NBC plans DNC coverage ... and NFL football

NBC says  Brian Williams will anchor “NBC Nightly News” from  Time Warner Cable Arena on Tuesday and Wednesday during the week, and from the Bank of America Stadium on Thursday.  He will also anchor  primetime coverage beginning at 10 p.m.  Tuesday and from 9-11 p.m.  Thursday.   On Wednesday of convention week, NBC will be airing a special weekday edition of "Sunday Night Football" with the Dallas Cowboys at the New York Giants.

 Savannah Guthrie will co-anchor “Today” from Charlotte beginning Wednesday of convention week, while co-host Matt Lauer broadcasts from New York.

Among key contributors will be Tom Brokaw, who has covered every presidential election since 1968,  political director Chuck Todd, correspondents Andrea Mitchell, Kristen Welker and Ron Allen, political editor Mark Murray and  Carrie Dann, Jamie Novogrod and Andrew Rafferty.

NBCNews.com will live stream the conventions.

MSNBC will launch "Daily Rundown" with Chuck Todd at 8 a.m. Labor Day from the EpiCentre courtyard across the street from Time Warner Cable Arena. "Barack Obama: Making History," a documentary hosted by Chris Matthews, is scheduled for  10 p.m. on Labor Day.

"Way Too Early with Willie Geist" at 5:30 a.m. and "Morning Joe" at 6 a.m. will air Tuesday through Friday from  BlackFinn restaurant at the EpiCentre and will be open to those with access to the security zone. "Daily Rundown" with Chuck Todd will air at 9 a.m. and "Andrea Mitchell Reports" will air at 1 p.m. from the arena. 

An outdoor set at EpiCentre will be the home of "Hardball with Chris Matthews" at 5 p.m. during the convention and the network will go live from convention venues from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tuesday through Thursday with hosts Matthews, Rachel Maddow, and discussion from the Rev. Al Sharpton, Ed Schultz, Lawrence O'Donnell, Chris Hayes and Steve Schmidt. Other  key faces in MSNBC's coverage include Alex Wagner, Melissa Harris-Perry, Michael Steele, Erza Klein, Howard Fineman, Ed Rendell and Eugene Robinson.

MSNBC also plans to host viewing parties and offer refreshments at Enso restaurant at the EpiCentre.

Telemundo, NBC's sister network, will carry its broadcasts of "Noticiero Telemundo" from the convention with host Jose Diaz-Balart beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Pelley, Schieffer bring newscasts to DNC

Scott Pelley will anchor the "CBS Evening News" from Charlotte for four days beginning Sept. 3 and Bob Schieffer will broadcast "Face the Nation" from the city on Sept. 2 as part of the network's coverage of the Democratic National Convention. "CBS This Morning" with Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell will also originate from Charlotte.

CBS said Tuesday the network will do an hour newscast Tuesday through Thursday during the convention at 10 p.m. each night.

Among the key journalists on the CBS team will be chief national correspondent Byron Pitts, congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes, White House correspondent Bill Plante and political director John Dickerson. CBSNews.com will live stream the convention daily.

Kimmel earlier, "Nightline" later

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" will move to the 11:35 p.m. slot and the veteran late-night news show "Nightline" will air at 12:35 a.m. beginning in January, ABC announced Tuesday.

It will pit Kimmel directly against Dave Letterman on CBS and Jay Leno on NBC. ABC said that it was taking advantage of momentum in Kimmel's ratings, saying his show was the only network late-night talk show to gain viewers in the last year. Kimmel is up 3 percent, the network said.

“Nightline” will gain a prime-time foothold with an hour show each Friday at 9 p.m. beginning in March, meaning the series “What Would You Do?” will move to a new time slot. 

In Charlotte, "Nightline" consistently draws higher ratings than Leno and Letterman -- about a third more than Letterman and more than double Leno's, said Robert Wendt, research director for WSOC (Channel 9). But Kimmel performs strongly at midnight, too, nearly matching Letterman's ratings among adults 25-54 and nearly doubling Leno's audience in the same demographic.

"Nightline" was launched as a nightly news special hosted by ABC anchor Frank Reynolds on Nov. 8, 1979 to report on the Iran hostage crisis. Ted Koppel soon took over the broadcast and it was formally named "Nightline" in 1980. Koppel retired from the show in 2005.

Bloomberg TV to focus on economy at DNC

Bloomberg Television, which is carried on Time Warner Cable at channel 412, is part of the Bloomberg financial news service, which will be sending 90 reporters, editors and analysts to Charlotte to cover the DNC, twice the number it sent to Denver four years ago.

Bloomberg TV said Friday it plans to focus almost entirely on the economy during its convention coverage.

Among those covering the convention will be Washington editor Al Hunt, analyst Matthew Dowd, Bloomberg View columnist Margaret Carlson, White House correspondents Hans Nichols and Julianna Goldman and Washington correspondents Meghan Hughes and Peter Cook. Trish Regan will anchor primetime coverage titled "The Economy Election."

Bloomberg coverage will also be available at bloomberg.com/tv/.

ABC announces DNC coverage plans

ABC announced Thursday that it will do an hour of coverage at 10 p.m. each night of the Democratic National Convention, led by Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos.

Coverage will extend to all of ABC’s daily newscasts – “Good Morning America,” “World News with Diane Sawyer” and “Nightline” – originating from Charlotte. Stephanopoulos, chief political correspondent and anchor of “This Week,” will co-anchor “GMA” that week.

Among key faces on ABC's team will be senior political correspondent Jonathan Karl on the  convention floor, senior White House correspondent Jake Tapper covering Obama's campaign,  correspondent Cecilia Vega, and analysts Matthew Dowd, George Will, Cokie Roberts and Donna Brazile. ABC News political director Amy Walter and Yahoo! News Washington bureau chief David Chalian will anchor special live-streamed coverage each night with Washington editor Rick Klein contributing reporting and analysis, ABC said.

ABC News will also work with Univision News to examine the growing impact of the Latino vote with  Maria Elena Salinas.

Terry Moran will anchor special editions of “Nightline” from Charlotte, recapping key events of the day. ABC and Yahoo! News will host a “Newsmakers Live” event in Charlotte that will be live-streamed.

Charlotte TV stations warned of threat

Charlotte Mecklenburg Police warned local TV stations this week to be on the lookout for trouble during the Democratic National Convention.

Ana McKenzie, news editor for Charlotte's Creative Loafing, noticed a posting on the web site for the "hactivist" group Anonymous. On CL's blog, McKenzie quoted part of the message to followers: "#protip: You might not want to set up too close to a news truck. Anonymous haz a plan."

Rob Tufano, spokesman for CMPD, sent a message to Charlotte TV stations sharing McKenzie's posting.

"Although cryptic in nature, we as an organization take these veiled threats seriously and ask that your respective news stations do the same. Please remind your staff to be mindful of their surroundings while covering the event, and to pay particular attention to station vehicles."

On the blog, McKenzie had the last word on the threat, in the vernacular in which it was delivered.

"I iz scared," she wrote.

NPR plans nightly specials for DNC

NPR News says it will air nightly specials during the Democratic National Convention, beginning the first night of the DNC and continuing through the week from 8 to 11 p.m. National correspondent Jennifer Ludden will anchor the nightly coverage that will feature key speeches, interviews and analysis. Among those in Charlotte to cover the DNC will be Washington editor Ron Elving, political correspondent Mara Liasson, national correspondent Debbie Elliott, reporters Jeff Brady and Sonari Glinton and White House correspondent Scott Horsley. "All Things Considered" hosts Robert Siegel and Audie Cornish will report from the DNC and correspondents Greg Allen, Cheryl Corley and Ted Robbins will contribute convention coverage to "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition." NPR.org will offer blogging, specials and live streaming.