Fox News to Forgo Sept. 11 Ads
By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 8/1/2002 2:11:00 PM
Fox News Channel Thursday became the first national cable network to announce that it will forgo all advertising during its extensive Sept. 11 coverage reflecting the anniversary of the terrorist attacks in Washington, D.C., and New York.
The 24-hour news network will take close to a $1 million advertising hit due to its actions, but Fox News senior vice president of advertising sales Paul Rittenberg said the network felt that it was the right thing to do given the anniversary of the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.
'Sept. 11 is a solemn day and one for reflection,' Rittenberg said. 'We considered it inappropriate to include commercials on that day.'
He also believed other networks could follow suit, although competing 24-hour cable news networks are still contemplating airing a limited schedule of commercials or attracting sponsors to underwrite daylong programming.
On a local-news-network front, Time Warner Cable of New York City's New York 1 News network will go commercial-free for nearly two days during its extensive Sept. 11 coverage.
Beginning Sept. 10, the local news network will air its wall-to-wall coverage on the WTC attack sans ads, it said. NY1's reports will fall under the moniker 9/11: Reflect, Remember, Rebuild.
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