The -p option you use splits the input in separate lines. For Perl \n isn't the same as a space even if it is for HTML. One solution is to undef $/ in order to enable ''slurp mode'', (or to use the before mentioned command line option -0):

perl -i -pe 'BEGIN { undef $/ } s/<TD>\s*<FONT\s+FACE=arial\s+SIZE=-1>
+/widget/g' test.html

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In reply to Re^4: Removing the carriage return in a Find & Replace? by mscharrer
in thread Removing the carriage return in a Find & Replace? by bobafifi

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
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