It’s Debate Night—oh, what a night. After weeks of anticipation, preparation and speculation, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are meeting at CNN’s Atlanta studios for their first debate of the 2024 election cycle.
Advanced polling indicates that the ratings-challenged network will experience blockbuster viewership for the Biden/Trump rematch. And while the first debate of the 2020 election was a notoriously cringe-inducing affair, CNN has put rules in place to theoretically keep the candidates in check, including muted mics and no studio audience that moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash have to worry about monitoring.
Obviously, CNN is the main destination where viewers can watch the debate, which starts at 9 p.m. ET. Prior to that, audiences can check out the Debate Night in America special starting 7 p.m. and hosted by Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett. Other CNN talent joining the pre-debate festivities include John King, Abby Phillip, Audie Cornish, Chris Wallace, Kaitlan Collins, and Kasie Hunt.
Once the match-up concludes, Cooper & Co. will return to the air for analysis and commentary. Laura Coates will beam in from Michigan with focus group reactions, while David Chalian looks at real-time polls and Daniel Dale provides post-debate fact-checking.
But you don’t have to necessarily set your dial to CNN to watch this presidential rumble in Atlanta. The network is making the debate available to simulcast and over 20 outlets are taking them up on the offer. During the 9 p.m. simulcast and its two planned commercial breaks, those networks are prohibited from featuring their own anchors and coverage, but they can book their own advertisements.
Here’s a comprehensive list of all the networks carrying the debate and their coverage plans. (All times ET.)
(Courtesy ABC News)
- World News Tonight anchor David Muir will host Battle for the White House starting at 7 p.m. Linsey Davis, Mary Bruce and Martha Raddatz will provide additional coverage. Davis will also anchor pre and post-debate installments of her ABC News Live series, Prime.
- Additional coverage is planned on ABC’s various digital platforms, including ABC News Digital, 538 and ABC Audio. The morning after the debate, viewers can wake up to a live episode of The View that looks back on the debate.
- Muir and Davis will moderate ABC News’ presidential debate, currently scheduled for Sept. 10.
BET
- The Viacom-owned cable channel will simulcast the 9 p.m. presidential debate.
Bloomberg
- Kailey Leinz and Joe Mathieu will host special coverage starting at 8 p.m. on Bloomberg Television and Radio. David Gura will contribute on the ground reports from Atlanta and Rick Davis and Kristen Hawn will be on hand for additional commentary. Coverage will continue following the debate.
(Courtesy CBS News)
- Multi-platform coverage begins at 6 p.m. with a special episode of The Daily Report with John Dickerson on CBS 24/7. Liner programming kicks in at 6:30 with the Norah O’Donnell-anchored CBS Evening News airing from the network’s Election HQ Studios in Times Square.
- O’Donnell will also be part of an 8 p.m. streaming debate preview that leads into the 9 p.m. simulcast. She’ll return to CBS News 24/7 at 11 p.m. to lead post-debate analysis.
- Debate coverage will be plentiful across CBSNews.com, the CBS News app, CBS News Radio and the network’s social channels.
C-SPAN
- Viewers can tune in at 8 p.m. as Greta Brawner takes pre-debate viewer calls and looks at social media reactions. The simulcast will air on C-SPAN, C-SPAN2, C-SPANRadio, C-
The First
- The conservative-leaning network home to such personalities as Bill O’Reilly and Sean Spicer will simulcast the debate at 9 p.m.
(Courtesy Fox News)
- Coverage begins at 7 p.m. with an early edition of Jesse Watters Primetime. Fox News Democracy 2024 kicks off at 8 p.m., featuring chief political anchor Bret Baier, Watters, Martha MacCallum, Dana Perino and Sean Hannity from the Atlanta spin room.
- Following the simulcast, Hannity will lead Fox’s coverage at 11 p.m., followed at midnight by FOX News @ Night anchored by Trace Gallagher.
- In addition to FNC, the debate will be simulcast on the Fox broadcast network and Fox Business.
- Live coverage begins at 8:30 p.m. with April Ryan and Natasha S. Alford hosting a deep dive into the election year issues facing the Black community. Ryan and Alford will return following the debate for additional analysis and commentary. They will be joined by theGrio columnists Touré and Michael Harriot.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear for an exclusive interview on Dr. Phil Primetime at 7:30 p.m. A special episode of The News on Merit Street will air after the debate with anchors Kris Gutierrez, Lyndsay Keith, and Loni Coombs offering commentary and analysis.
(Courtesy MSNBC)
- Rachel Maddow leads the network’s primetime debate coverage starting at 7 p.m., joined by Chris Hayes, Joy Reid and Nicole Wallace among many others. The same crew will return at 11 p.m. following the debate and keep the conversation going until 1 a.m.
- MSNBC will also stream its simulcast on MSNBC on Peacock and MSNBC.com.
- Lester Holt and Savannah Guthrie anchor network coverage starting at 9 p.m. and will lead post-debate coverage as well.
- Tom Llamas hosts special NBC News Now coverage at 7 p.m. joined by Kristen Welker and Hallie Jackson. They’ll return to the streaming service at 11 p.m.
- NBCNews.com will feature continuously updated stories from its extensive roster of reporters. CNBC.com will cover via a live blog and livestream the debate at 9 p.m.
Newsmax and Newsmax 2
- Pre-debate coverage begins at 8 p.m. hosted by Rob Schmitt, Mercedes Schlapp and Jenn Pellegrino. Coverage will continue following the debate with commentary from body language experts and Republican vice presidential contenders.
(Courtesy NewsNation)
- Coverage begins at 8 p.m. with Debate Night with Chris Cuomo. The anchor will return following the debate to emcee a look back at the highlights and lowlights along with general analysis and commentary.
- Guests include former Fox News personalities Geraldo Rivera and Bill O’Reilly, as well as Adam Carolla, Anthony Scaramucci, Governor Chris Sununu, Mehdi Hasan and Nina Turner.
OAN
- Daniel Baldwin and Monica Page will provide live coverage before and after the debate, along with additional insights from other OAN anchors.
- PBS News’ simulcast will air on local PBS stations and stream on PBS News Hour‘s website and social platforms. News Hour co-anchors Geoff Bennett and Amna Nawaz will oversee post-debate coverage with reporting from the PBS News team.
(Courtesy Scripps News)
Scripps News
- After taking the Midnight Van to Georgia, the Scripps News political trio of Andrew Rafferty, Joe St. George and Serena Marshall will be featured in pre and post-debate coverage.
- Errol Louis will host post-debate analysis and commentary featuring a cross-section of cross-country Spectrum News reporters including Taylor Popielarz, Josh Robin and Karina Kling.
- Coverage begins at 8 p.m. with a pre-debate episode of Noticias Telemundo Ahora. Julio Vaqueiro will be leading coverage, joined by Cristina Londoño and Lourdes Hurtado.
- Noticias Telemundo Ahora will return to the air after the debate with a team of political analysts, Atlanta-based correspondents and live reactions from undecided Latino voters in Los Angeles.
Univision
- Multi-platform coverage begins at 8 p.m. on ViX’s Noticias 24/7 streaming news channel with the Línea de Fuego Pre-Debate Special, hosted by Luis Carlos Vélez and Andrea Linares.
- At 8:50 p.m. Jorge Ramos and Ilia Calderón, will preview the debate, which will air in a Spanish-language translation on Univision and stream on ViX. Ramos and Calderón will also host post-debate coverage featuring a focus group of undecided Latino voters in Arizona.