Super Bowl XLIV has become the most-watched TV event ever in the U.S. and the biggest NFL championship game for CTV. The monster final that saw underdog New Orleans Saints defeat the high-flying Indianapolis Colts 31-17 delivered a record six million viewers for CTV, making it the most-watched event on the broadcaster since it began keeping track in 1994. The first Super Bowl appearance and win for the Saints nabbed an additional 650,000 viewers on RDS. (All numbers 2+.)

CTV says the Feb. 7 game was the second most-watched event on Canuck television – thanks in part to BBM’s Portable People Meters – with the top audience belonging to CBC for the gold medal hockey game at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. The Super Bowl peaked at eight million viewers in the final minutes of play.

In the U.S., an estimated 106.5 million viewers watched on CBS, surpassing the 1983 finale of M*A*S*H to become the highest-rated program in television history, according to the Associated Press.

The results came as CTV announced it has signed a new four-year deal with the National Football League, extending its broadcast partnership through to 2013. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Included in the deal are NFL regular season Sunday early games, all playoff games, and the Super Bowl. CTV scooped NFL rights and the Super Bowl from rival Global in 2007.