By David Bauder, Associated Press, 09/29/00
NEW YORK -- NBC on Friday backed away from its decision to broadcast baseball instead of the first presidential debate next week, saying it will offer its stations a choice of playoffs or politics.
The first debate between Al Gore and George W. Bush, scheduled for Tuesday, conflicts with one of the opening games of the baseball playoffs.
NBC said last week that its contract with major league baseball required it to air baseball. But the network received complaints from viewers and some of its affiliate stations, spokeswoman Kassie Canter said.
Now NBC will give its local stations the option of carrying the debate. NBC owns 13 of its local stations and has 222 affiliates.
"This has been a difficult situation," said Randy Falco, NBC network president. "We're trying hard to accommodate all of our audiences. By offering feeds of the debate and the baseball game, we will leave the decision to our local stations and affiliates -- who know their audiences best."
There was no immediate comment from major league baseball.
Canter said she couldn't predict what the affiliates would do. For many, it will come down to whether a local team is involved or not. The playoff schedule has not been set yet and may not be known until Sunday.
Fox has also said it will carry baseball on the two nights when its schedule conflicts with the presidential or vice presidential debates.
But Fox also said that it would carry entertainment programming instead of politics on the two nights where there is no conflict. Instead of Tuesday's first debate, the network will show the premiere of its new drama series, "Dark Angel."
It is the first time one of the four major broadcast networks has scheduled entertainment programming instead of carrying the debates, according to the presidential commission that organizes them.
Fox has argued that the debates will be broadcast on the Fox News Channel. Critics point out that the cable news network is available in only about half the nation's homes, and say that the more networks that carry the debate, the more Americans will watch.
Earlier this week, baseball agreed to a $2.5 billion, six-year contract with Fox, which will have exclusive rights to the postseason starting next year. That means NBC will be out of the baseball business after next month.
