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Networks Might Slim Down Convention Coverage

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That Barack Obama would accept his party’s nomination at Invesco Field was an unwelcome bit of news for network executives who have already budgeted their election coverage. Apparently it costs more to broadcast from a stadium than an arena, and so the networks are threatening to scale down what they traditionally dismiss as a free commercial.

(via Political Wire)

The Politico:

According to several broadcast executives, the networks will still cover all the major speeches. But beyond that, all options are open as they look for savings to balance out the anticipated costs surrounding the stadium event. The acceptance event is an unexpected departure from the traditional convention hall format for which they have spent months planning.

Network executives expect Obama’s relatively late-breaking decision to speak at Invesco Field at Mile High, a 76,000-seat football stadium, could add hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs to already cash-strapped news divisions. Each network has budgeted millions to cover the political conventions, but that spending is already accounted for in specific costs ranging from hotel rooms to staffing to building convention platforms.

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TAGS: campaign colorado convention invesco field journalism media networks news obama politics

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By Larry, July 10, 2008 at 6:50 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Let me steal a line from another poster in this thread:

Boo-freakin-hoo for the networks.

It was just recently broadcast and printed that “Meet the Press”, which, by the way, gets interviewees to show up and get seriously grilled for FREE, raked in $50,000,000 per YEAR in PROFITS! And not coincidentally, most MTP “guests” are politicians, one of whom, they now whine about “additional costs” to cover a 45 minute speech!

Here’s what they can do. Pool cover the conventions. Have 10 cameras only in each location, except for the anchor booths. Split the costs among all TV entities using the “pool feed”. There ya go. The DCC broadcast on the cheap.

Obama ‘08 and ‘12.

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By progressivepam, July 10, 2008 at 2:27 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

I understand the broadcast networks problems completely. It’s a huge investment to go into these venues, lay all the cables, build the broadcast booths, etc. With the acceptance speech being moved to the stadium, they’ve just doubled the cost.

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By JimBob, July 10, 2008 at 11:55 am #

Dog forbid they should get the public’s airwaves for free, make billions off them, then turn right around and give us all a “free commercial” by covering an event that is at the heart of the very political system that allowed those airwaves to be given away. I mean, who would be so hard-hearted as to ask this of those poor broadcasters?

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By troublesum, July 10, 2008 at 7:16 am #

Well cyrena, you agree that it’s mindless but as usual you say Obama, or Osame, isn’t the one who started it. Glad you agree anyway.

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By jersey girl, July 10, 2008 at 5:01 am #

cyrena: ????? You have the nerve to call trouble mindless?? Wow, what arrogance !!

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By cyrena, July 10, 2008 at 4:54 am #

This is just the beginning of the mindlessness.

Troublesum..

Just the BEGINNING of the mindlessness?????

You’ve been posting here a long enough time for us to know this surely is not the BEGINNING of any mindlessness.

Besides that, the US population (at least a large enough portion of it) voted TWICE for the most mindless of them all.

Nobody ever thought bush was about ANYTHING other than being a nice guy to have a beer with. Over half the country had never even HEARD of the asshole!And you think the mindlessness is just BEGINNING?

Oh PLEASE!!!! Mindlessness indeed. That speaks to half the people who post here, with you at the top of the list.

MINDLESS!

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By jersey girl, July 10, 2008 at 4:25 am #

It’s disgusting. All this money wasted on trying to get one of two fascist corporate shills elected. It’s so sad to see what we’ve become.

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By troublesum, July 10, 2008 at 1:28 am #

It is fitting that a political convention be held in a stadium since politics has become little more than a contest between “teams” who are just about identical. And what about “Yes we can!” That’s a slogan for a high school football team if I ever heard one. Both times that Bush ran for president a majority of his supporters had only the foggiest notion of what he stood for. Many thought he was in favor of tougher environmental standards, cutting the defense budget, etc; the exact opposite of what he actually wanted to do. The same was true of Reagan. Democrats usually set a higher standard for themselves - knowing what the issues were and what their candidate believed in and supported. This time around they don’t give a damn. They’re just going to support their team regardless. That Obama has morphed into team Bush player doesn’t matter at all. Just getting out there and cheering the team on is what is important. It’s not necessary that their be any differences between the teams as long as they play the game well and are evenly matched.
So it is appropriate that Obama wants a stadium for his coronation. Republicans will then need one for the McCain tournament. This is just the beginning of the mindlessness.

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By cyrena, July 9, 2008 at 11:43 pm #

Gee, wonder why these networks never have any troubles covering sporting events at the areas where they are held?

Now Jersey Girl, if it gives you the ‘creeps’ then you’ll be one that doesn’t watch. How simple is that?

Just as simple as YOU are!!

Yep BobZ..I’m with ya…another non-issue.

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By BobZ, July 9, 2008 at 10:03 pm #

Good move on Obama’s part.Talk directly to the American people, and not the party elite. He doesn’t report to the networks. They are supposed to cover the news period. They can cut costs elsewhere. What a non-issue. It shows that Obama can “think out of the box”.

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By jersey girl, July 9, 2008 at 9:23 pm #

Why does the image of obama in front of thousands of his cult like followers give me the creeps?

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