(Portsmouth, England, UK)
NBC and ABC will not be airing President Donald Trump’s planned national address this evening, multiple reporters shared Thursday. Instead, both networks will show the speech on their streaming platforms. Networks previously declined to air speeches given by President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden in real time.
Brian Stelter posted the news via a series of threaded posts on X.
“In sum: Trump will not be getting the wall-to-wall airtime he wants from everyone, but the speech will be widely streamed and available,” he explained.
This thread
will track what the major TV networks are saying about tonight's Trump speech. In sum: Trump will not be getting the wall-to-wall airtime he wants from everyone, but the speech will be widely streamed and available >>>
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 16, 2026
“NBC says ‘we will provide live coverage of the president’s remarks at 9pm ET tonight on NBC News NOW. We plan to air a special report on the network following the remarks,’” Stelter continued.
A spokesperson for ABC said in a statement shared with Mediaite, “ABC News will run President Trump’s speech on ABC News Live and ABC News Radio with comprehensive, anchored coverage. 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.”
The Wall Street Journal’s media reporter Joe Flint wrote on the same platform, “NBC and ABC will not carry Trump on their respective networks but will carry on their digital feeds NBC News Now and ABC News Live. Expect CBS to do same.”
The decision to air the speech, which is expected to largely center around the president’s persistent belief in the widely debunked conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by Democrats, has been a hotly debated topic this week. Networks did not indicate a decision until approximately 3:30 p.m. EST today, only hours before the planned 9 p.m. EST address.
Mediaite reached out to the networks for comment and will update this article if we receive a reply.
The post JUST IN: NBC and ABC Will Not Air Trump’s Primetime Address Live first appeared on Mediaite.
