The late night vote to legalize same sex marriage in New York State changed up the primetime lineup on cable news Friday night.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper anchored the 10 and 11pmET hours of his show live, with the final 33-29 vote occurring at 10:30pmET and remarks from Gov. Andrew Cuomo at 11:22pm. Cuomo signed the bill into law later. When it goes into effect in 30 days, New York will become the sixth and largest state to recognize same-sex marriage.
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow anchored beyond her normal 9pmET timeslot into the 10pm hour when the vote occurred. Maddow anchored until 10:41, before the network returned to its normal documentary programming.
Fox News was in the middle of a two-hour special on the Casey Anthony case hosted by Jeanine Pirro when it broadcast a Fox News Alert at 10:38pm. Marianne Rafferty anchored that alert as well as another at the top of the 11pm re-air of “The O’Reilly Factor” and others into the early morning hours.