It’s official. Pres. Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday is set for 8pmET, with a Republican response to follow. The cable news channels will give extensive coverage to both. As for the broadcast nets:
ABC – will carry the joint session and the GOP response with Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos anchoring.
CBS – will carry the joint session and the GOP response with Katie Couric anchoring.
FOX – insiders tell us the network is not expected to carry either, but nothing official yet. (Fox News and Fox Business will carry both Pres. Obama and the GOP response.)
NBC – will carry the joint session and the GOP response with Brian Williams anchoring.
PBS – will provide live coverage of President Obama’s address. Jim Lehrer will anchor.
• FOX’s new fall shows premiere next week with “So You Think You Can Dance?” at 8pmET and “Glee” at 9pmET Wednesday. NBC will preempt the re-air of “America’s Got Talent” at 8pm, with a new episode airing at 9pm. ABC has a new episode of the popular “Wipeout” at 8pmET/PT, which may be pushed to 9pm. CBS is in sitcom reruns at 8pmET/CT.
On the West Coast, this means afternoon newscasts or syndicated programming (depending on where you live) will be preempted for the President and the GOP response.
Update: FOX broadcasting has officially stated that they are not airing the address Wednesday and will alert viewers with a graphic that the address will be available on FNC and FBN.