When faced with a choice of either carrying a Presidential press conference live, or airing a previously scheduled episode of So You Think You Can Dance, whatever is a television network to do?
Covering such an event obviously requires changes to the existing line-up of programs.
The press conference was originally scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. That conflicted with the most popular summer programs on NBC ("America’s Got Talent") and Fox ("So You Think You Can Dance").
The press conference was moved up an hour, but that posed other conflicts.
ABC had a new installment of its competition series, "Wipeout," set to air, starting at 8 p.m. To accommodate the press conference, the network is rescheduling the episode so that it will air at 9 p.m., the originally scheduled starting time of the press conference. In a domino effect, ABC's "I Survived a Japanese Game Show," originally scheduled to air at 9 p.m., will start at 10 p.m.
An ABC News special report, "Over A Barrel: The Truth About Oil," had been scheduled for the 10 p.m. time slot. It has been rescheduled for Friday, July 24 at 10 p.m.
However, the trade publication, Broadcasting and Cable, is reporting Fox will not be airing the conference. Instead, Fox will be sticking to its previously scheduled episode of, "So You Think You Can Dance." Fox took a similar approach with President Obama's last prime-time press conference, which took place in April. However, both the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network will air the press conference in its entirety.
It's nice to know where a television network's priorities are. Networks that hold FCC licenses are, after all, trustees of a public trust, and are charged with operating in the public interest.
In a first for the White House, the press conference was announced via Twitter, with the President’s official feed giving the word on Friday afternoon.