ABC News has announced that in addition to the three nights of coverage it originally planned to give to the Republican National Convention, it will break with the other networks (and their originally stated coverage plans) and carry a special live convention report anchored by Peter Jennings during halftime of a pre-season Monday Night Football game, according to Variety.com. It is not clear from Variety.com's report the extent or content of the “live convention report.” For the Democratic convention, ABC, CBS and NBC each broadcast 60 minutes of coverage for three out of the convention's four nights, going “dark” the night of speeches from Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Senate candidate Barack Obama (D-IL) and Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Senator John Kerry (D-MA).

CBS, NBC, and ABC have previously announced that their coverage for the RNC convention would exclude the convention's first night and would devote a similar amount of time that they gave to the DNC's proceedings. ABC's schedule (Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday) indicates that they do not plan on decreasing their coverage from 60 minutes (per night) on the convention's three remaining nights to compensate for the extra Monday night coverage.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R-NY), whose positions on many issues reflect a more moderate stance than the Republican platform, are scheduled to speak on Monday between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. (ET), so ABC's halftime coverage will likely occur during one or both of their speeches.