Yahoo! News’ Michael Calderone has the latest on the Fox News/Bloomberg/NPR battle for Helen Thomas‘ vacated briefing room seat:

There’s speculation among White House reporters that the front-row-center seat Thomas long held may be awarded to none of them. Instead, the Associated Press — which typically gets the first question at presidential news conferences — could move to the center, with another news organization, like one of those three, taking its place.

Regardless of who gets the seat, Thomas’ departure will leave an empty seat elsewhere in the room. Calderone reports that TV nets Fox Business and Al-Jazeera — as well as several other online and print publications — are vying for the spot. (This doesn’t mean they’re not in the room already and asking questions, it’s a matter of having a permanent seat.)

A decision is expected to be made in a special meeting on August 1st — a day earlier than previously announced.