• by Wayne Friedman , August 11, 2006

Gone is ABC's longtime "Monday Night Football" brand--and now the legendary ABC Sports brand as well.

A major branding campaign, "ESPN on ABC," will extend ESPN, the large cable sports network, as the umbrella TV sports programming brand on the ABC Television Network. Now when viewers tune in on ABC, all sports programming will have the exact on-air graphics look of ESPN.

ESPN viewers watching a promo for a sport program that airs on the ABC network will be directed to the ABC Television Network--with no mention of ABC Sports. This goes for all tune-in efforts for sports programming on ABC--including program guides, and other marketing materials.

Once at ABC, viewers will see ESPN's signature red-color themed graphic look including score updates, and ESPN signage. The only remaining ABC demarcation in a sports program will be the ABC Network watermark displayed in the lower right-hand-corner of the screen. One of ABC's major sports efforts for this season is "Saturday Night Football," the first-ever prime-time college football series on broadcast television. ABC will start up the series at 8 p.m. on Sept. 2 with Notre Dame at Georgia Tech.