The Sports Xchange

Earlier this year, ESPN televised its first NFL playoff game and now the network has announced that it again will broadcast a NFL wild-card game during the 2015 season.

The game, as well as the network’s pregame show will be simulcast on ABC for the first time.

Wild-Card Weekend is Jan. 9-10.

The numbers show that when ESPN broadcast the Carolina Panthers-Arizona Cardinals playoff game this past postseason, it was the ninth most-viewed telecast in cable TV history.

Simulcasting the wild-card game is an attempt to maximize the NFL audience across the two networks.

“Our first wild card playoff game was one of ESPN’s highest-rated and most-watched events ever,” ESPN president John Skipper said. “By leveraging the broadcast platform we have on ABC, the upcoming wild card will rank among the most-watched programs of the year and we will reach even more fans during the NFL postseason.”

The game will be ABC’s first NFL game in 10 years, since it aired Super Bowl XL on Feb. 5, 2006.

ESPN said its “Monday Night Football” team of Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and Lisa Salters are scheduled to work the game.

ESPN and ABC are both by Disney.