President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are likely to interrupt one another during CNN ‘s telecast of the first presidential debate in the run-up to the 2024 election. But they will also be cut off by something else. CNN plans to run commercials during the event, according to two people familiar with the matter, which has run free of ads for many years under the management of the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates.
The candidates have in this cycle opted to forego the CPD’s traditional structure, which calls for a series of debates to be held closer to the November election. They have instead come to separate terms with CNN for a debate to be held on June 27 and with ABC News for a debate to be held on September 10. CNN’s plan to include commercials was noted in rules for access that were recently issued to members of the DC Television News Pool and subscribers of its feed as well as to CNN’s affiliates.
What’s more, networks will have the option of selling their own commercials instead of running the ones that air on CNN. CNN has yet to offer information about how many ad breaks the debate will contain and how long they will be, according to one of these people. CNN declined to make executives available for comment.
The unique plan could see TV networks that aren’t managing the debate make more money off it than CNN. The Warner Bros. Discovery-backed cable-news outlet has been bedeviled in recent months by a lackluster program schedule .
