“Recent Department of Defense policy guidance implementing the Pay Our Military Act has allowed the Defense Media Activity to resume American Forces Network entertainment programming. The Act authorized the Secretary of Defense to recall employees whose responsibilities contribute to the morale, well-being, capabilities and readiness of active duty service members. Over the next few days, AFN will begin phasing in its service, to include AFN|sports,” an AFN spokesperson told NBC News.

The largely civilian staff had been furloughed last week along with other government employees following Monday evening’s shutdown — but not all programs on the military’s channel disappeared.

Sports were the biggest casualty — thanks to a technical penalty. Unlike recorded programs, with pre-set breaks, a AFN technician would manually hit play for commercials during penalties, timeouts and other breaks. But along with other non-essential government employees, those technicians were also sent home.