Chicago Bears Games on DISH from outside region?

calebma

New Member
Original poster
Apr 18, 2018
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Minnesota
I live in Minnesota, and for some reason they brainwash everyone to watch only Vikings games here. There are usually 2 channels of football every Sunday and BOTH play the Vikings game (why?)...I currently have Direct TV and had a free promotional subscription to NFL Sunday Ticket last year, which was amazing. I have recently been thinking about switching to Dish network because you get more bang for your buck, but if I can't get Chicago Bears games it's a deal breaker for me.

My question is, does anyone know if I can get Bears games through Dish since I am not in the Chicago area? I saw there is a "multi sports package" which does offer an NBC Chicago Sports channel. I'm assuming this would play the bears game, but would like to get confirmation if anyone knows this for sure. I think I will only make the switch if I'm guaranteed to get the Bears game every Sunday.
 
Nope. You won't be able to get out of market games on Dish.
You could get RedZone that shows every TD but not the actual games.

Thanks for the reply. Based on the lack of TD's da Bears scored last year, I wouldn't get to see a lot of action from the red zone channel :( (hopefully more this year though)

I was looking at this package which includes NBC sports Chicago and is an add-on...A Dish salesperson was trying to tell me this package would *probably* give me the bears games through that regional channel, but I was a little skeptical as he's probably just trying to get commission off me.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies! This is as I suspected and I am sticking with Direct TV. The Sunday Ticket is one of a kind and don't think I can go without it.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but since NFL is on broadcast with the exception of MNF, wouldn't NBC Sports Chicago only air team programming but not actual games and second, I understand dish is trying to be the leader in value but they do need to step it up when it comes to RSN's. Are HD RSN feeds still signing off after midnight...
 
No. And besides the ongoing disputes with NY RSNs and Philly CSN, what else do they need to step up with?
I would say at least bring back NBC Sports New England and add Att Southwest, I will say that That The NY and Spectrum Sportsnet RSNs are Ludacris pricing wise so they can be left out
 
NFL rights:

CBS has the rights to games starting a 1 ET and just after 4 ET on Sunday afternoons, plus a game on Thanksgiving day. CBS games are mostly AFC games. Each CBS affiliate picks games from the list of games CBS produces. On 8 weeks CBS will have games at BOTH 1 & 4, in the other 8 at EITHER 1 or 4. In week 17 BOTH CBS and Fox will have games at both times.

Fox has the rights to games starting at 1 ET and just after 4 ET on Sunday afternoon, plus a game on Thanksgiving day. Fox games are mostly NFC games. Each Fox affiliate picks games from the list of games Fox produces. On the reverse 8 weeks from CBS, Fox will have games at BOTH 1 & 4, in the other 8 weeks at EITHER 1 or 4. In week 17, see above.

Fox also has the rights to games on Thursday night from week 4 -15, except Thanksgiving.

NBC has the rights to games on Sunday night, week 1-16, plus the first game of the year on the first Thursday, plus a game on Thanksgiving night.

ESPN has the rights to game on Monday night, week 1-16. It shows two games on the first week.

NFL Network has the rights to games on Thursday in weeks 2 & 3, and will simulcast the Fox coverage otherwise.

DirecTV has the rights to "nationalize" the Sunday afternoon games no chosen by your local Fox and CBS station. It will provide the Fox and CBS games not seen on your local affiliate.

Thus, to the OP:

- Unless you are one of the VERY rare people getting an affiliate of the same network from two different cities and NOT getting an affiliate of the other network at ALL, "both" channels are N O T both carrying the Vikings game. Either Fox is or CBS is, not both. Not ever.

- NBC Sports Chicago is an RSN for Chicago hockey, baseball and basketball. RSNs do N O T carry regular season NFL games at all. The CSR is either totally incompetent or a bald faced liar.

- In sum there is NO package you can buy from DISH that will in any way add any NFL games to what you get in the basic package.
 
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That all looks good except for one thing. On Sunday afternoons, CBS only airs games where the AFC team is the away team, and FOX only airs games where the NFC team is the away team.
 
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That all looks good except for one thing. On Sunday afternoons, CBS only airs games where the AFC team is the away team, and FOX only airs games where the NFC team is the away team.

That was the hard and fast rule, until the most recent contract. Since 2016, the NFL can swap up to 10 games per year between CBS and Fox if it feels that one network or the other is short on games for a weekend or due to regional conflicts (such as Cincinnati and Cleveland playing at the same time, causing a conflict in Columbus). For example, last year Cincinnati @ Tennessee was on Fox in Week 10, while San Francisco @ Chicago in Week 13 was on CBS.
 
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That was the hard and fast rule, until the most recent contract. Since 2016, the NFL can swap up to 10 games per year between CBS and Fox if it feels that one network or the other is short on games for a weekend or due to regional conflicts (such as Cincinnati and Cleveland playing at the same time, causing a conflict in Columbus). For example, last year Cincinnati @ Tennessee was on Fox in Week 10, while San Francisco @ Chicago in Week 13 was on CBS.
Wow, I never noticed that before. Does that mean the initial schedule follows that rule, but then schedules get shuffled around after the fact?
 
I do not know when they pick, but they announce such swaps about 3 weeks beforehand. They usually try to make things even out, since Fox pays more as the NFC is the pre-merger NFL and is in more of the larger markets.
 
NFL rights:

CBS has the rights to games starting a 1 ET and just after 4 ET on Sunday afternoons, plus a game on Thanksgiving day. CBS games are mostly AFC games. Each CBS affiliate picks games from the list of games CBS produces. On 8 weeks CBS will have games at BOTH 1 & 4, in the other 8 at EITHER 1 or 4. In week 17 BOTH CBS and Fox will have games at both times.

Fox has the rights to games starting at 1 ET and just after 4 ET on Sunday afternoon, plus a game on Thanksgiving day. Fox games are mostly NFC games. Each Fox affiliate picks games from the list of games Fox produces. On the reverse 8 weeks from CBS, Fox will have games at BOTH 1 & 4, in the other 8 weeks at EITHER 1 or 4. In week 17, see above.

Fox also has the rights to games on Thursday night from week 4 -15, except Thanksgiving.

NBC has the rights to games on Sunday night, week 1-16, plus the first game of the year on the first Thursday, plus a game on Thanksgiving night.

ESPN has the rights to game on Monday night, week 1-16. It shows two games on the first week.

NFL Network has the rights to games on Thursday in weeks 2 & 3, and will simulcast the Fox coverage otherwise.

DirecTV has the rights to "nationalize" the Sunday afternoon games no chosen by your local Fox and CBS station. It will provide the Fox and CBS games not seen on your local affiliate.

Thus, to the OP:

- Unless you are one of the VERY rare people getting an affiliate of the same network from two different cities and NOT getting an affiliate of the other network at ALL, "both" channels are N O T both carrying the Vikings game. Either Fox is or CBS is, not both. Not ever.

- NBC Sports Chicago is an RSN for Chicago hockey, baseball and basketball. RSNs do N O T carry regular season NFL games at all. The CSR is either totally incompetent or a bald faced liar.

- In sum there is NO package you can buy from DISH that will in any way add any NFL games to what you get in the basic package.
Th rep was more than likely lying, when I had Dish I would call to request Fox Sports Oklahoma and all they could say was "Oklahoma Programming can be viewed on Fox Sports Southwest" slightly true but no, if your talking about the thunder insider, and the various archived programming from University of Oklahoma you will not get it on Dish. 90% of the time the Fox Sports Oklahoma feed on D* is showing completely different programming than FSSouthwest. You will get Live OU games and events on the sports alternate channels here and there.
 
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