Get ready for an earlier start tonight for Monday Night Football, and be prepared to settle in for not one but two games. The 0-2 Jaguars and and 2-0 Bills get started first in upstate New York, and then 45 minutes later the 1-1 Commanders and 0-2 Bengals kick off in Cincinnati. The staggered start times mean you’ll be able to flip back and forth between the games and watch both finishes. You can also flip over to the Commanders-Bengals game during halftime of the Jags-Bills game, avoiding the long commercial breaks.
The Jaguars and Bills kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. PT) on ESPN, and the Commanders and Bengals begin at 8:15 p.m. ET (5:15 p.m. PT) on ABC and ESPN Plus.
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 and ESPN are available on all five major streaming services, including DirecTV Stream with DirecTV and Disney reaching a deal that ends the ESPN and ABC blackout.
How to watch MNF without cable
The key channel for Monday Night Football is ESPN. Nearly every Monday night game will be shown on ESPN, with seven weeks also appearing on ABC and ESPN Plus. There are four Monday night doubleheaders this season, starting tonight. (There’s another doubleheader next week and also in Weeks 7 and 15.) During these weeks, one game will be on ESPN and the other will be on ABC or ESPN Plus.
The ManningCast on ESPN2 is scheduled for 11 Monday nights during the season and one Wild Card game, with six of those regular-season Monday nights and the Wild Card game also streaming on ESPN Plus. The Manning brothers have the night off tonight and will return in Week 5.
YouTube TV costs $73 a month and includes ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, which are all the channels you need for MNF and the ManningCast. Right now, the first four months are discounted to $65 a month. And there is a 21-day free trial. Plug in your ZIP code on YouTube TV’s welcome page to see which local networks are available in your area.
Sling TV’s Sling Orange plan includes ESPN and ESPN2 but not ABC, and the Blue plan includes ABC (in only in a handful of markets) but neither ESPN channel. Each plan costs $45 a month in the areas with ABC and $40 elsewhere. The combined Orange-and-Blue plan costs $55 or $60 a month.
Hulu Plus Live TV costs $77 includes ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. On its live news page, you can enter your ZIP code under the “Can I watch local news in my area?” question at the bottom of the page to see which local channels you get.
Read our Hulu with Live TV review.
Fubo’s basic plan costs $80 a month and includes ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, but Fubo charges an RSN fee (either $12 a month if you get one RSN or $15 a month if you have two or more in your area) that raises the monthly charge to $92 or $95. Fubo is currently offering $30 off for the first month of some of its plans, which means you can get its base Pro plan for $62 or $65 to start. Click here to see which local channels you get.
Tonight’s Commanders-Bengals game will stream on ESPN Plus, but there are only handful of other weeks that it’ll show a MNF game. It’ll be the only way to watch the Week 7 MNF game between the Chargers and Cardinals — that’s an ESPN Plus exclusive. Other weeks, the games shown on ESPN Plus will also be shown ABC or ESPN.
You can also catch the ManningCast on ESPN Plus during five weeks this season.
ESPN Plus costs $11 a month (or $110 a year). Read our full review of ESPN Plus.
All of the live TV streaming services above allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live TV streaming services guide.