Originally Posted by mardigras

They used to flex their commercial breaks around what was going on in the courtroom. Now they go to break at times that are etched in stone, a mandatory repeat of the day's news headlines at the top of the hour, etc. regardless of what's happening live. Just now while the defense was getting a policeman to admit purgery in the Mississippi KKK murder trial, the music starts and they go to break. As usual in such instances by the time they came back the witness was off the stand.

What if the regular news channels had adopted this model and right in the middle of GWB announcing plans to attack Iraq they suddenly went to a commercial promoting their latest show?