Broadcasters Busy with Online Tie-Ins for Election 1 November 2010, by DAVID BAUDER , AP Television Writer

Broadcasters busy with online tie-ins for election 1 November 2010, By DAVID BAUDER , AP Television Writer

many places as possible and still have the big event on television at 9:30," said Jon Banner, executive producer of ABC's "World News" and in charge of ABC's special events coverage.

ABC will air election coverage from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET in prime time, anchored by Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos. From 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., the two anchors will stream a live program on ABC's website, on Facebook and the ABC News iPad application.

A separate ABC Web-only newscast, anchored by In this undated file publicity photo released by ABC, John Berman and Claire Shipman, will be streamed Diane Sawyer is shown on the ABC News set in New York. After losing viewers to cable news networks on on Hulu, mobile platforms and Yahoo! beginning at recent election nights, television's biggest broadcasters 7 p.m. are fighting back hard for the midterm contest. ABC, CBS and PBS will each stream part of their election- ABC and CBS, in particular, have moved night coverage on the Web on Tuesday, and NBC plans aggressively toward the Web because, unlike NBC, six hours of results lasting into early Wednesday they don't have a cable outlet for their reporting. It's morning. (AP Photo/ABC, Ida Mae Astute, File) an effort likely to continue.

"We're going to be in more places and more devices two and four years from now than we are (AP) -- After losing viewers to cable news networks this year," Banner said. on recent election nights, television's biggest broadcasters are fighting back hard for the midterm CBS' Katie Couric has done frequent webcasts contest. over the past couple of years and that's being incorporated in the network's plans this season. ABC, CBS and PBS will each stream part of their CBS will be on the air live for one hour in prime election-night coverage on the Web on Tuesday, time, starting at 10 p.m. ET. Couric will anchor a and NBC and ABC plan six hours of results lasting live webcast for an hour after that. into early Wednesday morning. The networks will involve some of the biggest and most popular For an hour before the TV network's telecast, CBS' websites - Google, Facebook, YouTube and "Washington Unplugged" will give election results Yahoo! - in delivering their versions of the news. and analysis online.

Their moves are in marked contrast to recent big CBS will make some of its material available on political nights, when network producers had to YouTube and has a partnership with Google Inc. for fight for limited time while looking jealously at CNN, access to the company's analysis of the political Fox News Channel and MSNBC, and their abilities races. to stay on stories 24 hours a day. "The future is here," said Rick Kaplan, "CBS "It's a full-time effort to reach as many people in as Evening News" executive producer. "You can sit

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here and say, 'I'll dabble,' but that's silly. There's so its coverage, will quadruple the size of the "data much that you can do now." wall" that John King pioneered and display exit polling data with three-dimensional graphics. At some point, viewing habits for events such as election night will become nonlinear, with viewers PBS will use the Web, too, simulcasting its one- not distinguishing between what they see on hour television special with Jim Lehrer on the Web television or computer screens, Kaplan said. The at 11 p.m. Lehrer will do a one-hour webcast before 2008 election was considered a milestone in "two- going on television. On its website, PBS said it was screen" viewing: Viewers following returns on TV doing a "social media stream," highlighting screens but looking up information at the same time comments made by people on Twitter, Facebook online, said Mark Lukasiewicz, head of special and MySpace. events coverage for NBC News. Fox News Channel and MSNBC are also planning "There will be a point at which this kind of coverage coverage sure to please the ideological camps that is offered to people who want it, as opposed to both networks attract. shoving it down the throat of people who are more interested in watching a movie," Kaplan said. The experiments going on with the broadcast Couric will be joined in her coverage by networks, however, are important moments in Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer, senior determining the future of their election night political correspondent Jeff Greenfield and telecasts and for the operations of their news congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes. divisions as a whole.

NBC comes on the air for two hours, starting at 9 ©2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. p.m. ET, for a broadcast anchored by Brian This material may not be published, broadcast, Williams. His predecessor as anchor, Tom Brokaw, rewritten or redistributed. and "Meet the Press" moderator David Gregory, will join him. After a local news break, the NBC News team will be on the air for four hours after that.

"We're up late because that's when the story is going to fully unfold," Lukasiewicz said.

NBC's live election coverage will be embedded on Twitter, allowing computer owners to watch it at home or send copies of videos to their friends online.

The network will also be active on social networks, hosting live chat sessions on its website and asking viewers to send in pictures of their polling places. The latter can be used to make a mosaic of the country on Election Day, and help journalists spot problems that may produce stories.

If the Super Bowl is a chance for advertisers to show off their creativity, Election Night is seen by networks as a place to display whiz-bang technology. NBC is using iPads, touch screens and virtual reality technology to tell its story. CNN, which offered a hologram two years ago as part of

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