Iger upbeat about NFL negotiations

Now that CBS and Fox have sealed their renewals with the National Football League to the tune of eight billion bucks (11/10/04 RBR Daily Epaper #220), all eyes have turned to Disney, whose ABC and ESPN networks have yet to complete their NFL contracts. In the company's conference call last week, an analyst asked Disney President & COO Bob Iger whether he was prepared to match the price hikes that CBS and Fox had agreed to. Iger declined to answer that directly, but indicated that negotiations with the league are going well. He was particularly pleased that the contracts cut with CBS and Fox for their Sunday afternoon packages give the NFL some leeway to shuffle schedules to avoid having a bomb of a game in the primetime packages for Sunday and Monday nights. "Monday Night Football" is a ratings powerhouse for ABC, but it's also believed to be a loss-leader for the net, so Wall Street is wondering just how much red ink Disney is willing to accept to keep MNF from moving to another network.