Question: why are afc games being shown on fox

title: National Football League on television
text: Finally , sideline reporters are restricted as to whom they can speak to and when ( usually a head coach at halftime , and one or two players before and after the game ends ) . Information on injured players or rules interpretations are relayed from NFL off - field officials to the TV producers in the truck , who then pass it along to the sideline reporters or booth announcers . Thus , CBS opted in 2006 to no longer use sideline reporters except for some playoff games . ESPN followed suit by reducing the roles of their sideline reporters in 2008 . Fox hired former NFL officiating director Mike Pereira in 2010 , who relays rules interpretations from Los Angeles to the games that network covers , leaving their sideline reporters able to focus less on that role . Likewise , CBS hired retired referee Mike Carey in 2014 in the same role from New York on Sundays and the NFL Network in Culver City during Thursday Night Football games , though he departed the network after the 2015 season .