CBS' ‘Face the Nation' Expanding to One Hour

Longer Sunday show to launch in April for campaign season

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/12/2011 3:46:39 PM

CBS' weekly public affairs show Face the Nation is expanding from a half hour to an hour in April, Bob Schieffer announced on the program Sunday morning.

The plan is for the show to run in its longer format for 20 weeks, a CBS News spokesperson said, to capitalize on the increased interest in politics during the 2012 campaign season.

The other Sunday public affairs shows -- ABC's This Week, Fox News Sunday and NBC's Meet the Press are all already one hour long.

Face the Nation posted its largest audience since March on Dec. 4 (3.29 million viewers) and is ranked first among the Sunday shows in the news target adults 25-54 demo season-to-date.