On October 1, 1950, WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia broadcast[14] Notre Dame's game against the North Carolina Tar Heels from South Bend, Indiana via a coaxial cable.

[17] However, by the second half of the 1980s,[18] Notre Dame became one of the most valuable and recognizable teams on national television and was unhappy with deals signed by the CFA[19] that emphasized regional games.

[20][17] In 1986, Notre Dame joined eight independent schools in the East coast in a secondary rights deal with Jefferson-Pilot Communications.

[21] In the event that CBS or ESPN passed on airing that week's Notre Dame game, then Jefferson-Pilot's independent stations could broadcast it throughout the country.

In February 1990, Notre Dame broke away from the CFA and signed a five-year broadcasting contract with NBC beginning in the 1991 season, worth $38 million.

A November 2010 matchup against Army at Yankee Stadium, which NBC also televised, was also a Notre Dame home game, despite West Point's proximity to the Tri-State area.

Ratings for NBC's Notre Dame game telecasts slumped to historic lows during the 2011 season, coinciding with average performances of the team on the football field over the past several years.

Previously via NBC's rights deal, sister cable network Universal HD aired same-week reruns of Notre Dame home games until NBCUniversal's January 2011 merger with Comcast.

[33] On September 8, 2016, NBC announced that all Notre Dame home games during the 2016 season would be broadcast in 4K ultra-high-definition television exclusively on DirecTV.

For Notre Dame's November 23, 2019, senior day game against Boston College, the school's broadcasting arm Fighting Irish Media produced an alternate broadcast for NBCSN known as the "Notre Dame Fan Feed", which carried the team radio broadcast with Paul Burmeister and Ryan Harris, segments featuring a studio panel hosted by Ahmed Fareed, Jessica Smetana, Darius Walker, and Daelin Hayes, and on-field reports by Tony Simeone that highlighted Notre Dame traditions and fans.

[35] Notre Dame's September 19, 2020, game against South Florida was moved to USA Network due to conflicts with the 2020 U.S. Open on NBC.

This was despite part of the game being pre-empted to USA Network due to coverage of a primetime address by Joe Biden, winner of the 2020 United States presidential election.