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NFL Monday games go to ESPN for 2006
April 19, 2005
The NFL's "Monday Night Football," a hallmark of television sports
programming since the days of Howard Cosell, is leaving ABC after 35
years for ESPN starting with the 2006 season.
The NFL's new broadcast deal also brings football back to NBC for the
first time since 1997. NBC will take over the Sunday night games
previously broadcast on ESPN and plans to use a flexible scheduling
model that ensures meaningful games will played in that slot late in the
season.
The Monday night move to basic cable, which includes an earlier start
time of 8:40 p.m., is expected to cost ESPN $1.1 billion a year over
eight years, the Associated Press and Los Angeles Times reported.
NBC will get the Sunday night package for $600 million over six years,
the AP said. The network will also get the Super Bowl in 2009 and 2012
as part of the deal, the AP said.
The NFL will continue to show all cable games on free, over-the air
television in home markets. That means that local stations will carry
ESPN's Monday night games in the cities of the teams involved.
The moves leave ABC -- which reshaped sports broadcasting by turning
football into a prime-time ratings draw with the advent of "Monday Night
Football" in 1970 -- as the only major network without the NFL.
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