I vividly recall the AFL games being on channel four, which was NBC at that time, and the NFL games being on CBS (channel 5). This was pre-merger, so there were four games every Sunday afternoon: two early games and two late games, going head-to-head. That meant the Patriots and Giants were usually on at the same time, resulting in those family battles for the tv set that you mentioned. (For those of you who were not around in the sixties, households had only one television set back then). Our work-around was for us to convince one of the neighborhood's dads to watch at another neighbor's house, convincing him he would have more fun watching the game with another parent. That left an open tv on the street for us kids to watch the Patriots. Curt Gowdy (who also broadcast the Red Sox games back then) usually called the play-by-play on television for the Patriots' games.
The late afternoon game almost always involved the Chiefs, Raiders or Chargers (Denver wasn't very good then), and those were always thrilling games; far more exciting contests with more scoring than the NFL counterparts, with Len Dawson, Daryl Lamonica, and John Hadl throwing the ball downfield. Even many of the loyal Giant fans from the older generation would flip the channel at 4:00 to watch those games. After the merger fans were unfortunately left with the current setup that offered only two or three games on a Sunday afternoon rather than four.
**** Note: apparently the AFL was broadcast on ABC (channel 7 in Boston back then) from 1960 to 1964, and then switched to NBC in 1965. Gowdy called Super Bowl III between the Colts and Jets, and apparently made a remark about highly biased SI lead writer Tex Maule. Maule never gave AFL players or teams any credit, and with the Jets winning that game Gowdy said "I wonder if that son of a *****
Tex Maule is watching"?
For any other old fogies like myself who enjoy a bit of AFL nostalgia and history, check these out:
Remember the AFL | Tex Maule
History - Chronology, 1951-1960 | NFL.com
The American Football League: A Year-by-Year History, 1960-1969