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President Donald Trump's highly anticipated primetime address to the nation on Thursday, July 16, will not be airing on all the major networks.The White House did not elaborate on why the president would be addressing the nation at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Thursday, though Trump said from the Oval Office on July 14 that he would discuss the contentious issue of "free and fair elections." (USA TODAY will be streaming the speech on YouTube and providing live updates and analysis here.)ABC and NBC have since confirmed they will air his speech on their respective streaming platforms, rather than broadcast it live on their networks."ABC News will run President Trump’s speech on ABC News Live and ABC News Radio with comprehensive, anchored coverage," a spokesperson for ABC tells USA TODAY. "We will also cover the speech in our regular network newscasts and, as always, our Special Report team is fully prepared to break into network programming to deliver live updates and reporting should significant developments occur."NBC will provide live coverage of the president’s speech on their streaming platform, NBC News NOW, and plans to air a special report on the network following his remarks.As for CNN, the network intends to cover the speech as a "news event" on its live broadcast, with a live feed of Trump's speech available on its website and CNN's All Access streaming platform."CNN will cover the President’s speech as a news event, and monitor it for news developments, providing analysis and commentary from CNN experts who cover elections, intelligence and the FBI," a spokesperson for the network tells USA TODAY. "A live feed of the speech, alongside analysis and expert commentary, will be available on CNN.com and available on CNN’s All Access streaming platform."A CBS spokesperson told USA TODAY the network would air a special report at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, and stream the speech live on CBSNews.com.Fox did not disclose their coverage plans ahead of time. However, the network did broadcast the speech live on TV once it started, though it cut away after four minutes. It was then available to stream on FoxNews.com.Trump's speech comes amid his continued push of unsubstantiated claims that his 2020 election loss to former President Joe Biden was stolen, while also alleging, without evidence and ahead of the November elections, that Democrats "cheat" to win.Previously, ABC News has aired speeches by the president when the Trump administration has asked for time, including both terms' inaugural addresses to Congress and the April 21 discussion on the war with Iran.However, this isn't the first time that networks have chosen not to air presidential addresses on broadcast. Similar actions were taken in 2014 for President Barack Obama's Nov. 20 address on immigration, as well as President Biden's Sept. 1, 2022 speech on the "Battle for the Soul of the Nation".
