ABC only major TV network not airing Obama infomercial

[LA times]

ABC only major TV network not airing Obama infomercial
It initially balked at the requested time slot but relented too late. The commercial will run on CBS, NBC, Fox and Univision tonight.
By Meg James
October 29, 2008

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's half-hour campaign commercial is scheduled to run tonight on all of the major television networks -- except ABC.

The senator from Illinois this month arranged to buy tonight's 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. slot on CBS, NBC and Spanish-language network Univision. Fox Broadcasting joined the field after Major League Baseball agreed to delay the start time of tonight's World Series game.

Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC, however, initially balked at selling its 8 p.m. slot, saying it didn't want to bump its regularly scheduled series, "Pushing Daisies," even though the whimsical show has been struggling in the ratings.

ABC executives said the earlier decision not to accept the Obama infomercial was due to the problem of filling the second half-hour of the 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. time period -- and not for political reasons.

(Scheduling conflicts did not stop NBC from quickly clearing its hour to make room for the commercial. NBC preempted its hourlong series "Knight Rider" and expanded the game show "Deal or No Deal" from 60 to 90 minutes to fill the extra time.)

CBS pushed "The New Adventures of Old Christine" to 8:30 p.m. and dumped an episode of its new series "Gary Unmarried." Fox persuaded Major League Baseball to delay by about 15 minutes the start time of tonight's game so the network could air the Obama ad at 8 p.m. in the Eastern and Central time zones. In California, the campaign commercial will follow the game.

Then, about 10 days ago, ABC changed its mind. It told the campaign the 8 p.m. slot would be available. "We ultimately offered them the time slot that they had requested," a network spokesman said Tuesday.

ABC had planned to charge slightly more than $1 million for the half hour, a higher rate than what Fox, CBS and NBC charged the Democrat for their time.

But it was too late.

"We had already committed our resources by the time they offered us the time," an Obama campaign spokesman said.

That explanation struck some as odd, however, given that the Obama money-raising machine generated $150 million in donations in September alone. "The Obama campaign has the resources," said Peter Sealey, adjunct marketing professor at the Peter Drucker Graduate Management School at Claremont Graduate University.

Sealey said that if the Obama campaign had bought the time on ABC it would have accomplished the rare feat of what's called a roadblock. Channel flippers would have had a hard time avoiding the ad because it was seemingly everywhere.

"It's amazing that they got everyone -- but not ABC, one of the top-rated television networks," Sealey said. "Maybe the campaign decided that they didn't need the extra ratings points."

James is a Times staff writer.
meg.james@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fi-abc29-2008oct29,0,7323859.story

[Guest]

[Guest]

Gotta love Obama - he keeps spending MORE & MORE money!!!!!!

[/img]

[Guest]

CNN also refused - they wanted to keep balanced reporting to both candidates.

See how the rest of the Networks are just happy to keep collecting the money from Obama and then rewarding them with one sided coverage.

He's buying the presidency - since most americans make decisions based on what they see on TV.

[Guest]

I don't know this seems dangerous to me If we're advocating sanity in spending and the value of a dollar to the less fortunate how does a 30 minute TV show help our cause. I am concerned that this may hurt more than help. Because it will be strengthening the idea of the elite and hollywood where who cares about the millions spent on buying the network time. It's a bad message to send and plays into the other camps hands.

[Guest]

It just shows that Obama raised much more money than McCain did. McCain supporters need to donate more (if possible) or find more people to donate. If it is not possible now, then it just shows McCain is not good at raising money for his campaign, does not have enough supporters or made the wrong decision to take government money.

[Guest]

First, ABC didn't "refuse" to air it -- they just wanted to air it at a time because they would have been disrupting their winning night in the ratings to have the same show as everyone else.

Second, you go, Obama. Of course he's spending more and more. That's what millions of people gave him their money to do. If he didn't spend it and lost he'd be roasted for having not gone for it. I love how some people who prefer Obama are trying to make an issue of this when historically the Republicans have had a huge spending advantage, esepcially when you factor in all their unofficial private "swift boat" orgs that buy ads for them. Now a candidate finally came around that inspired more people to contribute toward his campaign than the collective conservative base and its unfair. You can't have it both ways.

Third, I personally agree he doesn't need the 30 minutes at this point and it will be used by critics to try and play negatively (McCain is already deriding it, while secretly envious, along with his other lies like the claim that Obama already wrote an acceptance speech even though he knows full well that this was proved false). But he bought the time weeks ago before the polls showed such a huge lead. And I don't think it will be enough to hurt him regardless...

[Guest]

[Guest]

I think his air time will help him. I don't have a problem with him spending the money he raised - I agree that is what it is for. I do have a huge problem that he broke his agreement to take only public money and is therefore able to do this because of that broken promise.

I also have a problem that it is a "listen, don't ask" session. It is too one-sided and he does extremely well in the venue of just speaking.

Remember that Corzine bought his way into office, as well, and look where that got NJ.

As far as an acceptance speech, it's a close enough election that both candidates should have one prepared.

[Guest]

I think this is overkill. It erks me that it is an infomercial at 8 pm primetime after the news. They are even delaying a game for this infomercial. He is not our president yet and I think this is poor form and is a wasteful extravagant spending of 5 million dollars. I will be watching "pushing up daisies" on ABC tonight in protest.

I don't see these networks preempting primetime shows for infomercials for "Tommy Vu Realestate Techniques", "Jack LaLanne’s Power Juicer", or even for the "Set it and forget it Rotisserie". These are all selling something and what is Obama trying to sell us?

[Guest]

[NYT]

Obama Infomercial, a Closing Argument to the Everyman
Doug Mills/The New York Times
By JIM RUTENBERG
Published: October 28, 2008

WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama will use his prime-time half-hour infomercial on Wednesday night to make what is effectively a closing argument to a national audience of millions. At times he will speak directly into the camera about his 20-month campaign, at others he will highlight everyday voters, their everyday troubles, and his plans to address them.

Mr. Obama’s campaign agreed to provide The New York Times with a minute-long trailer for the 30-minute program, which is to run on four broadcast networks at 8 p.m. It will be the first time in 16 years that a presidential candidate has bought network time, in prime time, for a prolonged campaign commercial.

The trailer is heavy in strings, flags, presidential imagery and some Americana filmed by Davis Guggenheim, whose father was the campaign documentarian of Robert F. Kennedy. As the screen flashes scenes of suburban lawns, a freight train and Mr. Obama seated at a kitchen table with a group of white, apparently working-class voters, Mr. Obama says: “We’ve seen over the last eight years how decisions by a president can have a profound effect on the course of history and on American lives; much that’s wrong with our country goes back even farther than that.”

Then, while standing before a stately desk and an American flag, Mr. Obama, in a suit, says: “We’ve been talking about the same problems for decades and nothing is ever done to solve them. For the past 20 months, I’ve traveled the length of this country, and Michelle and I have met so many Americans who are looking for real and lasting change that makes a difference in their lives.”

Jim Margolis, Mr. Obama’s senior advertising strategist, said the program would then go on to feature “the stories of four different Americans, or American families, and kind of what they’re confronting.”

He said the stories would highlight “the challenges people are facing and what we should do in terms of solutions.” He said Mr. Obama would also share the story of his mother, “who struggled through her bout with breast cancer and the difficulty she had with her insurance company, to help viewers understand why his health care reform program is what it is.”

It will also have a live component, featuring Mr. Obama at a rally in Florida. The infomercial has been under production for weeks in the Virginia office of Mark Putnam, whose firm, Murphy-Putnam, is part of the Obama advertising team.

................................

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/us/politics/29obama.html?bl&ex=1225425600&en=63df0ce22e52f090&ei=5087%0A

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Guest]

TWO WORDS....


JIMMY CARTER !!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest]