Report: NFL allows ESPN to simulcast Monday Night Football on ABC amid YouTube TV, Disney dispute

As the YouTube TV-Disney dispute continues, the NFL is allowing ESPN to bring Monday Night Football to more viewers. The league is letting ESPN simulcast MNF on ABC in Week 10 and Week 11, Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy reported.

ABC and ESPN have both been blacked out on YouTube TV for more than a week after Disney’s carriage deal with YouTube TV expired. The two sides continue to negotiate, and the dispute has cost YouTube TV’s roughly 10 million subscribers two weeks of college football action.

But by simulcasting Monday Night Football to ABC, subscribers have another way to watch. They can buy an antenna and watch this week’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers over the air if they cannot watch on YouTube TV.

When ESPN and the other Disney channels went dark, the service said subscribers would receive a credit if the blackout went on for an “extended period” of time. YouTube TV said Saturday if would offer a $20 credit if a deal doesn’t come together with Disney by Sunday, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported. Both sides are negotiating Saturday, hoping to find a resolution to the more than week-long blackout.

The carriage deal between Disney and YouTube TV expired Oct. 30 at 11:59 p.m. ET. However, the networks went dark at approx. 11:27 p.m. ET that night – prior to the deal’s expiration. The blackout then continued through Week 10 of the college football season, as well as Monday Night Football between the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys.

MNF saw a ratings decrease from Week 9 of the NFL season a year ago. The matchup between the Cowboys and Cardinals averaged 16.2 million viewers. That’s a roughly 20% decrease from last year’s Week 9 game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In a memo to Disney employees Friday, obtained by On3, executives indicated the blackout was likely to continue into the weekend. They said they did not know when the channels would return as negotiations continue.

“We realize this has been a challenging week, with everyone asking the same question as millions of YouTube TV subscribers during the busiest time of the year in sports: When will ESPN and ABC be back on the service?” read the memo, written by Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro. “We wish we could give you that answer today, but unfortunately, we are headed into another sports-packed weekend without a deal in place.”

YouTube TV then responded by calling out Disney for “leaking documents to the press, negotiating in public through their paid talent and misrepresenting the facts including from the deals they’ve offered and taking credit for our product proposals.” As a result, the impasse continued into Saturday.