Fox's WTTG Opts to Stream Impeachment Hearing

Fox-owned WTTG-TV Washington was the lone Major network affiliate in the Nation's Capital not to cover the first day of House impeachment inquiry hearings live Wednesday (Nov. 13), though it was streaming the hearing on its Web site.

While the ABC, NBC and CBS affiliates were all preempting regular broadcast fare to carry their network's coverage, WTTG was counterprogramming with its regular lineup at press time, about two hours into the hearing, which was expected to lasted most of the day.

Fox's cable news outlet, Fox News Channel, was covering the hearing live, however.

At the hearing Wednesday, in the House Intelligence Committee, ranking member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said that the inquiry was part of a carefully orchestrated media smear campaign with Democrats auditioning made-for-TV witnesses. 

The witnesses were Bill Taylor, former top Ukraine diplomat, and George Kent, deputy assistant secretary in the European and Eurasian Bureau at State.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.