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[04/22/14 - 08:03 AM] ESPN to Televise Its First NFL Playoff Game - NFL Wild Card Game to Air in January 2015 ESPN's "MNF" team of Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and sideline reporter Lisa Salters will call the Wild Card game, as well as the 2015 NFL Pro Bowl. |
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ESPN to Televise Its First NFL Playoff Game
NFL Wild Card Game to Air in January 2015
The National Football League announced today that ESPN will televise a Wild Card playoff game during the 2014 season, the first NFL playoff game in the company's 35-year history. The game will air during the Wild Card Playoff Weekend in January 2015.
The NFL and ESPN reached a new eight-year extension in 2011 for Monday Night Football and broad studio, multimedia and international rights. The agreement - which began this spring and extends through the 2021 NFL season - provides the NFL with an option to air a postseason Wild Card playoff game on ESPN, which the NFL has opted to exercise this season.
"We're thrilled to televise our first Wild Card playoff game and we thank the NFL for the opportunity," said ESPN President John Skipper. "This game will be among the highest-rated programs of the year on cable and it is compelling content that will help us better serve football fans during the postseason."
ESPN's MNF team of Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and sideline reporter Lisa Salters will call the Wild Card game, as well as the 2015 NFL Pro Bowl (Jan. 25, 2015) at University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona, which returns to ESPN this season as part of the company's new rights agreement.
Similar to regular-season MNF games, ESPN's Wild Card telecast will be simulcast on over the air stations in the primary markets of the participating teams; it will also be available via WatchESPN for fans who subscribe to an affiliated provider.
Notable ESPN NFL Milestones:
1980: ESPN televises the NFL Draft for the first time
1985: ESPN launches the NFL GameDay studio show (now Sunday NFL Countdown)
1987: ESPN televises NFL games for the first time - a late-season package of Sunday night games
1998: ESPN begins its first full season of Sunday Night Football
2006: ESPN televises its first Monday Night Football game (after the series' first 36 seasons on ABC)
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[05/21/26 - 07:30 AM] "Jackass" Returns to Paramount+ Seasons 1-3 return to Paramount+ today in restored original versions - bringing fans closer than ever to the episodes as they first aired, or were originally intended to air, by Johnny Knoxville and the original creative team.
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[05/21/26 - 07:01 AM] NBC Sports' 2026 SuperMotocross Coverage Delivers Viewership Gains and Milestones The seven races featured on NBC and Peacock averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 468,000 viewers on NBC and Peacock, up 8% vs. 2025.
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[05/21/26 - 07:00 AM] Presenters Announced for "The 52nd American Music Awards," Monday, May 25 on CBS Alysa Liu, Anthony Ramos, EJAE, Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias, Hannah Berner, Hilary Duff, Jason Derulo, John Legend, Lisa Rinna, Ludacris, Mariah the Scientist, Matt Rife, Megan Stalter and Paul W. Downs, Melanie Martinez, Nikki Glaser, Paula Abdul, REI AMI, Russell Dickerson and more will present.
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[05/21/26 - 06:30 AM] Don't Answer the Phone. "Scream 7" Slashes Its Way to Paramount+ on May 28 When a new Ghostface killer emerges in the quiet town where Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has built a new life, her darkest fears are realized as her daughter (Isabel May) becomes the next target.
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[05/21/26 - 06:01 AM] Video: "Avatar: The Last Airbender" Season 2 - Official Trailer - Netflix To end the war, Aang must master earthbending - but in the Earth Kingdom, politics, secrets and hidden alliances are a battlefield of their own.
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[05/21/26 - 04:52 AM] "23 000 Lives" Celebrates Its World Premiere at the Munich Film Festival The film tells the true story of a group of young people who wanted to change things.
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[05/21/26 - 04:31 AM] iHeartMedia and Netflix Deepen Partnership with Daily Live Video Stream of Nationally Syndicated Hit Radio Show "The Breakfast Club with Charlamagne tha God, DJ Envy and Jess Hilarious" Beginning June 1, "The Breakfast Club" will air simultaneously as a live video show on Netflix each weekday, giving members nearly three hours of real-time access to the show's unfiltered conversations, headline-driving interviews, and cultural commentary as it happens.
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[05/20/26 - 10:01 PM] Video: Netflix Releases Main Trailer for Thai Legal Drama "The Evil Lawyer" The searing legal drama cracks open Thailand's justice system - and asks what it really takes to fight for the truth when the system is broken, and the odds are stacked against you.
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[05/20/26 - 03:05 PM] NBC and Peacock Deliver the Most-Watched Western Conference Finals Game 1 Ever for Monday's Spurs-Thunder Double Overtime Thriller Coverage peaked with 12.0 million viewers from 11:30-11:43 p.m. ET for the second overtime and game's conclusion.
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[05/20/26 - 03:04 PM] ESPN Aired Its Most Viewed 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round of the Current Rights Deal Collectively all 11 Second Round games, with nine airing on ESPN and two on ABC, delivered 2.2 million viewers, up 76% year-over-year.
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[05/20/26 - 12:02 PM] "A Woman of Substance": Brenda Blethyn Limited Series Marks BritBox's Next Prestige Period Drama Other June premieres include new seasons of "Beyond Paradise" and "Trigger Point."
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[05/20/26 - 11:01 AM] Video: HBO Releases Official Trailer for Original Film "Miss You, Love You," Debuting May 29 A blunt, grieving widow, Diane Patterson (Allison Janney) is forced to plan her husband's funeral with a total stranger: her estranged son's assistant, Jamie Simms (Andrew Rannells).
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[05/20/26 - 11:01 AM] Great American Media Announces New Original, Unscripted Series, "Mark vs. The Mountain," Premiering June 11 on Great American Pure Flix Meteorologist and former New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Mark Ronchetti, alongside his wife, interior designer, Krysty Ronchetti, star in the new unscripted series.
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[05/20/26 - 11:00 AM] FOX Entertainment Studios Strikes Multi-Year, First-Look Deal with Emmy Award-Winning Comedian, Actor and Producer JB Smoove Under the partnership, Smoove will serve as executive producer and creative collaborator on an unscripted slate spanning a range of formats and genres.
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[05/20/26 - 10:50 AM] The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Emmy-Nominated Docuseries, "Raise The Flags", Makes Its Linear Premiere on NFL Network May 25-29 The series delivers a sweeping portrait of the Buccaneers organization - chronicling its rise from humble beginnings to championship glory in the most comprehensive account of franchise history ever produced.
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