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INSIDE THE NFL

TV Talks, Continued....

by Peter King

Posted: Wed October 1, 1997

OTHER NOTES

Napoleon Complex Pace's First Start a Memorable One Modell's Justification Carter Sets Sights on 1,000 Packing a Punch Dispatches The End Zone Kicking in the Clutch The Buzz The Inner Game: Art of the Field Goal Dr. Z's Forecast

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The league's television contracts expire after this season, and the Monday-night game could command the most interest among the networks. ABC, which has held the rights to Monday Night Football for 28 years, wants to keep the starting time at 9 p.m. Eastern, in part because the hour preceding the game is such a moneymaker ($1.5 million per week). But because ratings in the Eastern and Central time zones often plummet in the last hour of the game, the league would like to move the kickoff up 60 minutes.

ABC, which has exclusive negotiating rights until Nov. 1, remains the odds-on favorite to keep the package, but if it is inflexible about the starting time, the league could turn to CBS or long-shot Fox. Sources close to the talks say that neither would have a problem upping the ante from the $230 million per year that ABC is paying to about $360 million annually.

Issue date: October 6, 1997