Nielsen: ‘American Idol’ and football give Fox a winning score in prime-time viewers last week

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Seattle Seahawks\' Richard Sherman holds up the George Halas Trophy after the NFL football NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014, in Seattle. The Seahawks won 23-17 to advance to Super Bowl XLVIII. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Nielsen says football and “American Idol” have carried the Fox network to the top of last week’s ratings.

Fox’s coverage of the NFC championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers drew an enormous 56 million viewers to claim the week’s top slot.

The two-night season return of “Idol” ranked fifth and sixth for the week.

Overall in prime time, Fox won with an average of 17.2 million viewers. Runner-up CBS had 8.4 million, followed by ABC and NBC.

The week’s highest-rated cable networks were Disney, USA and History.

NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts, followed by ABC’s “World News” and the “CBS Evening News.”

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