TORONTO – CTV and Rogers today announced new three-year television deals with the National Football League beginning next season, shutting out CanWest Global, which has carried American football for decades.
Financial details of both agreements, which were apparently done separately, were not disclosed.
Under terms of the CTV deal, the broadcaster gets the Canadian broadcast rights for the NFL regular season Sunday early afternoon game package (1 p.m. ET), every NFL playoff game, and for the first time ever, the Super Bowl (which last year was watched by 3.4 million Canadians). The deal covers the 2007, 2008 and 2009 NFL seasons and every game will be delivered in high definition.
This will also mark the first time CTV has carried the NFL.
"CTV is committed to growing an exciting partnership with the National Football League, " said CTV president Rick Brace. "The NFL and its crown jewel, the Super Bowl, represent a strategic fit for CTV."
"We are very pleased to extend our partnership with the CTV family as they have been terrific programmers for us for many years," said Charles White, NFL vice-president of international media.
Today’s announcement "delivers a new-look and potent lineup for CTV Sunday afternoons," adds the CTV press release. "Securing a strong appointment brand like the NFL is in keeping with our program strategy of generating continued upward momentum across the entire CTV schedule," said Susanne Boyce, CTV president of programming and chair of the CTV Media Group.
And, while Global issued a release saying the terms proposed to it by the NFL weren’t "economically sound", the number two network will surely feel the loss when it comes to the promotion of its other shows, which ran relentlessly during NFL broadcasts. Even if you weren’t a fan of Prison Break or other Global shows, if you were a football aficionado, you sure knew what times they were on.
Losing the NFL, said CanWest MediaWorks senior vice-president of programming and production Barbara Williams, "provides us with the opportunity to strengthen our prime time schedules by reinvesting these programming dollars in the acquisition and production of prime time content, to maximize the impact and return on investment for CanWest and our stakeholders."
Rogers properties, meanwhile, will carry 4 p.m. Sunday games on Sportsnet and OMNI.2, meaning viewers will get the chance to see two different games as the cable channel and the broadcaster will air different games.
"This is a huge step forward for our network," said Sportsnet president Doug Beeforth, in the company’s release. "There is no sport in North America with a stronger following than the NFL, particularly among young people."
“Omni is delighted to bring the NFL back to our stations,” added Leslie Sole, CEO, Rogers Media Television.
The CTV release also said that the company will build its multi-platform exposure if its new anchor programming throughout its family of networks and services, including cross-promotional support and coverage on TSN and in the Globe and Mail
CTV’s NFL rights package complements the suite of NFL programming aired by its sports network, TSN (which has Thursday Night, Sunday Night and Monday Night Football).
The network will officially welcome the NFL to its daytime and prime time schedule on June 4 when network executives present the fall 2007 lineup to the advertising community.
www.ctv.ca
www.sportsnet.ca
www.nfl.com
