For the first time, the most-watched sporting event in North America will air on CTV, as the network announced Tuesday it has secured a three-year broadcast deal with the National Football League that includes ratings powerhouse the Super Bowl.

CTV will carry Sunday 1 p.m. ET games and playoffs, while Rogers Sportsnet acquired rights to the 4 p.m. ET games for the upcoming 2007, 2008 and 2009 seasons. All games will be broadcast in high-definition.

‘The NFL and its crown jewel, the Super Bowl, represent a strategic fit for CTV and we look forward to delivering all the exhilaration beginning September, 2007,’ said CTV president Rick Brace in a release.

Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Rogers Sportsnet and Rogers OMNI Television have also signed a three-year agreement with the NFL to broadcast the Sunday games starting with this season’s opener on Sept. 9. Sportsnet already broadcasts the NFL Thanksgiving Day games and the Pro Bowl.

The deal leaves longtime NFL caster Global Television out in the cold. Within minutes of the announcement, its parent CanWest Mediaworks issued a press release about the recent negotiations.

‘At the end of the day, however, the business reality presented wasn’t one that we deemed economically sound in the long term for our networks or our advertising partners,’ said programming boss Barbara Williams, adding that the broadcaster will be ‘reinvesting these programming dollars in the acquisition and production of primetime content.’

The deal is the latest in a string of sports wins for CTV and its sister TSN, which made gains during the recent NHL talks, sealed a six-year deal with the Canadian Curling Association for exclusive broadcast rights to all Season of Champions curling events beginning in 2008, and scooped the 2010 and 2012 Olympics rights from CBC.

TSN will continue to carry NFL regular season games this fall as part of its 42-game broadcast package, including coverage of Sunday and Monday Night Football and the Thursday/Saturday package.

Last year’s Super Bowl, in which the Indianapolis Colts defeated the Chicago Bears 29-17, generated 3.4 million viewers in Canada.