Fox News To Simulcast CNN Debate, Provide Pre- And Post-Event Coverage — Update

UPDATE: Fox News is the latest network to announce that it would simulcast CNN‘s presidential debate next week.

The Fox News coverage will start at 7 p.m. ET with an early edition of Jesse Watters Primetime. That will be followed by pre-debate coverage with Bret Baier, Martha MacCallum, Dana Perino and Watters in New York, and Sean Hannity from the spin room in Atlanta. They will be joined by political analyst Brit Hume and contributors Kellyanne Conway, Richard Fowler and Karl Rove. Aishah Hasnie will be reporting from the spin room, Peter Doocy will be at the White House and Chad Pergram will look back at how the Commission on Presidential Debates, which had sponsored the events since 1988, was shut out of the process this cycle. The simulcast will start at 9 p.m. ET, followed by Hannity from the spin room in Atlanta and then Fox News @ Night with Trace Gallagher. Fox Business Network will also feature the debate via Fox News.

Shannon Bream will anchor the network’s coverage on Fox Broadcasting network, which also will simulcast the debate. Fox Nation will feature a stream of the Fox network coverage, with Rachel Campos-Duffy providing pre- and post- debate analysis with Charlie Hurt, Marci McCarthy and Matt Towery. FoxNews.com also will livestream the Fox broadcasting feed of the CNN event.

CNN is making its feed available to other networks, with a set of conditions, first reported by the Los Angeles Times. There will be two commercial breaks, but outlets can insert their own spots; they just can’t feature their own anchors and personalities during the 90-minute debate itself.

So far, ABC News, NewsNation, PBS News and C-SPAN have announced plans to carry the simulcast.

BIden and Trump are bypassing the previous organizers of general election matchups: The Commission on Presidential Debates. The group, which has sponsored the debates since 1988, had made its feed available across networks and streaming platforms.

PREVIOUSLY: PBS News is the latest network to announce that it will simulcast next week’s CNN presidential debate, with NewsHour anchors Geoff Bennett and Amna Nawaz leading coverage.

CNN is making its feed of the June 27 available to other networks, with ABC News so far also announcing a simulcast.

Bennett and Nawaz will have post-debate coverage and analysis, with reporting from Laura Barrón-López, Lisa Desjardins and Pamela Kirkland. Amy Walter, Faiz Shakir and Kevin Madden will provide analysis.

PBS News, by the way, is the rebranded name for PBS NewsHour. The nightly newscast will retain the same name, but the news operations will be under the umbrella of PBS News.

PREVIOUSLY: ABC News will simulcast next week’s CNN presidential debate, with plans for pre- and post-debate coverage led by anchor David Muir.

The network will provide a one hour special report on the June 27 event starting at 8 p.m. ET on the broadcast network and ABC News Live, followed by the CNN debate at 9 p.m. ET. After that ends, the network and streaming channel will provide post-debate programming with analysis of the candidates and the state of the race.

CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are moderating the debate itself.

CNN is making its debate feed available to other networks for simulcast. Last month, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump accepted the network’s invite to debate, breaking with a 36-year tradition in which the general election events were hosted by the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates. The commission’s debates were available across networks and platforms, with the group in charge of selecting its own moderators.

Joining Muir will be Linsey Davis, Mary Bruce, Martha Raddatz, Jonathan Karl, Pierre Thomas, Matt Gutman, Rebecca Jarvis, Rachel Scott, Terry Moran, James Longman, Mireya Villarreal and Rick Klein. Donna Brazile and Reince Priebus will provide analysis.

Davis will also anchor a special edition of Prime with Linsey Davis at 7 p.m. ET. White House correspondent MaryAlice Parks and deputy political director Averi Harper will report throughout the day. 

Muir and Davis will moderate the second presidential debate on Sept. 10. The network also is making that debate feed available to other networks.

The debate will be held at CNN studios in Atlanta without an audience. There will be two commercial breaks, and mics will be muted when it is not a candidate’s turn to speak.