The Walt Disney Company’s broadcast network ABC will simulcast a highly-anticipated match-up between the New York Jets and the San Francisco 49ers on Monday.
The National Football League (NFL) game will be one of four Monday Night Football telecasts that will simulcast between ABC and its cable sports sister network ESPN this season.
Last season, ABC offered nearly all Monday Night Football broadcasts from ESPN, except for weeks when the NFL had two “Monday Night Football” games playing at the same time. Disney executives said the decision to simulcast the games was intended to offset the loss of scripted and reality-based programming on ABC brought on by twin Hollywood strikes that ground production to a halt last summer and into the fall TV season.
With the strikes now resolved, executives affirmed plans to scale back the ABC simulcasts for the 2024 season. The network will still offer a handful of games, as well as some nationally-televised playoff matches. ABC will also host the championship Super Bowl game in 2027 and 2031 as part of its multi-year TV rights deal with the NFL, which runs through 2032.
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The simulcast Monday evening is good news for millions of subscribers of DirecTV’s satellite and streaming services, including DirecTV Stream, and co-owned U-Verse (formerly AT&T U-Verse). Those subscribers have been unable to access ESPN, ABC and other Disney-owned networks after an agreement to carry the channels expired on September 1, with no new deal or extension in place.
Unlike prior carriage disputes, which largely centered around fees television distributors like DirecTV are forced to pay broadcasters like Disney for the rights to make their channels available to subscribers, DirecTV is seeking more-favorable distribution terms in a new contract with Disney. Those terms include the right to sell channels through genre-based bundles, so subscribers who want sports channels do not also have to pay for entertainment and news networks.
Related: Get the latest news on the DirecTV-Disney dispute
Disney executives say those distribution terms are untenable from an economic standpoint, but have not elaborated further. DirecTV executives say those concerns are overblown, because Disney was going to use the same strategy to sell sports-inclusive channels like ESPN and ABC through Venu Sports, a streaming service Disney co-owns with Fox Corporation and the Walt Disney Company. The service was supposed to launch last month, but a legal challenge brought by streaming platform Fubo led to a temporary injunctino that has indefinitely halted its debut.
With the Week 1 game available on ABC, DirecTV and U-Verse customers will be able to watch the Jets take on the 49ers for free, as long as they can receive their local ABC station or affiliate with a conventional TV antenna. Most smart TVs include a digital tuner capable of receiving free broadcast stations.
Related: DirecTV tells customers to use Sling, Fubo for ESPN
The situation becomes more problematic next week, when the Atlanta Falcons take on the Philadelphia Eagles. That game will be exclusive to ESPN — which means, if the situation with Disney is not resolved by then, DirecTV and U-Verse customers will have to find another way to access ESPN to watch the game. The only exception will be for DirecTV and U-Verse customers in Atlanta and Philadelphia, as the NFL’s broadcast arrangement with Disney and ESPN requires at least one broadcast TV station to offer Monday Night Football games in the home markets of the teams playing each week.
Below is a list of all Monday Night Football games that are scheduled to air on ABC, including secondary games that will not be on ESPN:
- Week 1, September 9: New York Jets at San Francisco 49ers (ESPN simulcast)
- Week 3, September 23: Jacksonville Jaguars at Buffalo Bills (secondary game)
- Week 4, September 30: Seattle Seahawks at Detroit Lions (secondary game)
- Week 8, October 28: New York Giants at Pittsburgh Steelers (ESPN simulcast)
- Week 14, December 9: Cincinnati Bengals at Dallas Cowboys (ESPN simulcast)
- Week 15, December 16: Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings (secondary game)
- Week 17, December 30: Detroit Lions at San Francisco 49ers (ESPN simulcast)
Last week, DirecTV encouraged customers to use online apps Sling TV and Fubo if they want to watch ESPN and other Disney-owned networks, and offered bill credits to help partially offset the costs of those services. All Monday Night Football games that are exclusive to ABC or simulcast from ESPN are also available on Disney-owned streaming service ESPN Plus, which costs $11 per month.
