US broadcast networks ABC and NBC said they would carry Donald Trump's primetime address on 16 July only via their streaming services, ABC News Live and NBC News Now, rather than on their main linear channels, while CBS News had yet to confirm its plans shortly before the speech. CNN also declined to air the address live on its cable channel, instead streaming it on CNN.com and its All Access platform, saying it would cover the speech "as a news event" with expert analysis rather than an unfiltered broadcast. The decision mattered because Trump had signalled he intended to focus on unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was "rigged" to build support for the SAVE America Act, putting networks in the position of deciding whether to give primetime airtime to claims already rejected by courts.

The 9pm ET address followed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's assurance that the speech concerned "election integrity" and would be backed by "facts and evidence", though she declined to say how much it would revisit past elections. Networks are not obliged to carry presidential addresses; broadcasters previously skipped speeches by Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and while they aired Trump's April address on the Iran conflict, they did not broadcast his 4 July National Mall rally-style speech. NBC News planned a special report after the address, and ABC News said it would break in with a special report if warranted, reflecting broadcasters' caution about amplifying potentially false claims without robust fact-checking.