CBS, ABC Add More Time for Convention Coverage

CBS, which had earlier threatened to cut back prime-time coverage of the Republican and Democratic national conventions to just two nights, said Monday it will have at least some live coverage on all four nights of the party gatherings.

ABC also changed its plans Monday, announcing that it will add an hour of coverage on the first night of both conventions.

The expanded coverage assures that President Clinton’s speech to the Democratic convention in Los Angeles on Monday, Aug. 14, will be broadcast live on the two networks. By scheduling Clinton’s speech on Monday night, Democrats essentially forced the networks to blink--either adjust their broadcast plans and accommodate it or risk embarrassment.

The extra hour for the Republicans will help equalize coverage of each party and will allow the networks to cover a speech by retired Army Gen. Colin L. Powell.

Originally, ABC had planned to summarize Monday events of the conventions in halftime reports during preseason football games, and to air lengthier reports the other three nights. But once the network learned that the president’s speech would most likely be on Monday, ABC worked with football officials to schedule the roughly three-hour games an hour earlier to 4 p.m. (7 p.m. EST).

ABC always said its coverage could be adjusted “depending on newsworthiness,” said ABC News President David Westin. The extra time will mean that ABC has the same amount of convention coverage this year as four years ago.

CBS also could have the same amount, depending on how much time on Monday and Tuesday nights actually gets devoted to the conventions. If there is no news from the highly scripted conventions, CBS said it could switch to other newsmagazine reports those nights.

NBC News said last week that the bulk of its convention coverage, most likely including Clinton’s speech, would air on MSNBC, its cable news channel, with the wider-reaching NBC network carrying reports on only two nights.

NBC News said Monday that it continues to keep its options open as the schedules become finalized. One network executive insisted the broadcast network would carry the president’s speech.

The Republicans meet in Philadelphia July 31-Aug. 3. The Democrats are in Los Angeles Aug. 14-17.