Troops stationed overseas, from Afghanistan to Japan, depend on American Forces Network to watch NFL and MLB games during deployments to take their minds off their stressful jobs. But most AFN channels are now off the air due to the government shutdown.
According to the AFN website, only AFN News and AFN Radio will be broadcast during the government shutdown. The channels that air sports, movies, and television shows like "Homeland" or "The Sopranos" are off the air.
AFN is doing its best to help troops and their families overseas get their sports fix, as posted on the AFN Afghanistan Facebook page:
Because of mandatory staff reductions at the AFN Broadcast Center, mandated by the Government shutdown, AFN will reduce TV to a single channel (News) but will continue to provide all radio services via satellite with some schedule modifications.
AFN Radio will be carrying some football games live on The Voice.
AFN News will have a modified schedule to include some ESPN Sports Center reports.
