Monday Night Football: How to Watch Jets vs. 49ers Tonight Amid DirecTV-Disney Dispute
Aaron Rodgers is back at quarterback for New York, and Jets fans are hoping his second season lasts longer than his first. Rodgers tore his Achilles tendon on his fourth play of the season last year — also on a Monday night — ending his season, and, as it turned out, the Jets’, abruptly.
The 49ers’ season ended in the Super Bowl, where they lost in overtime to the Chiefs. San Francisco enters this season with its own Achilles concerns, primarily a calf/Achilles injury to star running back Christian McCaffrey. He’s been the engine that keeps the 49ers’ offense running, though the team managed to hold on to receiver Brandon Aiyuk and sign quarterback Brock Purdy’s favorite target to an extension after fielding him in trades this summer.
The Jets and Niners kick off in San Francisco tonight at 5:15 p.m. PT (8:15 p.m. ET) on ABC, ESPN and ESPN Plus. You can turn to ESPN2 or ESPN Plus during the game to watch the ManningCast with brothers Peyton and Eli, who are back for another year of their alternate broadcast, with guests stopping by to chat with the former NFL greats.
If you don’t have a cable or satellite TV subscription, you can watch Monday Night Football with a live TV streaming service. The good news for football fans is that ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 are available on four of the five major streaming services — all except DirecTV Stream, with DirecTV’s ongoing dispute with Disney.
Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets open the 2024 NFL season Monday night in San Francisco against the 49ers.
How to watch MNF without cable
The primary channel for Monday Night Football is ESPN. Nearly every Monday night game is on ESPN, with seven weeks also on ABC and ESPN Plus. There are four Monday Night Doubleheaders this season (Weeks 3, 4, 7, and 15). During these weeks, one game will be on ESPN and the other on either ABC or ESPN Plus.
The ManningCast on ESPN2 is scheduled to air 11 Monday nights during the season, plus one Wild Card game. Six of those regular-season Monday nights and the Wild Card game will also be streamed on ESPN Plus.
Wait, what’s with DirecTV and Disney?
DirecTV and Disney have been locked in a dispute that has resulted in Disney pulling its channels, including ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, from DirecTV’s satellite and streaming services.
This battle goes beyond the usual squabbles over licensing fees that arise from time to time — most recently last year, when DirecTV and Spectrum settled a licensing dispute on the first Monday of the NFL season. DirecTV and Disney are engaged in a larger conflict over the bundling model; DirecTV wants to offer cheaper plans for non-sports fans that don’t include ESPN, and Disney wants to protect its current bundles, which include more of its channels.
If you subscribe to DirecTV via a satellite dish or the DirecTV Stream live TV streaming service, you won’t be able to watch tonight’s game on ESPN. And it looks like many 49ers and Jets fans hoping to watch the game on ABC are out of luck, too. Many ABC stations are still available on DirecTV, but not the eight ABC networks that are still owned by Disney, two of which are KABC in San Francisco and WABC in New York. And no matter where you live, ABC has been removed from the channel lineup for all DirecTV Stream subscribers.
There are no signs on either side that the ongoing battle between DirecTV and Disney will be resolved before kickoff tonight.
ABC and ESPN are blocked where I live. What do I do?
If you want to continue your DirecTV subscription and watch Monday Night Football tonight, the easiest way is to sign up for a month of ESPN Plus for $11. That will let you toggle between tonight’s regular broadcast with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and the alternate ManningCast broadcast with Peyton, Eli, and various guests. Be warned that neither the main Monday Night Football broadcast next week nor the ManningCast will be on ESPN Plus. You can watch one of the games from the MNF doubleheader on ESPN Plus in Weeks 3 and 4, but the ManningCast doesn’t return to ESPN Plus until Week 7.
The other option is to ditch DirecTV and sign up for a live TV streaming service. Our favorite for soccer fans is YouTube TV. It costs $73 and offers the big Disney channels that were removed from DirectTV: ABC, ESPN, Disney Plus, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Freeform, FX, and National Geographic. It also offers a 21-day trial, which gets you three more MNF games before DirecTV and Disney have a chance to come to an agreement before you have to start paying.
Tonight’s game will be streamed on ESPN Plus, but there are only two other weeks in the regular season that the main MNF broadcast airs. It’s the only way to watch the Week 7 MNF game between the Chargers and Cardinals — it’s exclusive to ESPN Plus. There’s no Monday night game for the final weekend of the season, but you can watch a doubleheader on Saturday of Week 18 on ESPN Plus — those two games are also aired on ABC and ESPN.
You can also watch ManningCast for five weeks this season on ESPN Plus, starting in Week 1 and ending during Wild Card weekend in January.
ESPN Plus costs $11 per month (or $110 per year). Read our full ESPN Plus review.
YouTube TV costs $73 per month and includes ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2. Right now, the first four months are discounted to $65 per month. And there’s a 21-day free trial. Enter your zip code on YouTube TV’s Welcome page to see which local networks are available in your area.
Read our YouTube TV review.
Sling TV’s Sling Orange plan includes ESPN and ESPN2, but not ABC, and the Blue plan includes ABC (only in a handful of markets) but neither carries ESPN. Each subscription costs $45 per month in ABC areas and $40 elsewhere. The combined Orange-and-Blue subscription costs $55 or $60 per month.
Read our Sling TV review.
Hulu Plus Live TV costs $77 and includes ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2. On its live news pageYou can enter your zip code under the question “Can I watch local news in my area?” at the bottom of the page to see which local channels you receive.
Read our review of Hulu with Live TV.
Fubo’s basic subscription costs $80 per month and includes ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2, but Fubo charges an RSN fee (or $12 per month if you have one RSN or $15 per month if you have two or more in your area), bringing the monthly cost to $92 or $95. Fubo is currently offering $30 off the first month of some of its plans, meaning you can get the basic Pro plan for $62 or $65 to start. Click here to see which local channels you receive.
Read our Fubo review.
All of the live TV streaming services above let you cancel at any time and require a solid internet connection. Want to learn more? Check out our guide to live TV streaming services.
