NFL Network was launched on November 4, 2003, only eight months after the owners of the league's 32 teams voted unanimously to approve its formation. The league invested $100 million to fund the network's operations. NFL Films, which produces commercials, television programs and feature films for the NFL, is a key supplier of NFL Network's programming, with more than 4,000 hours of footage available in its library. As a result, much of the network's highlights and recaps feature NFL Films' trademark style of slow motion game action, sounds of the game, and sideline conversations between players and/or team staff. The original NFL Network logo, used from 2003 to 2008. The second NFL Network logo, used from 2008 to 2012. Beginning with the 2006 season, the network began to broadcast eight regular season NFL games during Thursday prime time, branded as Thursday Night Football. In addition to live games, the network has provided coverage of the NFL Draft since 2006; its coverage competes with that provided by ESPN and ESPN2. At the 2008 NFL Draft, NFL Network unveiled a revised logo that was updated to match the revised NFL logo introduced around the same time. Unlike the updated logo for the league, the NFL Network's logo included subtle changes such as using a darker shade of blue and changing the "NFL" lettering to match that of the new league logo. During the 2012 NFL Draft, the network debuted an overhauled logo resembling that used by sister network NFL Red Zone; the network also began to play down the "HD" branding used on-air, as the vast majority of cable providers currently carrying NFL Network transmit the channel's standard definition feed as a downscaled letterboxed version of the high definition feed. The logo underwent another minor change during the 2015 NFL Draft, when as part of the league's year-long celebration of Super Bowl 50, the logo took a gold hue in line with the league celebrating the game's golden anniversary. Prior to the 2012 season, the NFL Network aired live primetime games on Thursdays beginning in mid-November. Starting with the 2012 season, the network began televising one live Thursday night game each week from Weeks 2 through 15 (excluding Thanksgiving Day), as well as one live Saturday night game during Week 16. As a result of the addition of these extra games, every NFL team now appears in at least one game on either NFL Network's Thursday Night Football, a Thanksgiving Day game or in the season-opening kickoff game each season (the season opener falls on the Thursday prior to Week 1 and is televised on NBC, while the Thanksgiving Day tripleheader games air on CBS, Fox and NBC). As with the games broadcast by ESPN's Monday Night Football, the NFL Network telecasts are also aired on a designated broadcast television station in the primary markets of the participating teams, although stations in the home team's market only carry it if the televised game sells out all remaining available tickets 72 hours prior to the game's start time. When Thursday Night Football premiered, veteran television announcer Bryant Gumbel served as play-by-play announcer, with former Fox and current NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth serving as color commentator for the broadcasts. Collinsworth won the Sports Emmy for best game analyst for his work on the NFL Network telecasts. Dick Vermeil replaced Collinsworth for two games in 2006; Marshall Faulk and Deion Sanders replaced Collinsworth when needed in 2007. In August 2007, the network televised the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints as NBC opted to cover that year's preseason game in China, which was later canceled. The 2007 schedule began on November 22 (Thanksgiving night), with a game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Gumbel and Collinsworth returned as the booth announcers. Bob Papa, also the radio voice of the New York Giants on local sports talk station WFAN, announced the games starting in 2008. Former Detroit Lions general manager Matt Millen was named Collinsworth's replacement at the same time. Former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann joined Papa and Millen in the booth for the 2010-11 season. In May 2011, NFL Network announced that Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock would serve as the announcers for that season's game broadcasts. On February 5, 2014, in a partnership with CBS Sports, CBS announced that it would air Thursday night NFL games in simulcast with NFL Live Stream during weeks 2 through 8 and a Saturday doubleheader game during Week 16 of the 2014 regular season. The remainder of the games will air on NFL Network, and will be simulcast on broadcast television stations in the primary markets of the participating teams. NFL Network hosts will still handle duties for pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage; however, Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, who host CBS's NFL coverage, will handle commentary for the games and all of the games in the package will be produced by CBS Sports. The first game to be simulcast on CBS and NFL Network will air on September 11, 2014, with a Thursday primetime game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens. The NFL Network-televised games are also broadcast on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and usually by Sportsnet in Canada, with an audio simulcast presented on syndicated radio service Westwood One in the United States and Canada.
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