President Bush planned his first televised news conference in more than a year inconveniently on the first night of May sweeps, crimping most of the broadcast networks’ plans.
   There was even speculation over whether all the broadcast networks would air the conference, but all of the Big Four did after the White House moved the start time from 8:30 to 8.  
   The live telecast drew an average 32.75 million total viewers across the four networks, according to Nielsen overnights. 
   That’s 23.1 percent more than the 26.6 million who tuned into the Big Four for Bush’s State of the Union address in February. 
   The president likely got the bigger audience because viewers were tuning in for the usual highly rated Thursday night fare on the networks. The White House didn’t schedule the speech until Wednesday, so presumably some sizable share of viewers tuned in thinking they were about to watch their favorite Thursday shows, such as CBS's "Survivor."
   Yet last night's speech, which addressed Social Security and fuel prices among other issues, may end up drawing fewer viewers than the last time Bush held a news conference, last April, on developments in Iraq. That speech averaged 41 million, but that includes the three cable news networks.
   In the end, the president may have "Survivor," which was bumped from its 8 p.m. slot,  to thank for the large viewer turnout. Though third-ranked among the big three in terms of nightly news ratings, CBS led all networks with 15.2 million viewers during the 8 p.m. hour. NBC was second with 6.9 million, ABC third with 6.1 million, and Fox fourth with 4.6 million.
   CBS and NBC ended their Bush coverage a few minutes early so as to start episodes of “Survivor” and “Apprentice” at 9.
   The networks had not decided what to do with the shows that were bumped from the first night of sweeps. Fox’s “O.C.,” NBC’s “Joey” and “Will & Grace” and CBS’s “Without a Trace” will all need to be rescheduled so as not to throw off their season finales.
   “Survivor” came away as the night’s highest-rated show among viewers 18-49 with an 8.0 average rating in “CSI’s” usual 9 p.m. timeslot. CBS led the night with a 6.8 average rating in the demo and an 18 share. NBC was second at 4.8/13, UPN third at 1.9/5, Fox fourth at 1.8/5, ABC fifth at 1.7/4 and the WB sixth at 1.6/4.
   At 8 p.m. CBS led with a 4.8 rating among 18-49s for its coverage of the Bush conference. NBC was second with a 2.4 and Fox third with a 2.0. UPN earned a 1.7 for the first hour of “WWE Smackdown” and the WB a 1.6 for “Blue Collar TV” (1.6) and “The Ron White Show” (1.7), each finishing ahead of ABC’s 1.5 for its coverage of the press conference.
   At 9 p.m. CBS led with its 8.0 average for “Survivor.” NBC, which ended up simply preempting “Joey” and “Will & Grace” rather than pushing them to 9 p.m., was second with a 5.5 average for “The Apprentice.” UPN was third that hour with a 2.0 for the second hour of “Smackdown.”
   At 10 p.m. CBS led with a pushed-back edition of “CSI” averaging a 7.5, well off its season average. NBC was second with a 6.6 for “ER” and ABC third with a 1.9 for “Primetime Live.”
   CBS led the night among households, averaging a 12.3 rating and grabbing a 19 share. NBC was second at 7.6/12, ABC third at 4.2/7, UPN fourth at 3.2/5, Fox fifth at 2.8/4 and the WB sixth at 2.6/4.