Fox has locked up rights to Thursday Night Football for five years, stealing the ball from NBC and CBS and breaking with the NFL’s previous one-year-at-a-time approach to the night’s prime-time rights. For the broadcast network, the games will be a critical piece of programming as it prepares for life without its studio arm, which is set to migrate to Disney under the terms of the companies’ pending merger. This fall, Fox will air 11 games, from the fourth through the 15th weeks of the NFL season, with simulcasts on the NFL Network and Fox Deportes in Spanish. The NFL...