TV Networks to Pool Their Coverage of N.H. Campaign

NEW YORK — The four major television networks, seeking to hold down expenses, have agreed to pool camera coverage of New Hampshire’s presidential primary campaign.

Under the plan, ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC will confer by telephone each night, beginning Jan. 27, and decide how to assign four pool crews and producers for the next day’s campaigning. The networks are free to assign their own crews to any candidate if they choose to do so.

“This doesn’t mean that there are only four candidates who will get coverage on a given day,” said Tom Hannon, CNN political editor. Most of the networks said they plan to use the pool crews to cover candidates’ speeches and appearances, and will use their own crews and producers for any interviews and for standup reports from correspondents on specific stories.

“We will envision that any given crew can cover two or three candidates in a given day,” Hannon said.

Although most viewers may not have noticed, the networks have been using a similar pool system to cover the White House for nearly a year.

The pool arrangement, one of several the networks had been considering for months, will last through the New Hampshire primary Feb. 18. No decision has been made about continuing the arrangement for other primary campaigns.