The bogart-y assholes at ABC are telling other media outlets that their Democratic presidential debate tonight is their property — and if you want to reference it, you must do so in 30-seconds. The inane policy is the Disney network's attempt to commoditize their coverage, which should be a forum for advancing the political discussion, not hindering it. And competing networks aren't being told to keep their sourcing down to 30-second clips — they're being told they get one half-minute bite.

ABC says the rules are within their right, because they're footing the pricey bill. But let's not kid ourselves: The reason they're limiting others' use of the footage is to have a lock on both East Coast and West Coast primetime ratings — they're time-delaying the PST feed and airing a taped version for you Los Angeles types. If the other networks can broadcast bigger chunks of the debate before ABC airs its own broadcast on the West Coast, ABC forfeits potential viewers.

Not that the other networks are signing up to comply. Expect many to claim "fair use" and broadcast lengthier portions if they want to.

And let's not forget that had other networks instituted similar policies, ABC almost wouldn't have been able to have clips like this one from Good Morning America, where nearly two minutes of NBC's debate, before the Ohio and Texas primaries, was used. Not that it stopped ABC from wrapping the clip in its own ads. (ABC aired the clip after 5am the next day, when their own idiotic restriction expires.)