WWAY and ABC to air two NFL wild-card games in January

NEW YORK (AP) – ESPN’s NFL wild-card game will also air on ABC this season, with the league looking to expand the audience a year after it televised a playoff matchup on cable for the first time.

The networks said Tuesday that the same broadcast will be shown on partners ESPN and ABC in January.

ESPN added a wild-card game last season under the NFL’s new TV deals. As with “Monday Night Football,” simulcasts aired on local channels in the two teams’ home markets.

Now anyone with a TV will be able to watch. ESPN is in about 81 percent of U.S. homes with televisions.

Last season’s wild-card matchup between Carolina and Arizona on ESPN averaged nearly 21.7 viewers, down 21 percent from the same time slot on NBC a year earlier for a far more dramatic game between the Colts and Chiefs.

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