NFL Finds New Canadian Home

TORONTO, May 23: Coverage of the National Football League
(NFL) in Canada is moving from CanWest MediaWorks to CTV as part of a
three-year deal that also includes exclusive rights to the Super Bowl.

CTV has secured the exclusive Canadian broadcast rights for
the NFL regular season Sunday early afternoon game package, every NFL Playoff
game and, for the first time ever, the Super Bowl. The deal covers the upcoming
2007, 2008 and 2009 NFL seasons. CTV has confirmed plans to deliver every NFL
telecast in HD. “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’s president of programming and
chair of the CTV Media Group. 


CTV’s NFL rights package complements the suite of NFL rights
held by TSN, also owned by CTVglobemedia. This fall, TSN will continue to
deliver NFL regular season games as part of its 42-game broadcast package,
including exclusive Canadian coverage of Sunday and Monday Night Football and
the Thursday/Saturday package.

In announcing that CanWest would no longer be home to the
NFL, Barbara Williams, the senior VP of programming and production, said: “The
business reality presented wasn't one that we deemed economically sound in the
long term for our networks, or our advertising partners. As a result, NFL
coverage will no longer be broadcast on CanWest networks in Canada. This
provides us with the opportunity to strengthen our prime-time schedules by
reinvesting these programming dollars in the acquisition and production of
primetime content, to maximize the impact and return on investment for CanWest
and our stakeholders."