Now that we are in the heart of ACC men’s basketball season, WRAL is proud to be the station carrying some of the key games of local interest.

Thursday night features one of those when North Carolina State travels to Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham at 9 p.m. for the rematch of State’s upset of Duke on Jan. 12. It should be a great game.

However, whenever we carry an ACC game in prime time, two hours of CBS programming are displaced. Thursday, it will be two of the more popular dramas, "Person of Interest" and "Elementary."  

Generally we have to pick between the two options for broadcasting preempted programs – air them at their normal time on WRAL2 or play them in available time overnight on WRAL. We know that neither is a perfect solution for all households, and CBS rules will not allow us to do both. The problem with airing on WRAL2 is that satellite and some cable homes do not currently receive it. Airing programs overnight solves that problem, but creates an inconvenience for many viewers, especially those without a DVR. Considering both options, we feel making them available to all households overnight is the best solution this time.

As such, "Person of Interest" will air at Friday 2 a.m. and "Elementary" will follow at 3 a.m. Given the likelihood that the game goes long, your best bet is to extend that recording window by 30 minutes to an hour.

It should be noted, CBS does make many of their programs available after the fact online. "Elementary" will be available for streaming the next day on cbs.com, however CBS does not currently have an agreement with the producers of "Person of Interest" for online distribution.

For those of you who enjoy either of the programs, we apologize for any inconvenience.