Sit down Wednesday night, turn on the TV and flip through the channels to find nothing on except President Obama speaking.

At first, his speech is a dull intruder on a good sitcom or the next catfight on a reality show, but then the importance of his words hit.

There must be a reason CBS, NBC and ABC all agreed to pre-empt original programming to give the president his due. All broadcast stations except Fox Broadcasting Company, that is. Fox has declined the Obama administration’s request for airtime.

Instead of giving the president of the United States the courtesy and respect of airing his speech marking 100 days in office, the company will be showing its regular programming.

Fox claims its reasoning is simple and not related to its conservative reputation. The company’s regularly programmed show for the night is “Lie to Me,” which draws around 13 million viewers, compared to the 4.2 million who tuned in for the last presidential speech aired on Fox.

The speech also falls at the beginning of “sweeps” week, which uses viewer numbers to determine the amount allowed to charge for advertising. In order to keep viewers interested in the speech, the company will show an alert stating the speech will be aired on Fox News and Fox Business Channel.

Whether Fox is choosing to run regular programming because of a conservative sway or for increased viewership during the “sweeps” week, the action shows disrespect.

The president deserves airtime for a speech to address the country, whether he is a democrat or a republican.