60 Minutes Programming Note-Alabama Station Promises To Air "Siegelman Segment" Next Sunday

[kpete]

60 Minutes Programming Note

February 24, 2008

We apologize that you missed the first segment of 60 Minutes tonight featuring a report titled, "The Prosecution of Don Siegelman."

NewsChannel 19 lost our program feed from CBS. Upon investigation, WHNT has learned that the CBS receiver that allows us to receive programming from CBS failed. WHNT engineers responded as quickly as possible to restore the feed at 6:12 p.m.

Our sincere apologies to our viewers across the Tennessee Valley.

To correct the problem, we will re-air the broadcast of that segment during NewsChannel 19 at 10 Sunday night.

http://www.whnt.com/Global/story.asp?S=7918345

***************

Off the Air in Alabama

I am now hearing from readers all across Northern Alabama–from Decatur to Huntsville and considerably on down–that a mysterious “service interruption” blocked the broadcast of only the Siegelman segment of 60 Minutes this evening. The broadcaster is Channel 19 WHNT, which serves Northern Alabama and Southern Tennessee. This station was noteworthy for its hostility to Siegelman and support for his Republican adversary. The station ran a trailer stating “We apologize that you missed the first segment of 60 Minutes tonight featuring ‘The Prosecution of Don Siegelman.’ It was a techincal problem with CBS out of New York.” I contacted CBS News in New York and was told that “there is no delicate way to put this: the WHNT claim is not true. There were no transmission difficulties. The problems were peculiar to Channel 19, which had the signal and had functioning transmitters.” I was told that the decision to blacken screens across Northern Alabama “could only have been an editorial call.” Channel 19 is owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners, who can be contacted through Rhonda Barnat, 212-371-5999 or [e-mail]. Oak Hill Partners represents interests of the Bass family, which contribute heavily to the Republican Party.

http://harpers.org/archive/2008/02/hbc-90002487

[eShirl]

1. n/t

[Lasher]

4. Plus it's a lie, the CBS receiver didn't fail according to CBS.

And they're talking about this past Sunday night, not a week from now.

One more thing: They put this notice up no more than 5 minutes before they ran the segment during one of their news shows last night. So the essentially unannounced airing has already come and gone.

[lynnertic]

2. cue the spy music! n/t

[Botany]

3. What are the odds that the CBS receiver failed exactly @ the start ....

.... of The Siegelman part of the show?

Oh well this guarantees that everbody will want to watch it now and the
politics of the Bass Family who own the station will be understood.

[Frances]

5. And they will air it at 10 pm on a Saturday night?

How transparent can they be?