The Democratic and Republican conventions have meant around-the-clock coverage for the cable news networks.

Networks have dished out large amounts of money to cover both parties’ nomination events.

CNN has rented out local businesses in both Denver and St. Paul to provide intimate shots of the conventions as well as comfortably provide meals for its staff. Fox News has rented property next to the Xcel Center to be the home of its Republican Convention coverage.

Not only are the cable news networks providing live coverage of the Democratic Convention, Fox News, MSNBC and CNN have all used Denver as the backdrop to their regular nightly programming.

The price of setting up inside the Xcel Center isn’t cheap. It costs $470 to secure a standard telephone line for the convention, $400 for a cable TV connection and $850 for high-speed Internet access.

Because both conventions are in successive weeks, news outlets have the added expense of running newsrooms in Denver and St. Paul almost simultaneously. In previous years, news organizations have been able to use the same equipment at both conventions because the events were spaced far enough apart.

Sen. Barack Obama will be making his acceptance speech at INVESCO Field Thursday night instead of the Pepsi Center, where all the other convention events have been held. News organizations that want to cover the week's biggest event, will have to move their news operations to INVESCO.

That means separate fees for Internet, phone and broadcast cable. Data provider Qwest Communications is already charging media outlets $1,395 for a single Internet line and phone with long-distance service for the week.

So far the cable network's decision to go all out with their coverage have proved to be a smart one.

New figures released by Nielsen, day two of the convention -- anchored by Hillary Clinton's primetime speech rallying support for Obama -- delivered a huge audience: 26 million U.S. viewers.

That's almost five times as many people as watched day two of the Democratic convention in Boston four years ago.

As long as viewers continue to tune in, cable networks will see the rewards of their efforts.