Schiavo died Thursday morning, almost two weeks after her feeding tube was removed; by nightfall, the Vatican had confirmed that the pope had received his last rites with a high fever and urinary tract infection.

Both stories have captured the resources and imagination of the cable networks, which have covered the Schiavo story intensely for more than two weeks, a time frame that also included the ongoing Michael Jackson trial and the death of Johnnie Cochran.

Logistics were confusing: On Thursday, just as the news nets prepared to pack up the tent village outside Schiavo's Florida hospice, the nets went on high alert for the possible passing of the pope.

Cablers cued up experts and threw the story from Pinellas Park, Fla., to Rome as networks began their primetime programming with various contingencies having been put in place.

"We (were) well prepared to go on the moment there was news on the pope," said ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider. "We've had these reports before, but this (was) a hot standby."

ABC plans to interrupt primetime "for many hours," Schneider said, for a live special on the pope's legacy, with reaction from correspondents positioned around the world.

CBS said it would break into primetime with a pre-taped obit and a live report from Allen Pizzey in Rome.

As East Coast primetime began, NBC said it hadn't made a definitive call on whether to interrupt programming or to announce the pope's passing on a crawl beneath the screen.

"It would depend on what point we are in the hour," said NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust, adding that MSNBC will cover the pope's passing full time.

Any primetime interruption will cost the networks millions. NBC aired its highly rated "Apprentice," while CBS aired "Survivor."

The cable networks also scrambled to shift resources from Florida to Rome. "We've rehearsed; we will pull out all the stops on this story," said Fox News Channel executive producer Thom Bird, who said the cabler had "significant assets" in Rome.

Over on CNN, Anderson Cooper hosted "Anderson Cooper 360" from Pinellas Park, throwing the newscast to Rome for periodic updates on the pope's condition.

CNN's Larry King anchored a three-hour debate, tagged "Life and Death: America Speaks Out," taking calls from viewers and receiving updates through the evening from CNN correspondents.

The death of the pope will bring with it plenty of implications for the cable nets to chew over, replacing the media circus around Schiavo.

"There will be the inevitable celebration of one of the great figures in history and all he accomplished in a historic papacy," said MSNBC vice president Mark Effron. "We will be spending a good amount of time looking at that."