Brian Williams Along with Brokaw and Mitchell to Anchor from Studio 8G on Election Night

By Chris Ariens 

NBC News and cable news networks, MSNBC and CNBC, have released details about their election night programming.

As has been previously reported, Rockefeller Plaza will be turned into “Election Plaza” with an electoral map on the ice rink and, according to the press release, McCain and Obama banners “rising 16 stories up its World Headquarters at 30 Rock, counting up to 270, the number of electoral votes needed to win the presidency.”

TVNewser has also obtained an internal memo from NBC affiliate relations about NBC’s coverage. According to the memo, “Brian Williams will anchor the coverage from Studio 8G, home of Football Night in America. Joining Brian will be Tom Brokaw and Andrea Mitchell.”

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8G is just down the hall from Studio 8H, home of Saturday Night Live. NBC Nightly News will air one live broadcast at 6:30pmET from 8G with coverage beginning across the country at 7pmET. On a normal night, Nightly broadcasts from a third floor studio adjacent to MSNBC’s studio space.

NBC News Political director Chuck Todd will use visual reality technology to walk viewers through the possible electoral vote routes and analyze the votes as they are tallied. Todd will appear on NBC and MSNBC (and probably CNBC and Telemundo too, if they ask nicely. Habla español Carlos?)

Election night on MSNBC begins at 5pmET anchored by David Gregory along with Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Eugene Robinson. Chris Jansing makes a return to MSNBC to anchor continuing live coverage from 2am-6amET. MSNBC’s election coverage will be available to viewers in 78 countries through the network’s foreign partners.

The press release, which includes programming details for CNBC, msnbc.com, Telemundo and NBC Mobile, is after the jump…


THE NETWORKS OF NBC PRESENT COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, msnbc.com and NBC Mobile Provide Complete Live Coverage of Election Day Across All Platforms

NBC News Transforms Rockefeller Plaza into “Election Plaza”

NEW YORK – Oct. 28, 2008 – The networks of NBC will present in-depth, comprehensive coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, Tuesday, Nov. 4, over-the-air, on cable, online and via mobile.

NBC News’ election night coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET, anchored by NBC Nightly News anchor and managing editor Brian Williams in New York, with NBC News Special Correspondent Tom Brokaw, Today’s Ann Curry with live coverage of exit polls across the country, NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd and NBC News’ Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell providing analysis.

NBC News Correspondents will report live throughout the evening for the network, MSNBC and msnbc.com, including Lee Cowan and Ron Allen at Obama-Biden headquarters in Chicago; Kelly ODonnell and Savannah Guthrie at McCain-Palin headquarters in Phoenix; and reporters on the ground in battleground states across the country including Florida, Ohio, Colorado as well as in Alaska.

Rockefeller Plaza will be transformed into Election Plaza on Election Day, with a United States map on the Rink at Rockefeller Plaza, that will turn states blue and red as results are called. NBC News will also have McCain and Obama banners rising 16 stories up its World Headquarters at 30 Rock, counting up to 270, the number of electoral votes needed to win the presidency. The public are invited to watch NBC News’ and MSNBC’s coverage projected outdoors on large screens at Election Plaza.

NBC News election coverage begins Sunday, Nov. 2, as “Meet the Press,” moderated by Tom Brokaw, will continue its in-depth coverage of Decision 2008 heading into the election, providing viewers with newsmaking interviews and insights and analysis on the final days of the campaign.

Monday, November 3, Today will unveil the final NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. On the evening before Americans head to the polls, “Nightly News with Brian Williams” will broadcast for one hour, offering expanded coverage on all aspects of the race with reports from NBC News correspondents stationed in key states throughout the country.

Following the election, on Today, Tom Brokaw, Chuck Todd and several NBC News correspondents will provide in-depth analysis of the results. Additionally, Ann Curry will report on the exit polls, and Lester Holt will provide coverage of how America reacts.

Rehema Ellis will lead NBC’s Making Your Vote Count coverage, which is already underway, monitoring reports of any voting problems or issues throughout Election Day. Viewers will be directed to call 1-866-OUR-VOTE to report any voting problems they may encounter.

MSNBC

MSNBC’s Election Night coverage kicks off at 5 p.m. ET, anchored by David Gregory with Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Eugene Robinson at MSNBC Election Headquarters in New York. Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough will join to provide analysis based on his years of experience in the House of Representatives. Norah O’Donnell will report on the challenges facing the incoming administration. MSNBC contributor Howard Fineman will be at the ‘campaign listening post,’ Pat Buchanan, Mike Murphy, Harold Ford Jr., and Rev. T.D. Jakes will provide analysis, along with reports from Tamron Hall at Election Plaza and Mara Schiavocampo in Harlem, New York City. Lester Holt will report on key Senate, House and gubernatorial races around the country. Curry will also provide exit poll results on MSNBC, with Todd also joining to provide in-depth analysis. Chris Jansing anchors continuing live coverage 2-6 a.m. ET. In an unprecedented international expansion, MSNBC’s election coverage will be available to viewers in 78 countries through our foreign partners.

MSNBC will also have special extended editions of ‘Morning Joe,’ 6-10 a.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 3-Wednesday Nov. 6.

Leading up to Election Day, MSNBC will present special live coverage throughout the weekend. Saturday, Nov. 1, Morning Joe telecasts live 7-9 a.m. ET, with live coverage continuing throughout the day, and a special live Hardball with Chris Matthews, 6-8 p.m. ET. David Shuster anchors live 8-10 p.m. ET, followed by a special edition of Countdown with Keith Olbermann: Countdown to Nov. 4, 10-11 p.m. ET, a Countdown look back at the campaign season.

Sunday, Nov. 2, Morning Joe telecasts live 7-9 a.m. ET, with continuing live coverage all day. MSNBC telecasts that morning’s Meet the Press, 6-7 p.m. ET, followed by a special live Hardball, 7-9 p.m. ET, The Rachel Maddow Show live 9-10 p.m. ET, Race for the White House, 10-11 p.m. ET and Countdown to Nov. 4, 11 p.m.-12 a.m. ET.

CNBC

CNBC’s Election Night programming schedule is as follows:
7-11 p.m. ET Your Money, Your Vote: Decision 2008 (LIVE) with anchors Mark Haines and Erin Burnett (7-8 p.m.), Dylan Ratigan and Maria Bartiromo (8-9 p.m.) and Carl Quintanilla and Michelle Caruso-Cabrera (9 p.m.-Midnight).

Contributing throughout the evening will be: Larry Kudlow, host of CNBC’s “Kudlow & Company,” Tyler Mathisen, CNBC Managing Editor and John Harwood, CNBC Chief Washington Correspondent. Also contributing from CNBC Global HQ: Charlie Gasparino, CNBC On-Air Editor, David Faber, and Steve Liesman, CNBC Senior Economics Reporter. Also reports from Ross Westgate from CNBC in London as well reports from CNBC in Singapore. CNBC will also have correspondents at the candidates’ election night headquarters: Jane Wells at Sen. McCain’s and Scott Cohn at Sen. Obama’s. CNBC will have correspondents throughout the U.S. in states including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and California. In addition, CNBC’s “Squawk Box” will air beginning at 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 5.

MSNBC.COM

Msnbc.com’s Decision ’08 Dashboard is a one-of-a-kind destination for expansive election coverage, exclusive multimedia features, live votes, the latest FirstRead blog posts, interactive maps and world-class video from NBC News and MSNBC Cable. Consumers can watch live video streaming of election coverage on msnbc.com’s homepage and easily embed the video into their sites and blogs. Msnbc.com will also provide up-to-the-minute electoral counts and exit polling across the country.

The Decision ’08 Dashboard, available at www.politics.msnbc.com, offers an interactive Maps & Info section that features a national map which dynamically updates results all the way down to the county level. Consumers can explore the election data maps and uncover information about fundraising, demographics, voting history, candidate appearances and much more. The site also encourages consumers to interact with millions of others users in real-time through live voting and discussion on Newsvine (www.newsvine.com), msnbc.com’s leading social media news site. They can also follow NBC News’ experts who will blog the election on FirstRead (www.firstread.msnbc.com), the popular blog that delivers the best insight on the day’s political news.

Msnbc.com has created interactive election tools – an election widget and debate video player – to give consumers the compelling and relevant resources they want to surface news in meaningful ways. Msnbc.com’s innovative “One Stop” election widget enables users to get live feeds of other coverage across the Web. The site’s exclusive “debate video player” allows voters to watch the full presidential and vice presidential debates again, and, at any time skip ahead to a specific topic by selecting one of the key words. Msnbc.com is the only news provider offering this advanced video experience.

MSNBC and msnbc.com will be posting real time election results and relevant political content, as the information is reported, through Clear Channel’s digital display networks. Many of Clear Channel Outdoor’s 265 displays will be getting the election reporting content from a dynamic feed directly from msnbc.com. Clear Channel Taxi Media will also being updating, in real time, election results on their 300 Digital Smart Top units. These units are LCD screens on top of the Taxis in New York and Boston.

According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center,* more consumers get their political news from msnbc.com than any other online site. One out of every four people surveyed who said they got their campaign news online named msnbc.com as their source. Of the hundreds of sites users mentioned as sources for political news, msnbc.com was the only site to get over a 25% response. (Source: Pew Center for Research Study, 1/08).

TELEMUNDO
Telemundo will broadcast the most complete news coverage in Spanish with a special emphasis on issues related to the Hispanic community. Starting in the morning with Levántate (7am/6CT) and throughout ‘Al Rojo Vivo con Maria Celeste’ (5pm/4CT) and Noticiero Telemundo (6:30pm/5:30CT), the network will offer continuous coverage, including live updates every hour after 10am/9c. At 7pm/6c, Telemundo will air Decisión 2008, a news special hosted by Pedro Sevcec and María Celeste Arrarás, featuring exit polls and up-to-the-minute results. U.S. Hispanic viewers can also go to www.telemundo.com, to submit comments and questions and watch breaking news, special interviews, speeches and behind-the-scenes videos.

NBC MOBILE
On Nov. 4, access full live election coverage on your mobile phone from NBC 2GO, CNBC and MSNBC on V Cast Mobile TV and also on AT&T Mobile TV provided by the award winning FLO TVâ„¢ service from MediaFLO USA. Tune in to live coverage on MSNBC and CNBC with MobiTV, which powers the TV experience at SprintTV, AlltelTV and AT&T.

Mobile video clips of the election can be accessed on demand through select wireless carrier services, including V CAST video from Verizon Wireless, AT&T CV, Alltel Axcess TV, MobiTV (clips) and Helio (Virgin USA).

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