Fox CEO James Murdoch doesn't believe that TV ratings for the NFL are down because of national anthem protests.

Murdoch said ratings are down because there are too many football games on TV.

Speaking at the Paley International Council Summit in New York, Murdoch said that there is an “overproliferation” of games, particularly as the league expanded Thursday Night Football, and that the ratings are "soft."

Overall, ratings for NFL games are down 5%, with only Monday Night Football on ESPN seeing an increase. According to Sports Business Journal, MNF is up 6% compared with the same point last year.

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“There’s a question mark for the NFL, which is just to think hard about how they’re licensing," Murdoch said in his keynote address. "So I do think the proliferation of Thursday availability, and the proliferation of football generally, does mean that you’re asking a lot from customers to watch Thursday.

"And then they watch a lot more college football games on Saturdays, and then on Sundays, and then on Monday Night Football, etc. It’s a lot. So I do think that preserving the scarcity value of those events and that audience is something that is worth thinking about."

CNN is reporting, citing information from Nielsen, that while NFL ratings are down, it might be because of a trend in TV viewership. According to the report, NBC regular prime-time audience is down 4%, CBS is down 6%, ABC is down 11%, and Fox is down 20% through the first month of the new season.

Sports Business Journal reported that since the fall TV season opened on Sept. 25, NFL game viewership is 2.5 times bigger than broadcast prime-time viewership. And, 17 of the top 20 shows that have aired since the start of football season are football game coverage. Also, according to Standard Media Index, money spent on advertising during NFL games increased by 2% in September.

So, the bad news about NFL TV ratings might not be as bad as it appears.

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