coronavirus

We’ve tried all sorts of things to stop us from staring at our devices. Digital detoxes. Abstinence. Now? Bring on the Zoom cocktail hour.

Coronavirus lockouts turns slick glamour to amateur hour as broadcasters and show hosts migrate to basements and guest bedrooms.

Empire‘s sixth and final season will end sooner than originally planned due to the coronavirus pandemic. As revealed at the very end of Tuesday’s betrayal and crashed wedding filled “Love Me Still” broadcast, the 18th episode of Taraji P. Henson and Terrance Howard-led hip hop drama’s final season will now serve as the finale. “Get ready for the shocking final three episodes of Empire,” a voiceover declared over a promo for next week’s 16th episode of the Fox series’ current sixth season.

Iconic daytime medical drama General Hospital is being forced to switch up its schedule, joining a growing list of shows that have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

David Muir’s World News Tonight has been the top-rated show in all of American television for three weeks this month, averaging nearly 11 million viewers per night. Amid the devastation in New York City, Muir is still anchoring the show every night from an almost-empty ABC newsroom. He’s hosted three primetime specials on the pandemic, including one on Monday night that featured an interview with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Jerry Martin, Graham Media-owned KPRC’s wry VP and GM in Houston, has a reluctant pragmatist’s approach to his station’s coronavirus pivot: “Keep playing the game like it’s going to get worse.” (Al Torres Photography)

General managers are showing their true quality in these extraordinary times, putting public service and concern for their staffs above all other considerations.

Fox Corp. said it is selling $1.2 billion worth of notes and will use net proceeds for general corporate purposes. Companies are raising cash at a rapid pace as a nest egg against the harsh economic impact and unknown duration of the coronvirus. Earlier Tuesday Fox said the the COVID-19 spread could have an adverse material impact on its business. It’s the latest in a stream of companies to both officially declare the risk the economic shutdown poses to their business and raise cash to see it through hard times.

U.S. consumers’ viewing of streaming has continued to increase through March. Over the first three weeks of March 2020, the total estimated number of minutes streamed to the TV was 400 billion, up 85% compared with the comparable three-week period in 2019, according to a Nielsen analysis.

A Comscore analysis of preliminary data from five of the top 25 markets, show that viewing levels are up nearly 10% at 6 a.m. this year compared to a year ago, and that growth continues as the day progresses.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau, organizer of the NewFronts, is moving the annual pitchfest to June to give presenters more time to prep their virtual showcases.

Fox Corp. has joined the chorus of media companies publicly acknowledging the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its business, noting canceled sports events and postponed production. The COVID-19 outbreak “could have a material adverse effect on the company’s business, financial condition or results of operations over the near to medium term,” Fox said in an SEC filing Monday.

Covering coronavirus is a nearly overwhelming challenge for newsrooms: too much news to cover; so many operational logistics to overcome due to social distancing; so many ways in which we are not just reporting on the story but also personally impacted by it, like juggling home-schooling of our kids while working from home, dealing with the challenges of isolation, or caring for (or just worrying about) older loved ones. In times of crisis, keeping focus is key.

Some TV stations are helping their local advertisers with deeply discounted or free — yes, free — advertising to keep their clients top of mind in their market.

The world’s biggest advertising company WPP has pulled its dividend and share buyback and withdrawn its 2020 guidance after the coronavirus pandemic sparked the most uncertain time in its 35-year history.

The Bachelor Summer Games, ABC’s planned counterprogramming to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is not going forward as the television industry continues to hit the pause button amid the coronavirus pandemic, sources confirm.

With people staying home to avoid spreading the coronavirus, total TV viewing time is up 85% in late March, compared to a year ago, and daytime and cable news are the biggest beneficiaries, according to a new analysis of data from Samba TV.

Graham Media’s SVP and Chief Innovation Officer Catherine Badalamente is pivoting quickly to deal with the new realities of coronavirus-era broadcasting, but she saw disruption on the horizon before that. She says digital platforms like OTT and NextGen TV offer some of the best hedges against future disruption, if only legacy salespeople can finally get on side.

Can a fragile media ecosystem survive the pandemic? With the misinformation emanating from the Trump White House, the need for reliable, widely-accessible information and facts is more urgent than ever. Yet the economic shutdown created by the spread of COVID-19 promises to decimate advertising revenue, which could doom more digital news outlets and local newspapers.

Certain employees making more than $38,000 must take one week of unpaid leave in April, May and June.

The Media Rating Council (MRC) this morning published a notice advising media audience measurement services to have “objective criteria in place” to ensure they maintain “data quality in the face of unprecedented challenges presented by the current coronavirus crisis.”

CBS This Morning co-hosts Gayle King, Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil anchored the Monday morning broadcast from each of their respective homes as the coronavirus crisis continues. “Welcome to CBS This Morning — from our house to yours,” King said at the opening of the show. “We’re coming to you from each of our homes this morning because we, like you, are practicing social distancing out of an abundance of caution. Like so many Americans watching right now, we are at home.”

Television network ad sales executives said they are taking a day-to-day approach as some advertisers pull their campaigns, others quickly change the commercials they’re airing and other push commercials they’d planned to air in March and April back to later in the year.

The Walt Disney Co. said on Monday that executive chairman Robert Iger will forgo his entire salary and recently named CEO Bob Chapek will take a 50% pay cut amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to an email from Chapek sent to employees obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.