NBC News has announced its 2016 Republican and National Democratic Convention coverage plans, which will include almost 300 hours on both TV networks, online and across social media platforms.
NBC’s live coverage of the conventions will include the 10 p.m. hour on four consecutive nights (Monday – Thursday) of each week. Lester Holt will anchor prime time coverage for the broadcast network, and he will be joined by Savannah Guthrie and Chuck Todd live inside the convention halls.
In addition to convention coverage in prime time, the Peacock’s signature trio of newscasts, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Today, and Meet the Press with Chuck Todd, will all broadcast live from Cleveland and Philadelphia.
On the Sunday before each convention, Todd will moderate Meet the Press live from Cleveland and Philadelphia. Holt anchors Nightly live from the host cities beginning the Sunday night leading into each convention through Thursday. On Monday and Tuesday of each week, Guthrie co-anchors a split edition of Today live from the host city. Matt Lauer will join Guthrie live at the convention site on Wednesday and Thursday of each week.
MSNBC will launch its coverage the week of the Republican rules committee meetings in Cleveland and will kick it into high gear over the weekend leading into the opening gavel on Monday, July 18. The network will go with over 20 hours of live reporting each day the conventions are in session (6 a.m. – 2 a.m. ET), beginning with Morning Joe and other MSNBC daytime programming live from the host cities Monday through Friday. The prime time coverage, which will begin at 7 p.m., will be led by Rachel Maddow, Brian Williams, and Chris Matthews. Maddow and Williams will anchor prime time from 30 Rock. Matthews will be inside the convention hall, and he will also anchor the late-night coverage until 2 a.m. ET.
All in all, over 45 NBC News and MSNBC anchors, correspondents, and embeds will spread throughout Cleveland and Philadelphia. This roster includes Tom Brokaw, who has covered every presidential election since 1968. Brokaw will contribute across both linear and digital.
Speaking of digital, NBCNews.com and all social media platforms will provide reporting and analysis with help from NBC News reporters in Ohio, Pennsylanvia, and throughout the country. NBCNews.com will livestream the network prime time content each night. The NBCNews.com verticals — including NBC Asian American, NBCBLK, NBC Latino, and NBC OUT — will also provide reporting, analysis, and video content.