ABC NEWS ANNOUNCES SPECIAL COVERAGE FOR THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos to Anchor ABC News' Coverage of the State of the Union and the Republican Response Beginning at 9:00 p.m., ET on Tuesday, January 25

ABC News Programming to Be Live-Streamed Across Various Digital Platforms, Including ABCNews.com, Yahoo! and Hulu

ABC News will broadcast President Barack Obama's State of the Union address live on TUESDAY, JANUARY 25. Coverage will begin at 9:00 p.m., ET and will include the Republican response.

Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos will anchor the network's coverage live from Washington. They will be joined by a team of ABC News anchors and correspondents, including "This Week" Anchor Christiane Amanpour, Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper and Senior Political Correspondent Jonathan Karl. Deborah Roberts will report on voter reaction from Indiana. ABC News contributors George Will, Donna Brazile and Matthew Dowd will provide additional analysis.

As the President prepares to give his State of the Union address, he faces a new reality at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue with a Republican majority in the House and an emboldened Republican minority in the Senate. ABC News' team of anchors and correspondents will examine the President's address, looking specifically at his proposals for job creation and economic recovery, his commitment to the July deadline for a withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and his effort to elevate the tenor of discourse in Washington following his address at the memorial in Tucson, Arizona.

ABCNews.com will live stream the network's coverage of the President's address and the Republican response. ABC's team of political correspondents will provide extensive reporting throughout the night at ABCNews.com/Politics/Obama. ABCNews.com will work with Facebook to provide users a place to comment on and discuss the State of the Union online while watching it live.

ABC News will kick off its special coverage on Sunday, January 23. "This Week with Christiane Amanpour" will take an in-depth look at the key issues facing President Obama as he prepares for the State of the Union address. Three retiring Senators, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), join Christiane Amanpour to debate the state of our nation and assess what the President needs to achieve in his speech next week.

On Tuesday, Diane Sawyer will anchor "World News" from Washington, DC. After the speech, ABC News' Terry Moran will anchor a special edition of "Nightline" from Washington with complete State of the Union coverage and analysis, live at 11:35 p.m., ET.

The following morning, "Good Morning America" will bring viewers all the highlights of the President's speech, plus reaction and analysis. George Stephanopoulos will co-anchor the program live from Washington, DC on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In addition, ABC News NOW will provide live coverage of the State of the Union beginning at 9:00 p.m., ET. This coverage, anchored by John Berman and Claire Shipman and with "World News" Senior Washington Editor Rick Klein, will include the latest news and analysis. ABC News NOW's broadcast will be live-streamed on Yahoo!, Hulu, and a variety of additional mobile and broadband platforms.

ABC News Radio will provide extensive coverage of the State of the Union Address and the Republican response starting at 9:00 p.m., ET, anchored by ABC News Correspondent Aaron Katersky, with ABC News White House Correspondent Ann Compton, ABC News Correspondent Vic Ratner on Capitol Hill and ABC News political analysts Steve Roberts and Torie Clarke. Prior to the President's address, ABC News Radio will provide a one-hour special at 8:06 p.m., ET that examines issues President Obama is expected to discuss.?

ABC NewsOne, the network's affiliate news service, will provide live reports from John Hendren on Capitol Hill for ABC affiliates and clients including the BBC, Bloomberg, NHK Japan, CTV Canada, Al Jazeera, APTN, and Univision.