Nets Line Up for Debates
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/21/2004 5:28:00 AM
According to various reports, the Bush and Kerry camps have signed an agreement for three televised presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate.
When an agreement has been announced, CBS tells B&C it will definitely commit to carrying all of them. An ABC spokeswoman says it plans to do so as well. Ditto for NBC, according to a news spokeswoman there, though she was double checking; and a Fox source thought that network might broadcast them all as well, but definitely the first debate. The presidential debates will be Sept. 30, Oct. 8, and Oct. 13, according to CNN, with the VP debate Oct. 5. No official announcement had been made at press time. If all four networks agree to carry the debates on broadcast TV, it will be good news for various activist groups that have been pushing them to "roadblock" the debates, which means everyone would carry them to give viewers less chance to watch something else. "We will definitely cover the debates," said CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius. "Whenever they decide, we will cover them." "ABC expects it will carry the debates in their entirety on the ABC TV network, as well as digital news service ABC News Now," said Julie Summersgill, an ABC News spokeswoman. A Fox spokesman was checking on how many and where it would air the debates--either on its affiliates or on Fox News Channel--but said it would be covering at least the first one on its broadcast affiliates, with Brit Hume anchoring, and will carry all of them on Fox News Channel.
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