coronavirus

The 2020 IHeartRadio Music Awards have been postponed as people continue to hunker down amid the coronavirus outbreak. The annual trophy show, which was set to air live on Fox, had been set for March 29 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The venue is closed for all events until at least the end of the month. IHeartMedia and Fox said they “plan to reschedule at the appropriate time.”

According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, the employee in question immediately began self-isolation once they started experiencing symptoms. The individual is said to be recovering at home. Anyone else in the office who came into contact with the person has been informed, with those employees now required to also self-isolate and begin working from home immediately.

A thank-you from RTDNA Executive Director: Dear Fellow Journalists: The communities where you live and work owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude. Most of us got into journalism to serve the public. Now more than ever your public service is important. Stay motivated, stay safe and continue asking questions and reporting stories that will our communities get through this time of uncertainty.”

All through February and early March, the voices of doctors and nurses on social media provided a vital antidote to those of confused and complacent political leaders embodied by President Trump. Their voices carried credibility and urgency in a way the always-on crisis of cable news can’t. They fed and were fed by credible journalism. And they helped force the United States to reckon with the crisis.

Today’s Al Roker and Craig Melvin are taking time off after a colleague on the third hour of the show contracted coronavirus. Anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb announced the news on Monday morning — while practicing social distancing themselves and sitting apart. The stars said Roker and Melvin will be off the air for just a day as a precaution.

A Today show employee who works at the 30 Rockefeller Plaza building in New York City has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to a memo sent out to staff. Noah Oppenheim, the president of NBC News, emailed employees late Sunday to tell them that the unnamed staff member, who works on the weekday third-hour show, was receiving medical care for “mild symptoms” and wished them a speedy recovery. The show would go on, but everyone who’s had close contact will have to isolate themselves.

Marvel Studios is pressing pause on its Disney Plus shows currently in production, which includes The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki and WandaVision. For shows that are in pre-production, work will continue remotely.

Nielsen says that staying put can lead to to almost a 60% increase in the amount of content watched. “Considering that consumers around the globe are already leaning into the growing ray of content options and channels, a 60% increase is significant,” a new report says.

Cox said the move gives viewers access to important public health information during the COVID-19 crisis.

Networks scrambled to figure out how to fill hours of airtime over the weekend after the sports world was put on hold because of the spread of the coronavirus.

Reruns of Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pushed back a half-hour in the coming week as ABC seeks to give a bigger platform to Nightline episodes focused on the coronavirus pandemic. ABC said Sunday that Kimmel repeats will shift to the 12:05 a.m. slot starting Tuesday through Friday as Nightline goes all-in on coverage of the latest in the coronavirus pandemic.

The Academy of Country Music said Sunday that it was postponing its annual awards show, which was to be held April 5 at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas and televised on CBS, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Consumer spending is grinding to a halt amid fears of the escalating coronavirus pandemic, driving stocks into a bear market and hurtling the economy toward a recession. But even though the economy has weathered shocks and recessions before, what’s different this time is the speed of decline and the comprehensive hit caused by the unpredictable health scare, which affects Americans’ ability to produce and consume.

Good news for the millions who suddenly find themselves working from home in the new coronavirus age: the core of the U.S. internet network can handle the virus-related surge in demand it now faces as it has evolved to be able to easily handle bandwidth-hungry streaming services. The caveat is video conferencing may stumble if too many people in one household try to do it at once, but otherwise experts say the system is “massively over-provisioned.”

The media’s job is to tell the story of a rapidly changing world in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic, but it must do so under rapidly changing new rules. “This is the biggest story since 9/11,” said New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet, but it needs to be told with an abundance of caution by the scores of journalists now working from home, interviewing sources via Skype and doing all they can to stay personally out of harm’s way.

The Cannes International Film Festival has denied claims that it will be cancelled due to coronavirus despite France’s new restrictions on public gatherings and widespread closures in the country.

Eric Wemple argues that Fox News’ reportorial deployment on the coronavirus pandemic has shifted into high gear with the professionalism and thoroughness one expects of a news network, but its opinion hosts continue to mislead and confuse viewers. Fox and Friends, newly-sidelined Trish Regan and Sean Hannity are among the worst offenders, he says. “It’s a wonder that Fox News doesn’t erupt in a journalistic civil war, such is the discrepancy between its sane and insane programming.”

A meeting with top network brass on the coronavirus situation is expected to take place on Monday, according to people familiar with the situation.

Going without an audience “might be a good thing,” said Stephen Colbert, who was out-of-breath after a brief run through the empty seats. “In my mind, all of my jokes are perfect. The only person that ever disagrees with me right now is the audience.”

The move aims to give cooped-up families a welcome distraction and may presage how other media companies funnel their movies to streaming services in the coming weeks. It may also be a pivotal moment in the evolution of streaming services in relation to theatrical releases.

Crowd energy propels the immediacy of a daily talk show, and with most of those shows and their late-night counterparts stripped of a live audience in the wake of the coronavirus, it has had an unsettling effect. James Poniewozik writes the experience has been “a brief reminder of the function that audiences serve and of the kinds of virtual connection we’re going to crave through our uncertain hunkerings-down.”

Out of 55 broadcast pilots, only one, CBS/WBSTV’s B Positive from Chuck Lorre (pictured), has been completed. If the coronavirus pandemic isn’t curbed soon, broadcast networks will likely reassess their pilot slates. Between series with firm and blinking orders, networks have enough of a cushion to reduce their dependence on pilots, but after eight weeks networks can enforce their force majeure contract clause and drop any project with no penalty.

The network said Trish Regan Primetime and Kennedy are on hiatus “until further notice” in order to reallocate staff elsewhere across Fox News Media for coronavirus crisis coverage. Regan has evoked recent criticism by suggesting liberals were exaggerating the crisis to harm President Trump.

A special show spotlighting winners of the annual journalism awards will be streamed on social media on April 16 and aired on E.W. Scripps-owned Newsy on April 26.

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences said Friday that it is postponing the 41st annual Sports Emmy Awards and 71st annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards dinner, both of which had been scheduled for April. The organization said it will look to move both events to a later date this year, and comes as a reaction to the growing global coronavirus pandemic.

In the space of one day, every major sports league in the U.S. suspended operations for at least the next several weeks in response to the growing spread of the novel coronavirus. The rapid cancellations, which began Wednesday night and stretched into Thursday, have left networks and marketers reeling, scrambling to determine what happens to their sports-related TV ad buys.

TVNewsCheck will publish Saturday and Sunday PM newsletters so readers are up to date on new developments in the coronavirus story.

Disney Television Studios on Friday morning announced that it will be suspending production on limited series Genius: Aretha for at least three weeks. Additionally, the studio, comprising 20th Century Fox, ABC Studios and Fox 21, is postponing start of production on all of its in-cycle pilots and straight-to-series The Big Sky, including co-productions like The Brides (with WBTV) and Rebel (with Sony TV).

Planning has already begun to bring a virtual World Congress to Paris participants in April-May, as well as the next in-person World Congress in New York in May 2021.

The network will air original episodes of Hawaii Five-O on Friday, March 27, at 9 p.m. with the series finale following at 9 p.m., Friday, April 3. Original episodes of MacGyver will air Friday, March 27, and Friday, April 3, at 8 p.m., and an original episode of Blue Bloods will air Friday, April 3, at 10 p.m.