IP: Fox and NBC Renege on a Debt

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Fox and NBC Renege on a Debt

By WILLIAM E. KENNARD

WASHINGTON - How times have changed. Forty years ago CBS, NBC and ABC 
broadcast the first-ever televised presidential debate, and that tense 
contest between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy was seen as not only the 
pivotal moment of the election, but a harbinger of how television would 
enhance democracy.

Yet now, in the heat of the tightest presidential race since 1960, two of 
the four major networks — NBC and Fox — are offering viewers sports and 
entertainment in lieu of the first presidential debate. NBC originally 
planned to broadcast a baseball playoff game exclusively tonight, but now 
it has passed the buck to its affiliates to decide whether to air the game 
or the debate. Worse, Fox doesn't intend to show any of this year's debates 
as they are happening and will air the premiere of its series "Dark Angel" 
while tonight's is going on.
The decisions by NBC and Fox are particularly galling in light of the fact 
that in 1996 Congress gave the television industry the space on the 
broadcast spectrum needed to offer digital television — valued by some 
industry experts as worth more than $70 billion. This generous gift came 
with a caveat: As the broadcasters reap billions from use of the airwaves, 
they must also serve the public interest.

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/03/opinion/03KENN.html