ABC Stations Will Help Foot NFL Bill

ABC said its affiliated television stations agreed to help pay for the network’s “Monday Night Football” broadcast in exchange for more advertising time and a stake in the Walt Disney Co. unit’s new Soap Opera Channel.

The three-year accord calls for the stations to pay ABC $45 million a year and to give ABC 10 local ad spots during Saturday morning children’s programs. The affiliates will get eight extra prime-time ad spots a week plus ownership in the Soap Opera Channel, which is to debut in January.

The agreement, proposed in June, follows more than a year of tension between ABC and its approximately 225 affiliates about such issues as the reuse of programs on cable or satellite TV and the role affiliates should play in helping to finance programming. It costs ABC about $550 million annually to broadcast the National Football League games. The pact comes as local TV stations and the networks contend with declining viewership and higher costs.

The affiliates also are to get clear guidelines from ABC on the reuse of network programs. That’s been a concern to local stations, which are worried their days are numbered as networks look more to cable and satellite TV to distribute their programming.

ABC, the No. 3 U.S. network, has been a problem for Disney, whose earnings have declined for four straight quarters partly because of higher costs and lower ratings at ABC.