Show Will Go on at ESPN

The NFL does not plan to interrupt its game for President Bush's 9/11 address to the nation Monday night.

It will be in the midst of a contest between the Washington Redskins and Minnesota Vikings, being played in Washington, when the 9 p.m. address is scheduled.

ESPN, which is covering the game at its inaugural Monday night football broadcast, would not ordinarily cover the presidential address, so will not break away from coverage for the President either, though co-owned ABC is broadcasting the speech

But the game will have plenty of 911-themed material, according to an NFL spokesman.

Pre-game ceremonies will include a moment of silence, a joint military color guard, representatives from local fire and police, and a joint military chorus for the national anthem.

Presiding at the coin toss will be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, and there will be a flyover of Apache helicopters.

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.