Whitney Houston‘s funeral is underway at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, NJ.

CNN’s coverage began at 11amET with Soledad O’Brien, Piers Morgan and Don Lemon anchoring from Newark. Lemon described the scene outside the church, where the streets have been blocked off since last night, as filled with “hordes of media from all over the country, from Germany, from China, everywhere.”

On Fox News, Jon Scott said Houston’s “near-perfect voice brought tears and joy to people around the world.” Scott and Uma Pemmaraju anchored from New York, with Kelly Wright reporting from Newark.

MSNBC’s coverage, anchored by Alex Witt, began at 12pmET following this morning’s debut of “Melissa Harris-Perry.” Craig Melvin, reporting from Newark, did a live interview with Shaun Robinson, the “Access Hollywood” reporter who was the last person to interview Houston.

HLN’s coverage — anchored by Ryan Smith and Susan Hendricks, with Jane Velez-Mitchell and AJ Hammer in Newark — begun at 9amET and has featured a series of retrospectives on Houston’s life.

About 1500 people, including ABC’s Diane Sawyer, are attending the service.

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The funeral will be streamed online at the AP’s livestream page, so fans can bypass cable news if they so choose. In addition, users can expect to watch the AP stream on many news sites including FoxNews.com and CNN.com (even though CNN does not subscribe to AP content, the AP’s coverage is pool coverage, so CNN can use it). Those that do turn on their TV’s will have a number of options.

CNN seems to have the most comprehensive coverage lined up, with Piers Morgan, Don Lemon and Soledad O’Brien anchoring from 11:30 AM-2 PM. Saturday and Sunday evening Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Randi Kaye will host primetime specials looking at Houston’s life.

Fox News will be covering the funeral live from 11:30 AM-2PM, with Jon Scott and Uma Pemmaraju anchoring in New York. Kelly Wright will report from outside the church in Newark.

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Hammer joined HLN from Court TV, but he may be best known for  his work on VH1 as host of Top Ten Countdown.

“Showbiz Tonight” airs  live weekdays at 5pmET and re-airs at 11pmET.

The entertainment show is a revival of “Showbiz Today” which ran on CNN from 1984 to 2001.

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In welcoming the guests, Morgan shared a remarkable (if it’s true) story about an encounter he had with Fox News host Bill O’Reilly at a recent New York Knicks game.

Morgan and O’Reilly were in the VIP suite, and having never met the FNC host, Morgan naturally wanted to say hello.

“Obvisouly I marched up, expecting him to shower me with praise about this glorious resurrection of CNN, and he comes up to me and goes, ‘ah, yea, I know you,’” Morgan recalled.

“So I shuffled off meekly,” Morgan said. “Not only is he #1 but he is intimidating, he sort of shooed me away.”

It was Morgan, however, who would get the last laugh a few minutes later, when O’Reilly returned with his teenage daughter:

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Brooke Anderson and AJ Hammer were on the red carpet at the taping, and spoke to Jon Bon Jovi, Renee Zellweger, Halle Berry and Demi Moore, among others.

Check out a preview below.

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Showbiz Tonight’s AJ Hammer and Brooke Anderson co-host the show with more than a dozen casts being reunited, the special will have cast interviews and behind-the-scenes videos from the reunion photo shoots with casts.

“I’m really looking forward to the ‘Back to the Future’ and ‘The West Wing’ reunions,” Hammer told TVNewser, “‘Back to the Future’ really stands the test of time. Michael J. Fox was perfect for that role. ‘The West Wing’ set the bar so high that nobody has since tried to create a show inside the oval office.”

When asked if there was any tension amongst any of the cast members, Hammer told TVNewser “everybody just enjoyed reminiscing.”

The half-hour show, which took several months to put together, will also have an interactive component for Facebook fans of CNN.

At least one first is expected on the special and more in the press release is after the jump…

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Peter Max artwork based on the book jacket

In NYC last night, HLN’s Jane Velez-Mitchell celebrated the release of her new memoir, iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life, at the gallery of artist Peter Max. Velez-Mitchell, host of “Issues,” joked, “I just think this is a — first of all — fabulous concept, ‘Let’s have a cocktail party to celebrate a book about recovering from alcoholism.’”

Velez-Mitchell is the third HLN host to publish a book in the last few months, with Nancy Grace and Robin Meade also releasing books recently. TVNewser asked CNN Worldwide EVP Ken Jautz, who heads HLN, why his employees have been writing so much “It’s hosts who have an ability to communicate with audiences,” he said. “I think they see the opportunity to do so on another platform, employ the skills they’re proving so successful at on television on another platform, and we’re happy to support that.”

Also in attendance: HLN VP of programming Bill Galvin, “Issues” EP Stephanie Todd and Senior Producer Jennifer Williams, “Showbiz Tonight” host AJ Hammer, and Senior EP of CNN Entertainment and “Showbiz Tonight” David Levine. “Nancy Grace” Senior EP Dean Sicoli made a brief appearance to congratulate Velez-Mitchell, whose career he’d been instrumental in launching by featuring her as a guest host on “Nancy Grace,” before hustling back to the studio for Grace’s broadcast.

CNN anchors John Roberts and Kyra Phillips were also there (together) and CNN’s Gerri Willis and Jeanne Moos stopped by.

Velez-Mitchell took some time to talk with TVNewser about why she decided to write the memoir (apologies for the crowd noise):

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• NBC has announced it is producing a 2-hour “Dateline” to “mark today’s tragic deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.” NBC News’ Ann Curry and Meredith Vieira will anchor the tribute beginning at 9pmET/PT.

• CBS News is preparing a Jackson special called “The Life and Death of Michael Jackson” to air at 10pmET/PT. Harry Smith anchors with “The Insider’s” Lara Spencer.

• Keith Olbermann will pick up MSNBC’s coverage at 7pmET. David Shuster will pick up at 9pmET, in for Rachel Maddow.

• Fox News Channel’s plan:

-Now – Shepard Smith
-9pmET – Geraldo Rivera
-10pmET – Greta Van Susteren
-12pmET – Shepard Smith *Live*
-1amET – Greta Van Susteren *Live*
-2amET – (Midnight repeat)
-3amET – (1am repeat)
-4amET – (Midnight repeat)
-5amET – Fox & Friends *Live*

• HLN’s Showbiz Tonight live at 11pmET. Anchor AJ Hammer remains an anchor of CNN’s coverage until then.

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