How I watched ESPN’s coverage of Monday Night Football for free

Those of you that know me well know that I am a die hard Green Bay Packers fan. I have to be. I was born in Wisconsin and lived there for 22 years. But since moving to Indiana I have slowly jumped on the Indianapolis Colts bandwagon. Partly because it's fun to be a part of the excitement here and partly because it's awe inspiring to watch Peyton Manning's mastery of the game.

Make no mistake about it though, Green Bay is still my team and always will be. If you need any further proof, just ask my friends here how much they liked me after I taunted them for days after the Packers thumped the Colts in a 34-14 beat-down two weeks ago.

But aside from the few times where the Packers and Colts match up head to head I enjoy watching the Colts on television. I was particularly looking forward to the Colts' matchup last Monday against unbeaten Tennessee until I realized the game was on ESPN, a channel I no longer receive since I dropped satellite and switched to an all antenna television setup.

No way to watch the game, right?

This is why I was in no hurry to get home after participating in an open discussion on corporate blogging Monday night at the Indiana Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. Why bother, I thought. I can't see the game anyway.

Which is why I was so surprised when I came home and found my wife watching the Colts game on television. "How is that possible?" I asked her. She told me she just pulled up the guide on our TiVo, found the game and tuned in to that channel.

For a brief moment I debated whether or not ESPN could now be offering an over-the-air (OTA) broadcast. After I dismissed that thought, I pressed the Info button on my TiVo remote and discovered that the game was being broadcast on WNDY, a local independent affiliate here in Indianapolis. From what I have since gathered, WNDY is a sister station to WISHTV, our local CBS affiliate.

Don't ask questions, just enjoy the game

I'm still not sure I understand why the game was broadcast on WNDY other than that WNDY felt sorry for people like me without cable or satellite that couldn't watch their local NFL team and purchased the rights from ESPN to broadcast the game over-the-air.

Ultimately, I don't care how it happened. I got to watch the game, in full digital high definition, for free. I was thrilled.

Too bad the final score of the game wasn't as thrilling.