LOS ANGELES — A half-hour Barack Obama campaign ad will blanket the major broadcast networks tonight — except for ABC.
Attempting to protect its struggling Wednesday lineup, ABC tried to reach an agreement with the Obama campaign to air the commercial on a different night, according to people familiar with the discussions.
ABC had a change of heart, but by the time it decided to make today’s 7 p.m. MDT slot available for the Democratic presidential candidate’s spot, his campaign already had finalized the ad buy, the people said. ABC will air an episode of the hour-long “Pushing Daisies” at that time as scheduled.
The Obama campaign bought time on CBS, NBC and Fox for $1 million per network. In Fox’s case, the deal means pushing back the start time of a suspended World Series Game 6 to 8:35 p.m. EDT, a condition that was approved by Major League Baseball.
