Monday Night Football
Scheduling on local stations
Since ESPN took over the coverage in 2006, games normally have a kickoff time of 8:30 p.m. Eastern. However, when ESPN airs a doubleheader during the first week of the season, the games respectively start at 7 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. Eastern. There have been issues with local stations in the ESPN era, where stations in each team's home market that air the ESPN simulcast are in most cases ABC affiliates, which must pre-empt Dancing with the Stars to air the NFL. This both forces the affiliate to air that program immediately after late-evening local newscasts, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Nightline and has resulted in the program's telephone and Internet voting coordinators keeping a late-night voting window open for the market or markets where Dancing with the Stars was pre-empted.
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