• Variety, Tuesday, April 28, 2009 9:32 AM

Fox is sticking its neck out this week and refusing to air President Obama's Wednesday night press conference, set for 8 p.m. Instead, Fox will air an episode of "Lie to Me," as planned. ABC, CBS and NBC will juggle their schedules to present the press conference, the third in prime time since Obama took office.

Many net execs are grousing about having to once again make last-minute arrangements to accommodate the president. They say they are likely to decline the next time -- and use Fox's decision not to air this one as an excuse.

Fox, for its part, is stressing that its decision is not political in nature and is not meant to be precedent-setting. The network points out that it didn't air a George W. Bush press conference in 2001. Turns out the real reason for Fox not running the Obama address is financial. Fox would have been hit the hardest with the Wednesday preemption, given the relative health of "Lie to Me" vs. the under-performing comedies on ABC and CBS and the repeats on NBC.

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