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Television

Sunday Night Football Scores Primetime Record for NBC

Sunday Night Football concluded another successful season, its third as the No. 1 primetime show of the fall, with its most-watched game ever.

The Dec. 30 meeting between the Cowboys and Redskins became the most-watched and highest-rated NFL regular-season primetime game ever on NBC, the most-watched NFL regular-season primetime game on any network in 16 years and the most-watched and highest-rated NFL game of the 2012 season, according to official national data released by The Nielsen Company.

The 28-18 Redskins victory, in which Washington won the NFC East championship and knocked Dallas out of the playoffs, was seen by 30.3 million viewers, a 10 percent increase over the previous most-watched game on NBC (Cowboys-Giants, 27.6 million viewers, 2011 Week 17). It also topped the 28.7 million mark set by the Redskins-Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game on Fox, which had been the most-watched NFL game on any network in 2012. It became the most-watched regular-season primetime game on any network in 16 years, overtaking the Nov. 18, 1996 clash between the Packers and Cowboys on ABC.

The ratings victory once again cemented Sunday Night Football as primetime television’s No. 1 show. Last year, Sunday Night Football became the first sports series to secure No. 1 for the entire television season (September through May) and is on pace to achieve that milestone once again after averaging 21.4 million viewers for the 2012 season.

The season marked another successful addition to the portfolio of the NBC Sports Group, which continued its long history with the NFL by delivering more content and coverage than ever through Football Night in America, hosted by 24-time Emmy Award winner Bob Costas, and NFL Turning Point and Pro Football Talk, broadcast weekly and daily, respectively, on NBC Sports Network. NBCSports.com is also a favorite destination of fans seeking news, analysis, live streaming and behind-the-scenes access.