Major TV networks and cable news channels will not air wall-to-wall coverage of the 2026 Republican midterm convention, as the event’s organizers prepare to compete for primetime viewers with the first two games of the NFL regular season.
Sources familiar confirmed to the Washington Examiner that CBS and CNN will not cover a majority of the two-day convention live starting Sept. 9 in Dallas.
A source familiar with CBS’s coverage plans, for example, told the Washington Examiner that the network will have correspondents in Texas who will report on the convention “closely,” but that it does not “have plans for anything major.”
“We’ll likely cover it similarly to how we cover a typical Trump speech/Vance speech,” the source said. “Will report on it, certainly.”
Another source at CNN told the Washington Examiner that the cable channel “will be covering the RNC Midterm Convention and bringing the newsiest moments and speeches to our audiences.”
NBC is also unlikely to cover much of the convention live, at least on Wednesday, considering it has the rights to the season-opening game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. The Super Bowl rematch is scheduled for 8:20 p.m. Eastern.
Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to address the convention around 9 p.m. the same day.
NBC pays more than $2 billion annually as part of its multiyear broadcast rights deal to air Sunday Night Football and the NFL opening kickoff game.
President Donald Trump, who is poised to appear at the convention on Wednesday before delivering his own address on Thursday, is due to speak during an NFL game too — a divisional matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, which will stream on Netflix from 8:35 p.m. Eastern.
The TV coverage plans are another distinction between the midterm convention, which is being described by the organizing Republican National Committee as “Trump-a-palooza,” and the traditional presidential election-year iterations.
Other differences include the number of battleground Republican candidates attending and limited sideline programming, from events hosted by third parties hoping to influence the next administration to open press breakfasts for delegates, in addition to the importance being placed on the convention as an opportunity to fundraise.
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Regardless, the RNC is adamant the convention will be a success, with Chairman Joe Gruters telling reporters that “Trump and Republicans have delivered historic results for the American people, and every hour of this historic convention will tell that story.”
“Over two action-packed days, we will take Americans through the defining issues of our Party’s agenda and what is at stake in November,” Gruters wrote in a statement. “Each hour will have its own theme, its own message, and its own voices, building toward President Donald Trump’s vision for the next chapter of American greatness. This will be unlike any political convention America has seen before.”