Nat Geo Schedules Bin Laden Marathon

The National Geographic Channel said Monday it would devote much of this week's primetime lineup to shows about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks that prompted it, calling it "a comprehensive look at the FBI's most wanted terrorist."

That lineup starts May 2 at 7 p.m. with The Final Report: Osama Bin Laden Dead or Alive, about his escape from Tora Bora in 2001, followed by CIA Confidential: Hunt for bin Laden. Other titles include Inside 9-11: War on America, and Inside the Green Berets.

Each night will feature one or more bin Laden or terrorism-related show, all of it library product, but with graphics and billboards to tie it to this week's killing of the Al Qaeda leader, according to channel spokesperson Russell Howard, who says there will also be some new voice-overs and footage as well.

The special programming culminates with a marathon rerun of all those shows on Saturday, starting at 2 p.m.

The channel is also pursuing new programming on Bin Laden based on the recent events, said Howard, which would be for the "near future."

Bin Laden was killed in a U.S. raid on his Pakistani compound May 1.

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.