On May 23, 1994, New World signed a long-term affiliation agreement with Fox to switch thirteen television stations—five that New World already owned and eight that the company was in the process of acquiring through separate deals with Great American Communications and Argyle Television Holdings (which New World purchased one week later in a purchase). The stations participating in the arrangement, which were all connected with one of the three major broadcast networks (CBS, ABC, and NBC), would become Fox affiliates whenever their respective affiliation contracts with their current network partners ended. The National Football League (NFL) awarded Fox the rights to the National Football Conference (NFC) television package on December 18, 1993, and the conference's broadcast television rights transferred to the network with the 1994 NFL season, ending a 38-year connection with CBS.