Fox Won’t Show Commercials on 9-11
The Fox broadcasting network and Fox News Channel said Wednesday they won’t accept advertising for their Sept. 11 coverage marking the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
The decision is expected to cost the two networks a combined $5 million.
“Maybe it’s because I live in Park Slope (Brooklyn), but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was not the right thing to do to solicit advertising,” said Paul Rittenberg, head of sales for Fox News Channel.
Most of Sept. 11 on Fox News Channel will be filled with programming commemorating the events a year earlier. Fox’s broadcast network plans a two-hour prime-time special that night.
Advertisers have expressed a general reluctance to include their messages in what is expected to be somber programming that day. The Wall Street Journal reported that Dell Computer Corp. won’t advertise on Sept. 11-related coverage, and Pepsi won’t advertise on any program that day.
Fox’s competitors say they are still seeking both advertisers or sponsors who will underwrite the cost of coverage that day, and suggest Fox is simply giving up early.
“They may say, `Fox can’t find someone to sponsor it,'” Rittenberg said. “Ask them who they’re going to find.”
None of the networks have publicly announced advertisers or sponsors, although some are privately confident there will be some.
Rittenberg suggested advertisers may only participate on Sept. 11 in return for price breaks during other times.
CBS contracted with Nextel Communications Inc. to underwrite a commercial-free airing of its March documentary on the World Trade Center. The network will repeat the documentary prior to Sept. 11, but doesn’t have a sponsor yet.
Several networks went commercial-free for four days during nonstop news coverage of the attacks last year, costing the industry an estimated $200 million in ad revenue.
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