Networks plan telethon for quake victims

Eleven broadcast and cable networks will show a two-hour telethon next Friday night to benefit the victims of the Haiti earthquake, MTV Networks announced on Friday.

The commercial-free telethon, "Hope for Haiti," will start at 8 p.m. Eastern time on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT in the United States, while MTV Networks International, CNN International and National Geographic channels will show it around the world.

The show's hosts will be the actor George Clooney, the Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean and the newscaster Anderson Cooper.

"We were all stricken watching this heartbreaking event unfold," said Judy McGrath, the chairwoman and chief executive of MTV Networks. "And we thought we could do something on our networks. Almost simultaneously, as we started working on this, I got a call from George Clooney."

She said that Clooney had already secured about a dozen other celebrities to participate.