The president and Joe Biden were supposed to meet Thursday for their second debate hosted by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. Following the president’s diagnosis, the commission switched it to a virtual meeting, but Trump declined to participate. Biden then agreed to appear on ABC. Critics of NBC questioned why the network scheduled Trump for the same time, making viewers have to choose if they were interested in seeing both candidates react live in a similar format.
Television news networks will benefit from a U.S. presidential race that may not be decided on election night. At least two networks, Fox News Channel and NBC, are expecting or already seeing high demand for the week following election night. Fox News is also offering its major sponsors the option to extend their campaigns if election results are not in after that first week.
