Major TV Networks Plan to Selectively Air House Debate

The three major television networks plan to air portions of Thursday’s House debate on whether to impeach President Clinton, with PBS being the only national broadcast outlet planning gavel-to-gavel coverage.

Representatives of ABC, CBS and NBC said they will show a yet-to-be determined amount of the debate Thursday morning, followed at the least by updates throughout the day. How long the networks stay with the proceedings “really depends on what’s going on and what the level of the debate is,” said ABC News spokeswoman Eileen Murphy.

Blanket coverage will be available on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and C-SPAN--cable outlets that didn’t exist 24 years ago when the Watergate hearings took place.

All the networks intend to televise live the full House vote on impeachment, which could occur as early as Thursday.

While not planning uninterrupted coverage of the debate, all the networks--including Fox--will make continuous feeds available for their affiliates to use. The networks also will recap the hearing in other news programming, such as ABC’s “Nightline.”

In addition to its gavel-to-gavel coverage, PBS (KCET in Los Angeles) will offer an expanded version of “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” and a late-night show wrapping up the day’s events.

The impeachment story hasn’t boosted ratings for the major networks, but it has proved to be a boon to cable channels. During the House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearings last week, CNN’s ratings more than doubled, reaching an average of about 1 million homes.