Networks primed to battle for Sunday night NFL games

0 Comments | USA TODAY, February, 2005 | by Rudy Martzke

With Monday Night Football having a solid chance of shifting to ESPN in the six-year NFL TV deals starting in 2006, Fox, NBC, CBS and possibly the WB Network are likely to vie with ABC for a Sunday night broadcast network package, according to network and league officials familiar with negotiations.

NBC has not carried NFL games since the 1997 season. The WB Network, launched in January 1995, never has carried NFL games.

A switch of the Sunday night package to broadcast and the Monday package to cable figures to bring the NFL higher total rights fees. The league has received sizable fee increases in renewals of contracts with CBS and Fox for Sunday afternoon games and withDirecTV for a satellite subscription package; those deals will give the league a combined $11.5...