SOTU: Broadcast & Cable Plans

ABC: Coverage will begin at 9pm. Elizabeth Vargas will anchor from a White House overlook, Charlie Gibson will anchor from Capitol Hill and Diane Sawyer will anchor from New York. They’ll be joined by George Stephanopoulos, Martha Raddatz and Medical Editor Dr. Timothy Johnson. Jake Tapper will report on “The People’s Response,” a “digital conversation with Americans on their views of the State of the Union, sponsored by ABCNEWS.com and AOL.com.” George Will, Fareed Zakaria and Mellody Hobson will also be on hand. On ABC News Now, Sam Donaldson will host a special edition of “Politics Live.” Terry Moran will anchor Nightline from D.C.

NBC: Brian Williams will anchor two hours of coverage from D.C. beginning at 9pm. He’ll be joined by Tim Russert and “NBC’s team of correspondents.” Also: “NBC News will be the only television news organization to have both party chairmen – DNC Chair Howard Dean and RNC Chair Ken Mehlman – provide commentary following the Democratic response.” MSNBC.com will stream the address live.

CBS: Bob Schieffer will anchor beginning at 9pm. John Roberts and Gloria Borger will contribute to the broadcast. Lara Logan and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman will join Schieffer in D.C. to talk about Iraq. The live coverage will be broadcast on CBS Radio News and webcast on CBSNews.com. CBS “will report on the results of an instant poll conducted with the help of Knowledge Networks…on how viewers reacted to key points in the President’s speech.” Harry Smith anchored the Early Show today and will again tomorrow.

FOX: Shep Smith will anchor beginning at 9pm. Chris Wallace will provide analysis and Major Garrett has live reports. Newt Gingrich will provide post-address analysis.

FNC: O’Reilly will end at 8:55pm. Brit Hume will anchor from D.C. from 8:55 to 11pm with live reports from Carl Cameron and Brian Wilson. Fred Barnes, Mort Kondracke, Nina Easton, and Bill Kristol provide analysis. H&C will be live at 11pm. Greta has the night off.

CNN: Wolf Blitzer and Paula Zahn will begin anchoring from D.C. at 7pm. Correspondents Dana Bash, Candy Crowley, Ed Henry and John King, CNN senior analyst Jeff Greenfield, and contributors Paul Begala, William Bennett, Victoria Clarke, J.C. Watts will be on hand. Anderson Cooper will take over at 10:30pm. Larry King will be live at midnight.

MSNBC: Chris Matthews kicks off the coverage at 5pm on Hardball. “Following the President’s address to the nation, Matthews will anchor MSNBC’s post-game for commentary and analysis.