The National Football League, together with CTV, have announced a four-year extension of its broadcast partnership giving CTV exclusive Canadian broadcast rights to the NFL championship game through to Super Bowl XLVIII. The deal comes on the heels of last night’s Super Bowl XLIV broadcast and at the end of an incredibly successful year for the NFL on Canadian television, with record-setting playoff audiences and CTV’s most-watched regular season audience ever.
Under terms of the deal, CTV remains the exclusive home in Canada for:
* NFL regular season Sunday early afternoon game package (1 p.m. ET)
* All NFL playoff games, including the PRO BOWL
* The SUPER BOWL, the most-watched single sporting event in North America.
The deal covers 2010 through 2013 NFL seasons. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
“The National Football League’s broadcast package has been a perfect fit on the CTV schedule for the past three years and we are thrilled to be able to extend our partnership with a brand that defines excellence,” said Rick Brace, President, Revenue, Business Planning and Sports, CTV Inc. “As we saw last night, the SUPER BOWL is one of those rare television events that transcends sports and popular culture. We are looking forward to bringing fans and advertisers the best of the NFL for the next four years.”
“CTV has been a tremendous partner over the past three years delivering outstanding audiences and extensive promotion for the NFL across its family of broadcast properties,” said Dan Quinn, Managing Director, National Football League – Canada. “We look forward to continuing to work with CTV and giving fans across Canada all of the excitement that surrounds NFL football and the SUPER BOWL.”
CTV’s partnership with the NFL began in 2007. Over the past three years, NFL regular season and playoff audiences on CTV have increased substantially with the 2009 regular season registering an average audience 74% higher than the previous year.
Brace also confirmed that CTV Inc. will continue to provide unmatched multi-platform exposure of its NFL slate through promotion inside CTV’s top-ranked line up and throughout its family of specialty networks and services, including cross-promotional support and coverage on TSN, Canada’s most-watched sports network.
CTV’s NFL rights package complements TSN’s NFL broadcast package that includes exclusive Canadian coverage of Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football.
