By Jeffrey Jolson

Don't leave us over the decade, Faith

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 12/19/11 – Christmas came early for Fox, CBS and NBC-Universal, which signed for another nine seasons for $28 billion. Yet NBC, with little NFL besides Sunday Night Football (CBS & Fox have most of the weekly games), picked up a touchdown or three. The Peacock net will not only air this year’s Super Bowl, they will air three more in the decade. The Super Bowl is the most lucrative of anything on air, earning $2 million or more for 30 second spots and providing an unparalleled promotional ground for other shows on the carrying net.

The NFL may be the ones lighting the yuletide log as that breaks down to $3.1 billion a year, or roughly a 63% increase over the $1.9 billion paid annually by CBS, NBC and Fox for NFL football under their current contracts.

While broadcasters Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth seemed happy enough to be gainfully employed until 2012, we are most happy we can hear Faith Hill’s SNF title song for another decade. It has to be re-written each week to include a line of two about the teams and stars on the current gridiron, but she delivers and after all, ‘we’ve been waiting all day for a Sunday night.”

Besides the Super Bowl in 2015, 2018 and 2021, NBC will get to air a Thanksgiving night game in 2012 and a wild card and divisional playoff games starting in 2014.

Furthermore the NFL will let NBC air a Sunday morning studio show beginning in 2014.

NBC also gained yardage with enhances flex scheduling as well as extended digital and Spanish language rights.