In addition to the Week 2 and Week 3 games they will now air Weeks 4-16 on ABC marking it the first time since 2005 MNF will be on ABC full time. This is all due to the strikes in Hollywood where they are trying to find content to put on the networks

ABC will simulcast ‘Monday Night Football’ all season due to WGA, SAG-AFTRA strikes (https://awfulannouncing.com/abc/monday-night-football-simulcast-espn-wga-sag-aftra-strike.html)

By Joe Lucia on 09/18/2023

Due to the pair of strikes ongoing in Hollywood, ABC is adding Monday Night Football to its primetime schedule all season.

Per Variety (https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/disney-monday-night-football-abc-simulcast-writers-strike-1235726385/), an extra ten (https://www.radiodiscussions.com/threads/abc-will-air-an-additional-10-monday-night-football-games-because-of-writers-and-actors-strikes.766904/) Monday Night Football games will be simulcast (https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/16lyo6f/monday_night_football_books_fullseason_run_on_abc/) on ABC this season due to (https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/16m7xqs/profootballtalk_abc_will_air_monday_night/) the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes (https://officialfan.proboards.com/thread/626530/2023-thread-hackett-aaron-rodgers?page=54). ABC is in need of more content to fill out its schedule for the fall, and MNF, previously scheduled for just one simulcast from Weeks 4-13 of the season, easily fits the bill.

Variety reports this is a one season deal, and much of ABC’s other programming is being shifted to other days to make room for MNF on the schedule.

The football stratagem is seen as a one-time-only maneuver made due to extraordinary circumstances. ABC, like its rivals, will have fewer scripted originals this fall due to the strikes and live sports have proven, perhaps, to be the one format still able to lure an attractive, large audience all watching content simultaneously — a dynamic still craved by advertisers and distributors.

ABC has already recalibrated most of its fall schedule, largely to accomodate a handful of “MNF” simulcasts that were already planned. On Mondays, “DWTS” was to have been paired with “The Golden Bachelor,” while Celebrity Jeopardy” and “Bachelor in Paradise” were originally slated to air back-to-back on Tuesdays. Now, “The Golden Bachelor” and “Bachelor in Paradise” will air on Thursdays starting Sept. 28.

The added games take place in Weeks 4-10, 12, 13, and 15. ABC was already scheduled to simulcast the Week 11 Super Bowl rematch between the Eagles and Chiefs, and Weeks 3 and 14 will feature a doubleheader with one game airing on ESPN and one airing on ABC. Week 16’s Christmas Day game between the Ravens and 49ers was already scheduled to air on ABC, and the single Week 17 game, both Week 18 games, and both playoff games will air on both ESPN and ABC.

After record-shattering viewership (https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/bills-jets-sets-espn-mnf-viewership-record.html) in Week 1, which was simulcast on ESPN and ABC and also had a ManningCast on ESPN2, the NFL and Disney are probably thrilled with the opportunity to simulcast MNF all season and bring in larger audiences.

In addition to the Week 2 and Week 3 games they will now air Weeks 4-16 on ABC marking it the first time since 2005 MNF will be on ABC full time. This is all due to the strikes in Hollywood where they are trying to find content to put on the networks

These are the additional games (https://www.radiodiscussions.com/threads/abc-will-air-an-additional-10-monday-night-football-games-because-of-writers-and-actors-strikes.766904/) that will be on:

Seahawks at Giants (October 2)
Packers at Raiders (October 9)
Cowboys at Chargers (October 16)
49ers at Vikings (October 23)
Raiders at Lions (October 30)
Chargers at Jets (November 6)
Broncos at Bills (November 13)
Bears at Vikings (November 27)
Bengals at Jaguars (December 4)
Chiefs at Patriots (December 18)

Look forward to watch most of MNF games on ABC that night

How did ABC lose “Monday Night Football” to begin with? MNF was probably that network’s highest rated program. Did ESPN outbid them? Seems sort of crappy that now people had to now pay money to a cable provider instead of watching on a free network.

Network broadcasters ‘furious’ with NFL for allowing ESPN/ABC ‘MNF’ simulcast (https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/abc-monday-night-football-simulcast-furious-ad-rates.html)

"Every single one of the broadcast networks is lobbying the NFL, saying 'This simulcast on ABC, it better be a one-year deal.'"

As the Hollywood strikes by the Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild reached a fever pitch in September, Disney was able to get permission from the NFL to simulcast most of ESPN’s Monday Night Football schedule onto ABC affiliates as a way to shore up their evening programming.

That decision paid off for Disney and ABC, but all of the other networks aren’t too happy about it.

“Most of the broadcasters are ‘furious….at the NFL for simulcasting Monday Night Football on ABC,” said Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand on the new episode of The Marchand & Ourand Sports Media Podcast (https://open.spotify.com/episode/4sQS8g8wMVoHqBE6iuO6sX?si=5-RzVYllQhex9oaB8bN1sA). “Because it’s on ABC, they’re getting a bigger audience and now everybody’s running around trying to sell ads in what they call the scatter market.”

The scatter market is an advertising term that refers to ad inventory that was not purchased during Upfronts, which didn’t exist for ABC because, at the time, they didn’t have the broadcast rights to MNF. Normally, TV networks are able to sell ads on NFL games at a higher rate in the scatter market. However, perhaps due to ABC’s MNF inventory and Prime Video’s strong TNF ratings (https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/youtube-tv-sunday-ticket-prime-thursday-night-football-viewership-subscriptions.html), those scatter market ads are selling for the same rates as Upfront ads, if not for lower rates. And networks like CBS and Fox are pissed.

“Every single one of the broadcast networks is lobbying the NFL, saying ‘This simulcast on ABC, it better be a one-year deal,'” added Ourand.

If this animus sounds familiar, it’s because cable companies were “furious” in September (https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/monday-night-football-abc-simulcast-cable.html) with the news of the simulcast as well, saying that Disney was “double-dipping” by making companies pay for ESPN and ABC when they are airing the same programming.

The writer’s strike has since ended but SAG remains on strike with no idea of when it might end. Chances are, the dust will settle by this time next football season. Either way, the NFL may have some very angry billion-dollar broadcasting partners on its hands if they don’t think ahead about the impacts of a similar plan for next year.

ABC expected to scale back MNF simulcasts this season (https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2024/05/abc-monday-night-football-simulcasts-reduction-this-season/)

NFL gives ABC six extra Monday Night Football games (https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/41738413/abc-air-6-more-monday-night-football-games)

ABC will simulcast six more ESPN "Monday Night Football" games, including Monday's AFC East matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the New ...

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Looking back on the history of Monday Night Football.