ESPN earned an 11.0 overnight rating for last night's Cowboys-Bears "MNF" telecast, up 10% from a 10.0 overnight for Texans-Patriots in Week 14 last season. The game marked the Cowboys' latest "MNF" appearance since ESPN acquired rights to the telecast prior to the '06 season. The Cowboys' lone "MNF" appearance last season was also against the Bears in Week 4, with that game earning an 11.6 overnight. A Week 3 "MNF" matchup against the Redskins in '11 also drew an 11.9 overnight. In Dallas-Ft. Worth, last night's game delivered a 25.6 local rating (19.9 on ESPN, 5.8 on KTXD-Ind.). In Chicago, the game earned a 37.4 local rating (12.9 on ESPN, 24.5 on WLS-ABC). Rounding out the top five markets were Richmond (17.2), San Antonio (16.5) and New Orleans (16.2) (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
THE BELL TOLLS: Bell Media and the NFL yesterday announced a multiyear extension of their broadcast partnership that will see more NFL games on more Bell Media channels and platforms. The agreement brings the 4:00pm ET Sunday package to CTV and TSN for the first time, making for a full day of Sunday NFL programming on Bell Media channels. The new agreement is complementary to the existing agreement for primetime games on TSN. Bell Media next fall becomes the rightsholder for regular-season games in the Sunday 1:00pm and 4:00pm windows, Sunday night games, Monday night games, all playoff games and the Super Bowl. The new agreement also grants Bell digital media rights for the first time (Bell).
