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Thursday, October 2, 2008
Veep debate …. KXAN update
A couple of big reminders, as if you need them, for tonight:
The one and only vice presidential debate is tonight at 8. PBS’s Gwen Ifill, who broke her ankle Monday while carrying all of her research material, will moderate.
Some conservative radio hosts started tossing rocks at Ifill yesterday over a book she’s been working on for about a year tracing the evolution of black politicians in America.
As you might imagine (given the timing), this is nothing but noise. Republicans knew about the book when the Presidential Debate Commission proposed Ifill as the moderator several months ago, and they signed off on her. Yesterday John McCain said he was certain she would do a fine job because “she’s an objective professional.”
This smackdown promises to be a bigger ratings grabber than the presidential debates.
Gov. Sarah Palin, who remains something of a mystery, will stand toe to toe with Sen. Joe Biden. Will Palin hold up under 90 minutes of national scrutiny? Will Biden stick his foot in his mouth? Will they look at each other? Will the two of them shake hands or hug when it’s all over?
We’ll soon find out. The veep debate can be seen on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Fox Broadcasting, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNN and C-SPAN.
KXAN likely to drop off Time Warner Cable tonight
Remember, if you’re watching NBC programming tonight at midnight and the picture suddenly goes dark, it’s not your television. Don’t leap up and start beating your brand new HDTV.
NBC affiliate KXAN, which is owned by LIN TV, has been negotiating a retransmission agreement with Time Warner Cable for several weeks. It hasn’t gone well, and apparently the two sides are at an impasse.
KXAN and LIN want the cable company to pay (less than a penny a day per subscriber) for retransmission; Time Warner argues that KXAN’s signal is free, over-the-air to customers and therefore should be free to subscribers.
The existing contract expires tonight at midnight, and it is likely that KXAN will be dropped from Time Warner until an agreement is reached.
Remember, you can watch NBC shows online (nbc.com), on a TV that’s off cable (with an antenna), on any of the satellite services (Dish, DirecTV), AT&T’s U-verse or on some of the smaller cable companies that might be available in your area (Grande to the south, Suddenlink to the north).
By the way, KNVA, which operates under a licensing agreement with KXAN, is NOT affected. KNVA’s programming of CW and MyNetwork shows will continue. Those are separate agreements with the cable company, so KNVA (Cable Channel 12) stays on Time Warner.
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