Meaning of "preempt" in television

[chicken]

"The WB will preempt Smallville and Angel on Wednesday, Nov. 26 to show Josie and the Pussycats, the Archie Comics-based movie starring Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson, Tara Reid, Alan Cumming and Parker Posey." -- from a link to some news site from whedonesque

What does "preempt" mean? Does that mean they won't show Angel at all that week, or does it means they'll show it on a different day ... or ... or ... ? I admit I've never really known what that word meant in a television context. In other contexts, yes ... as in, George Bush's attack on Iraq was preemptive.

Comments

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

OK, so it really has a different linguistic thingy (haha, thingy, inarticulate me) going on in this usage of the word than in the Iraq example I gave.

It is good to know that it means they bear no malice towards the show.

And I suppose I should have looked it up.

Television is number three-ish (but not quite) and War stuff is number two-ish, but not quite. ???

m-w.com:

1 : to acquire (as land) by preemption
2 : to seize upon to the exclusion of others : take for oneself
3 : to replace with something considered to be of greater value or priority : take precedence over

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OK, so it really has a different linguistic thingy (haha, thingy, inarticulate me) going on in this usage of the word than in the Iraq example I gave.

It is good to know that it means they bear no malice towards the show.

And I suppose I should have looked it up.

Television is number three-ish (but not quite) and War stuff is number two-ish, but not quite. ???

m-w.com:

1 : to acquire (as land) by preemption
2 : to seize upon to the exclusion of others : take for oneself <the movement was then preempted by a lunatic fringe>
3 : to replace with something considered to be of greater value or priority : take precedence over <the program did not appear, having been preempted by a baseball game -- Robert MacNeil>
4 : to gain a commanding or preeminent place in
5 : to prevent from happening or taking place : FORESTALL,