- Select the “Add Adult” button
- Enter the name and email address of the second adult
NOTE: Kids’ accounts don’t get access to the Thursday Night Football channel broadcast. Only accounts with a TV-14 rating or higher can access the stream.
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