Networks Tackle Super Tuesday : CBS, NBC Scale Back; ABC, CNN Expand Coverage

CBS and NBC have scaled back their plans for covering today’s Super Tuesday presidential primary results, and while ABC and CNN are sticking with their expanded coverage, the only network report airing in prime time on the West Coast will be NBC’s hourlong offering at 10 p.m.

NBC News President Larry Grossman said he dropped an hour from his division’s original plan for two hours of coverage when it became clear that one hour would be sufficient to report and analyze the results of today’s 20 Republican and Democratic primaries and caucuses.

Analysts have predicted that the results won’t be all that decisive in indicating major front-runners among the candidates, and “that’s part of the issue,” Grossman said. “But basically, we can do the job . . . well within an hour.”

NBC’s Super Tuesday special, anchored by Tom Brokaw, will be broadcast at 10 p.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39. There will be brief updates during entertainment programming earlier in the evening, Grossman said.

Coverage on the other networks will air during prime time on the East Coast but, because of the time difference, will be seen before prime time begins in the West.

CBS initially had planned three hours of coverage but cut that to two, a spokeswoman said, when it became apparent several weeks ago that the results “were not going to be as clearly defined as originally thought.”

Dan Rather will anchor CBS’ coverage, which will be seen here live from 5 to 7 p.m. PST on Channels 2 and 8.

ABC will offer two hours of Super Tuesday results from 6 to 8 p.m. PST on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42, with Peter Jennings and David Brinkley at the helm.

ABC will be back at 11:30 p.m. PST with a special one-hour edition of “Nightline” that will wrap up the day’s events. Ted Koppel will anchor.

CNN’s Super Tuesday coverage, co-anchored from Atlanta by Mary Alice Williams and Bernard Shaw, will air from 5 to 8:30 p.m. PST, followed by updates in the next hour, a spokeswoman here said. After that, CNN will air a half-hour special report on its “Inside Politics” program at 10 p.m.

For viewers who want to comment on the results, not just watch, the C-SPAN cable network will be airing a live call-in show to discuss Super Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m. PST.