Telethon for Haiti to air Jan. 22 on multiple networks

By Kyle Ryan | January 17, 2010 | 5:20pm

Aux Features TV

While the Haitian earthquake has shown how fundraising methods advancing with technology—donating $10 to the Red Cross is as simple as texting HAITI to 90999—MTV and a bunch of other networks are reviving that old standby, the telethon. According to a report in Billboard, on Friday, Jan. 22, MTV is organizing Hope For Haiti, a star-studded telethon to benefit the Red Cross, UNICEF, Oxfam America, Partners In Health, and Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation. The Haitian-born Jean will host the event in New York, along with George Clooney in LA and CNN's Anderson Cooper in Haiti.

The telethon will air commercial-free beginning at 8 p.m. eastern on MTV and a variety of other networks, traditional (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX), cable (CNN, BET, HBO, VH1, CMT), and whatever classification The CW falls under.