Exclusive: Obama buys half-hour of network primetime

[Truth2Tell]

Source: the Live Feed

October 09, 2008

Barack Obama has purchased a half-hour of airtime on CBS, sources confirm.

The Obama campaign will air a half-hour primetime special on Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m.

Sources say the Obama camp is also in talks with NBC and Fox. NBC is said to be very near a deal. With Fox, the matter is likely to remain uncertain as the time period could conflict with Game 6 of the World Series.

A CBS spokesperson declined comment. The buy will push comedy "The New Adventures of Old Christine" to 8:30 p.m. and pre-empt "Gary Unmarried." The buy is being placed by Washington-based ad firm GMMB.

Read more: http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/10/obama-primetime.html

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. fuckin' A!

Love. It. :P

[wryter2000]

21. Wow

Just wow. :wow:

Some of those dollars came from me.

[soulcore]

2. And Obama delivers the knockout blow just days before the election! n/t

[A-Schwarzenegger]

3. I'm not happy to see "Gary Unmarried" bounced.

[GinaMaria]

30. both Gary and Christine will be fine

If it was * messing up the schedule, I'd be furious, but Obama I like to listen to.

[Liberalatus]

34. lol

I think Gary might be okay...

[Pattib]

4. Any details about the "show"? To much to hope he takes on John McCain's lies?

[FlyingSquirrel]

9. He probably expects some kind of last-minute attack

or "October surprise" and just wants to be sure he has the time scheduled to respond.

[movonne]

13. I think it is going to be like a fireside chat....all positive...he doesn't

have to go after mc cain...that is not what people want..

[WriteDown]

5. Selling Shamwows?

:evilgrin:

just think of that whenever someone buys a half hour block.

[mikeytherat]

11. Hey, now. ShamWows are made in Germany. You know the Germans, they always make great stuff.

:rofl:

mikey_the_rat

[TrogL]

6. That's gotta cost some serious cash

To counter, Fox would have to cut McCain a sweetheart deal, probably in violation of campaign finance laws.

[drm604]

7. Is it a good idea to run it against the World Series?

It seems like that would cut into the potential audience.

[bigworld]

8. He should buy some ads on the world series

would probably be a better use of $$$. IMHO.

[Pab Sungenis]

10. If for nothing else Obama deserves to be elected

just for saving us from a half hour of "Gary Unmarried."

[Robb]

15. Indeed. Finally, pre-emption I can git behind!

:D

But in all seriousness, let's face it, if he can keep what it's about a secret, which his campaign has shown itself very good at doing, everyone and their dog will tune in to see what he has to say -- 6th game of the world series notwithstanding.

[mcjackson]

12. this is when...

...he will reveal himself as the antichrist. J/K!!!!

[mcollier]

19. Republicans have already done that for him

And the people that believe it weren't gonna vote for Obama anyway...


There must be something else he has to say to the American People....

Obama = Country First

McCain = Crush on Palin (What else could there be)?

[TrogL]

44. I AM THE ANTI-CHRIST!!

...and people still have not learned how to spell it. The hypen is there for a reason (which I've temporarily forgotten).

[vanbean]

14. I hope the campaign keeps this secretive

let the McCain camp wonder about it and nervous. I bet McCain is beyond pissed about it.

[global1]

16. Only Problem - It Gives The Repugs 6 Days To Respond, Rebutt and

refute. You can bet the Repugs will have all the RW pundits and McCain surrogates out right after this airs and for the remaining days before the election - and they will be spewing all kinds of crap.

[FogerRox]

39. Not the issue. Not what Obama will do

[beac]

17. I hope they don't waste their $$ on FOX.

Wonder why no mention of ABC??

[KamaAina]

18. Palin: "We are a nation of Gary Unmarried watchers, not Barack Hussein Obama watchers."

"For this hockey mom with lipstick, untested new sitcoms are a far purer reflection of my American values than some un-American elitist from Harvard who pals around with terrorists." :puke:

[NYC Liberal]

41. After reading the REAL news story that Palin issued her own report

clearing herself in the Troopergate investigation...

I have NO DOUBT that will be very close to the real quote. It's really scary how much of a parody of themselves they've become.

[OakCliffDem]

20. Obama is just pounding the nails into the McCain Campaign coffin

[ramapo]

22. Fantastic!

I'm going to contribute again to help fund this move. I'd like to say they took my idea as I posted some weeks ago that Obama should go for a Perot-style prime-time talk.

[HopeHoops]

24. Me too.

[mantis49]

33. I was thinking earlier today that it's time for me to

send some more money. I have to get right on that now.

[HopeHoops]

23. Screw "game 6", it conflicts with their ideology!

[jovi]

25. I have an Obama TV station already on Dish station 73 he

bought the station and it runs his life story, lays out his plan for a strong and prosperous America. You can see his plan to revitalize the economy and put middle class first. It is called Obama TV. I have no idea what it costs but it has been running for at least a week now 24/7. I love it. But for people without Dish I guess it doesn't help.

[kirby]

26. Fox News offers McCain entire network for month of Oct. n/t

[IsItJustMe]

32. Isn't that the truth. Must be nice for a party to be able to pimp out a news channel to spew their

propaganda.

[kitty1]

27. Expect the October surprise on Oct. 28th

[RamboLiberal]

28. Sweet - also NBC and MSNBC

ABC News' John Berman Reports: Barack Obama is ready for primetime.

The Obama campaign has bought a half hour block of primetime television -- from 8-8:30pm ET -- on Wednesday, Oct. 29, on CBS, NBC, and MSNBC, according to television industry sources.

The bold buy, first reported by the Hollywood Reporter and featured on the Drudge Report, will put the Obama show uninterrupted to American television sets across the country less than one week before election day. The Obama camp remains in talks with other networks to do the same on other channels.

Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of the Campaign Media Analysis Group or CMAG, estimates that 30 minutes of primetime network television would cost at least $500,000.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/obama-buys-prim.html

[damntexdem]

29. Fox may offer him time on Nov. 5.

;-)

Will Obama really stick in the knife?

But will rightwing millionaires start buying up their own primetime blocs to smear Obama?

And 8pm ET? He'll compete with Keith! (Unless Keith simply shows the Obama Show.)

[GinaMaria]

31. Thank you to everyone who donated money to Obama's campaign

Donations are the only way he could do this.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

35. Damn! I've got a gig...

I guess I'll have to figure out how to set up the TIVO box...

[sarcasmo]

36. Kick

[Rancid Crabtree]

37. Amazing

...has this ever been done before? I hope I don't fall asleep on the couch like I did tonight and miss half of it...

[FogerRox]

38. Anniversary of black tuesday Oct 29th

[Peace Patriot]

40. Ah, FogerRox, you are such a fox! nt

[Peace Patriot]

42. Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929...

Three phrases--Black Thursday, Black Monday, and Black Tuesday—are used to describe this collapse of stock values. All three are appropriate, for the crash was not a one-day affair. The initial crash occurred on Black Thursday (October 24, 1929), but it was the catastrophic downturn of Black Monday and Tuesday (October 28 and 29, 1929) that precipitated widespread panic and the onset of unprecedented and long-lasting consequences for the United States. The collapse continued for a month.

(snip)

In the days leading up to Black Tuesday, the market was severely unstable. Periods of selling and high volumes of trading were interspersed with brief periods of rising prices and recovery. Economist and author Jude Wanniski later correlated these swings with the prospects for passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which was then being debated in Congress.<15> After the crash, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) recovered early in 1930, only to reverse again, reaching a low point of the great bear market in 1932. The Dow did not return to pre-1929 levels until late 1954,<16> and was lower at its July 8, 1932 level than it had been since the 1800s.<17>

“ Anyone who bought stocks in mid-1929 and held onto them saw most of his or her adult life pass by before getting back to even. ” —Richard M. Salsman<18>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Crash_of_1929

----------

The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (sometimes known as the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act)<1> was an act signed into law on June 17, 1930, that raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels. In the United States 1,028 economists signed a petition against this legislation, and after it was passed, many countries retaliated with their own increased tariffs on U.S. goods, and American exports and imports plunged by more than half. In the opinion of most economists, the Smoot-Hawley act was partially responsible for the severity of the Great Depression.<2><3>

---

It was Republicans, of course--both Smoot and Hawley, and Hoover, trying to protect big business and the very rich, at the expense of working class jobs (although Henry Ford opposed it). The Smoot-Hawley Act slashed world trade by 30%. By 1933, unemployment in the U.S. hit twenty-five percent!

---

Although the tariff act was passed after the stock-market crash of 1929, many economic historians consider the political discussion leading up to the passing of the act a factor in causing the crash, the recession that began in late 1929, or both, and its eventual passage a factor in deepening the Great Depression.<10> Unemployment was at 7.8% in 1930 when the Smoot-Hawley tariff was passed, but it jumped to 16.3% in 1931, 24.9% in 1932, and 25.1% in 1933.<11>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot-Hawley_Tariff_Act

---

With the haunting resemblances to the Great Crash we've seen the last few weeks, it is certainly an appropriate moment--and October 29 an appropriate anniversary--for a rallying "we've got nothing to fear but fear itself" sort of speech. I hope that's what Obama has in my mind. You called it, FogerRox!

[FogerRox]

43. Memory cells intact,....... Check. LOL

[bemildred]

45. Obama's Primetime Buy Comes at Bargain Price

Barack Obama's presidential campaign is getting a bargain for the half-hour of Oct. 29 primetime it's bought on CBS and NBC.

The Democratic presidential candidate's camp is paying under $1 million to each network to run the programming it will produce for the first half-hour of primetime that Wednesday night, less than a week before the election. This is considerably less than the networks would otherwise get for the 10-11 ad "units" they run during that half hour, between 8 and 8:30 p.m.

Obama is not getting a price break; the campaign will be charged what's called the "lowest unit cost," in compliance with federal law.

What will Obama get for his not quite $2-million? Wednesday night at 8 has not been a ratings bonanza; this week, CBS averaged 7.2 million voting age (18 years and up) viewers for the Julia Louis-Dreyfus sitcom "The New Adventures of Old Christine," while NBC clocked 5.7 million viewers in that age bracket for its resuscitation of "Knight Rider." Meanwhile, ABC averaged another 5.2 million voting-age viewers with "Pushing Daisies" and Fox another 9.2 million with "Bones."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/10/obamas_primetime_buy_comes_at.html