Networks Choose Sports Over Clinton, Yeltsin

Neither ABC, CBS nor NBC plan to interrupt coverage of sporting events this afternoon for the news conference with President Clinton and Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin from the Vancouver, Canada, summit at 1:30 p.m.

CBS (Channels 2 and 8) will be carrying the NCAA women’s basketball championship game between Ohio State and Texas Tech; NBC (Channels 4, 36 and 39) the Freeport-McMoRan Golf Classic and ABC (Channel 7) the Valvoline 200 auto race.

All three networks have faced difficult decisions in recent years over whether to air sporting events or interrupt them them for news coverage. Sports fans have complained when a network reduces coverage of a sporting event in favor of a news event, which is often aired live on other broadcast and cable networks.

Newspaper television critics have criticized networks at times for curtailing news coverage in favor of sports.

The Clinton-Yeltsin news conference will be carried live by the CNN and C-SPAN cable networks. Radio coverage in the Los Angeles area will include KNX (1070) and KCRW-FM (89.9).