NBC, ESPN Snap Up NFL Packages

NEW YORK The National Football League has ended speculation about the fate of its Sunday night and Monday night television rights.

In an eight-year, $1.1 billion deal, ESPN will carry Monday Night Football beginning with the start of the 2006 season, and NBC will carry Sunday Night Football in a six-year deal valued at $600 million per year.

The only package left to negotiate rights for is the new Thursday-Saturday package, which is up for grabs by any of the networks, including Turner, and the NFL's own NFL Network.

In order to move its television coverage from the current Sunday night package to Monday, ESPN was asked to pony up $500 million a year more than it is now paying for Sunday night TV rights, and also $550 million more than sister broadcast network ABC is currently paying for Monday night rights. There was speculation that ABC might want to swap nights with ESPN, and take the Sunday night games, but the cost that the NFL was seeking for the combined packages was too rich for ESPN/ABC parent Walt Disney Co.

ESPN, under the new deal, which runs from 2006 through 2013, will be paying about the same amount in rights fees annually that ESPN and ABC are now paying combined. ABC decided to pass.

With ESPN paying the huge amount for the Monday night cable rights, the NFL was able to give NBC the Sunday night broadcast rights for close to the same amount ABC is now paying for the Monday night broadcast rights.

As part of its deal, NBC has also agreed to air a one-hour pre-game show. The pre-game show will air from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., with the kickoff of the game being at 8:15 p.m. And NBC gets to telecast two Super Bowls. ESPN will not air a Super Bowl as part of its deal.

Monday Night Football will conclude its 36-year run on ABC this December at the end of the upcoming regular NFL season.

The new ESPN agreement calls for 17 regular Monday night games per season with a new 8:30 p.m. telecast time and an 8:40 p.m. kickoff, plus four pre-season games. It also includes rights across a wide variety of ESPN TV holdings, including the NFL PrimeTime pre-game program; the NFL Draft, which ESPN has covered since 1980; NFL Live; NFL HD; NFL Deportes; NFL Films programming; ESPN Mobile; video games; and other platforms.

Walt Disney president and COO Bob Iger, who negotiated the deal, said, "Securing an American television institution well into the future will strengthen our core sports asset."

Iger added that despite the hefty price tag of $1.1 billion annually—ESPN and ABC are reportedly losing a combined $350 million under their current rights contracts—Disney "will continue