Being a now-former TV guy, it's interesting to watch things unfold from the outside.Of course, tonight is the night that Barack Obama will officially accept an historic nomination to become the nation's first African-American candidate for President of the United States.
NBC's coverage begins at 10pm ... following a pre-season football game that begins at 7pm.
So, here's a question ... what happens if the game runs long? Does Obama delay his speech for a pre-season football game? Of course not.
But, will the network risk missing Obama's speech? I don't think so ... I think they'd cut off the end of the game if they absolutely had to.
But, here's an interesting twist. My old employer, WKYC, is showing the Browns instead of the NBC game tonight.
One difference. The Browns game kicks at 7:30 ... and should go until at least 10:30.
That leaves a greater chance that Channel 3 will pre-empt some of Obama's speech.
Now, I can't say as I blame WKYC. This all comes down to money. Why show the NBC game ... when you can show the Browns, and reap all the local ad revenue from the game.
And, I also know that Obama's speech will be available on about a dozen other channels.
But, here's a question ... how does showing the Browns game ... and potentially missing Obama's speech ... position WKYC's news department?
The station, after all, wants you to turn to it as a source for politics. It has the city's lone television political "beat" reporter, it worked hard to land and sponsor the Democratic debate at CSU, and it has a team of political analysts ... many of whom have given convention insight on the station's 11pm newscast this week.
Doesn't a failure to show Obama's speech undermine a lot if not all of that?
I'm sure Channel 3 has its fingers crossed that the game ends in enough time to cut to the speech.
But if it doesn't, make no mistake, this decision was made for one reason. Cold, hard, cash.
And you can run that one ... right into the end zone.
(UPDATE: The Game wrapped up about 10 minutes after Obama took the stage, which isn't bad. However, while we were learning about the "player of the game" ... Barack Obama accepted the nomination.)
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4 comments:
It would be ironic if a game involving the "Washington" Redskins kept NBC viewers from seeing a man whose hoping to lead them in "Washington." And of course, Obama's speech is being given AT a football stadium too ..
Still, you're right .. the Jaguars/Redskins game needs to end on time for NBC.. while locally, the rain is always a factor at Cleveland Browns stadium, as we saw in the first pre-season game that was pushed to midnight by rain delays.
Of course .. you know that cuz you were there.
As for tonight, makes you wonder if Obama would delay a few minutes if there's an injury in the Jags-Redskins game. Too much at stake to let anyone miss the moment.
I wonder if WKYC has the ability to switch the game over to STO for the fourth quarter. Too bad the partnership with WAKC kind of wasted away.
I just wonder if anyone will have the gumption to complain when the game is cut off before the end? They will definitely be in the minority.
Let me see. Do I want to watch a pre season football game or history being made? Not a tough one.
Cliff brings up a good point that builds on what Hyser said in his post. We know the Browns usually get monster ratings in northeast Ohio, but with this being a historic election, what kinds of ratings will Obama draw?
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