 Despite high ratings, ABC lost millions of dollars on televising the games during the late 1990s and 2000s.The NFL also indicated that it wanted Sunday night to be the new night for its marquee game, because more people tend to watch television on Sundays, and games held on that night would be more conducive to flexible scheduling, a method by which some of the NFL's best games could be moved from the afternoon to the evening on Sunday on short notice.Given these factors, as well as the rise of ABC's ratings on Sunday night, and the network's wish of protecting its "Desperate Housewives" franchise (which they knew would be costly), on April 18, 2005, ABC and the NFL announced the end of their 36-year partnership, with the "Monday Night Football" broadcasts being moved to ESPN starting with the 2006 season; the move was criticized by some of the Disney shareholders (as well as NFL fans and purists).