CNBC agrees to Trump demand on debate

Donald Trump said Friday that CNBC had agreed to his demands to limit its upcoming Republican debate to two hours.

.@CNBC has just agreed that the debate will be TWO HOURS. Fantastic news for all, especially the millions of people who will be watching!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2015

A later report from CNN also said CNBC had agreed to limit the debate to two hours after calls to do so from Trump and fellow GOP candidate Ben Carson.

{mosads}CNN reported that the Republican National Committee was calling Republican campaigns to tell them that CNBC had agreed to a two-hour debate with commercials. The network had suggested the debate would run for two hours, plus commercials. 

CNBC would not comment on Trump’s tweet when reached by The Hill.

GOP candidates have been pressing for shorter debates after CNN aired a three-hour debate in September. 

Cable networks have enjoyed blockbuster ratings from the debates, perhaps largely because of voter interest in GOP front-runner Trump.

Trump and Carson told CNBC that both candidates would skip the Oct. 28 debate in Colorado unless it was a maximum of two hours, including commercials, and included time for opening and closing statements from the candidates.

One GOP campaign source familiar with the call told The Hill Thursday that the campaigns were essentially unanimous on the call for opening and closing statements, which give candidates guaranteed time to address the broad audience.

“People realized we got the short end of the stick when the Democrats had a 2 minute opening and a 90 second closing [during their debate], so they had three and a half minutes to a 15 million person audience of an infomercial,” the source said.

“They get a commercial, we get ‘The Hunger Games.’ “

That frustration turned into the letters from Carson and Trump, first reported by NBC News, where the top two in the GOP presidential polls specifically threatened to pull out.  

Brian Steel, a CNBC spokesman, told The Hill Thursday in a statement that the network typically skips opening statements in order to have more time to focus on the question and answer portion. 

He added that the network will “take the candidates’ views on the format into consideration as we finalize the debate structure.”

CNN was reportedly charging more than $150,00 for a 30-second ad during its GOP debate, leading Trump to suggest that the network should send him flowers and a thank-you note.