An Opportunity Opens for NBC Rivals

By suspending star news anchor Brian Williams for six months without pay, NBC hopes it has put out the fire at “Nightly News.” Now, the network must contend with rivals who have an opportunity to woo viewers in an already hypercompetitive corner of the TV industry.

Whether Comcast’s NBC survives the onslaught depends on if the anchor’s now-debunked story of being on a helicopter that was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade while he was covering the war in Iraq in 2003 did any structural damage to the institution. ABC’s “World News Tonight” has been making inroads as of late and “ CBS Evenings News” is also on the rise. Both are expected to step up their marketing efforts to win over potentially disenfranchised NBC viewers either upset at Williams’s actions or his suspension.