the second most watched TV program of all time in the United States. Commercials Fox took in at least $250 million in revenue from commercial time sold for the game. One of 63 thirty-second spots among thirty-seven different advertisers cost an estimated $2.7 million (excluding production costs), up from $2.6 million in 2007. However, advertisers are usually offered discounted rates below the official one. As Super Bowl XLII fell only two days before Super Tuesday, critics and politicians foresaw the possibility that presidential candidates could attempt to buy time during the Super Bowl. However, Fox stated that it would not accept such ads, citing both equal time regulations (the FCC has additionally ruled that, despite requirements for all broadcasters to provide "reasonable" access to commercial inventory for candidates before an election or primary, candidates cannot reasonably expect to receive ad time during high-profile programs of this nature), and the fact that all of the spots had already been sold out by January 2008. However, the campaign of Democratic candidate Barack Obama did purchase local ad time in some markets. The rock band Eels announced an intent to broadcast a one-second spot during the game (consisting solely of lead singer Mark Oliver Everett saying the letter "U") to promote its compilation album "Useless Trinkets", but later announced that it had backtracked after having learned it could only purchase commercial time in 30-second blocks (and a proposal to recruit 29 other advertisers to air their own one-second ads alongside them could be harmful to viewers with photosensitive epilepsy). International Outside North America, Super Bowl XLII was distributed by the NFL and NFL International. Overall, the game was available to an estimated potential audience of one billion viewers within 223 countries and territories. However, viewing figures outside North America rose only marginally on previous years with an estimated 10 million people tuning in from outside the USA, Canada and Mexico for an overall global audience in the region of 114 million. Dick Stockton and Sterling Sharpe were the announcers for the International broadcast. United Kingdom The BBC acquired the rights in the United Kingdom. The game aired live on BBC Two, carrying the NFL International feed, ending ITV Sport's coverage, which began in 2005. The game was also subsequently available on the BBC's on demand service, iPlayer. Sky Sports broadcast the game in both standard and high definition using Fox's feed and announcers.