National Football League

Many fans won't be able to watch Harbaugh Bowl

Published Nov. 22, 2011 11:54 p.m. ET

foxsports

When families gather for Thanksgiving, many won't be able to watch the Harbaugh brothers face off in an NFL game.

Jim leads the 49ers against John's Ravens on Thursday night in the league's first matchup of head coaching siblings. The game is on NFL Network, available in just over half of all American homes with televisions.

The cable channel is in about 58 million households. That's up 500,000 from last season and a major increase from the 37.5 million in 2006 when it began airing games. NFL Network is on seven of the eight largest TV service providers in the country, but the big holdout is still Time Warner. Games are simulcast on free TV in the two teams' home markets.

San Francisco (9-1) and Baltimore (7-3) are each in first place.

Through two games, ''Thursday Night Football'' is averaging 6.1 million viewers on NFL Network. That's up 17 percent from last season, though still much lower than other NFL action. ESPN's ''Monday Night Football,'' for example, is averaging 13.2 million viewers through 11 weeks.