I've seen the espn alternate channel a few times during hockey season (obviously not LAST season). But it's only going to be on if your local channel is showing the same game as what's supposed to be showing on ESPN. I'm not sure how the NFL channel works into espn alternates though. I'm assuming they workedout some kind of deal, and since my local station here on the east coast isn't going to be showing the raiders/niners I'm about 99% sure I'm not going to be seeing that game on 213 and it'll remain the black screen channel that it is almost all of the time.