Fox' Shanks Pleased With Improved Slate Of "TNF" Games

This is the first year that Fox will carry the NFL “TNF” games, and Fox Sports President Eric Shanks is enthused by the schedule, which he described as “greatly improved.” Shanks: “We had two goals with our schedule -- improve the quality of ‘Thursday Night Football,’ and maintain the strength of the (Sunday) 4:25 games. The NFL worked hard to make that happen.” Fox Sports told the NFL that it was willing to move some of its late Sunday games to "TNF" in order to make the schedule stronger. Shanks pointed to Fox’ first "TNF" game -- Vikings-Rams -- as an example of the type of game that could anchor its Sunday national window time slot. Shanks said this strategy did not hurt that 4:25pm ET schedule. He said, “We look at Fox’ NFL schedule in total, not as a distinct Thursday and a distinct Sunday schedule. We have balance across the board.”

For more on the NFL TV slate for the '18 season, see today's issue of THE DAILY.