TMC
03-12-2020, 08:51 PM
https://thespun.com/more/sports-media/espn-broadcast-schedule-canceled-tournaments
Meanwhile, ESPNews will show video simulcasts of radio shows and taped programming in response to the coronavirus.
ESPN has the challenge of filling more than 200 hours of programming each day without live sports (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/sports/sports-television-coronavirus.html)
The sports network, which has nine domestic cable channels and a streaming service, has been sending out its schedule for each day only one day in advance. "That seems about as far out as it is possible to plan for a reality that changes each day, each minute," reports The New York Times' Kevin Draper. "With little time to plan alternative programming — or even to update some channel guides — most sports networks are opting for older versions of their originally scheduled programming, borrowing the strategy endemic to ESPN Classic. CBS ran the Big Ten men’s basketball conference championship games from 2018 and 2019 this weekend. NBCSN showed a Premier League match from earlier this season. Fox played the movie Whiskey Tango Foxtrot instead of an M.L.S. match....SportsCenter has gained prominence in ESPN’s lineup. Sports documentaries, like those from ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, are in heavy rotation. They are not live sports, but at least they aren’t rerun sports. The strength of live sports on television is in the very name: They are live. They are appointment viewing. They cannot be missed. In a DVR and streaming world, sports are practically the only thing that needs to be viewed on a specific channel at a specific time. If a network has enough live sports media rights, cable companies are all but forced to carry it — and to pay a hefty monthly fee for the privilege of offering the games to their customers — and advertisers have to pay large sums of money to reach the vast audience of sports fans. Live sports are the star of the show, and the surrounding programming is just window dressing."
ALSO:
ESPN would like to air Chicago Bulls docuseries The Last Dance now, but it's not completed (https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/17/media/coronavirus-espn-programming/index.html): "The reality is that the production of that film has not yet been completed, so we are limited there at the moment," said Burke Magnus, ESPN's vice president of programming, of the 10-episode docuseries scheduled to premiere in June. "Obviously, you can't air it until it's done."
FS1 plans to bring back some of its studio shows on Wednesday (https://twitter.com/AndrewMarchand/status/1240092052018397189)
Could TV networks actually air old basketball tournaments?: ESPN says it's exploring that possibility (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katherinemiller/tv-networks-march-madness-old-archival)
Scott Van Pelt talks anchoring SportsCenter without any live sports (https://www.gq.com/story/espn-scott-van-pelt-covid-19-no-sports-interview)
If Tom Brady signs with NFC team, which will likely happen Wednesday, it'll help Fox (which has NFC rights) and hurt CBS (https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/tom-brady-nfc-fox-cbs-01e3mcykcn0m)
ESPN's Pardon the Interruption's Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon becomes "Pardon the Isolation" (https://twitter.com/pti/status/1240036108148396038)
ESPN's Highly Questionable becomes "Highly Quarantined" for the web (https://www.instagram.com/p/B921ht1HHz9)
ESPN's Around the Horn reacts to Tom Brady leaving the Patriots with "Around the Home" (https://twitter.com/AroundtheHorn/status/1239959670942507019)
Host Tony Reali created a special web version of his daily ESPN show, which is on hiatus due to the coronavirus, with Around the Horn regulars Sarah Spain, Mina Kimes and Jackie and Jackie MacMullan.
How ESPN can survive the Era of No Sports (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/18/world-without-sports-espn-scrambles-new-game-plan/)
Without live sports over the past week, "ESPN has in many ways fallen back into its old habits of self-promotion, loud 'debate' (nailed by a 30 Rock satire with the show 'Sports Shouting' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mwTo1EHvJk)) and fevered sycophancy toward the NFL, which is in the middle of its trading and free agent season," says Will Leitch. "Hard to blame the network too much for that: There isn’t a lot of sports to cover. With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urging restrictions on gatherings of 50 people or more for the next eight weeks, and Trump suggesting capping it at 10, it’s clear that ESPN has to figure out at least the next couple of months. But, hey, so do the rest of us." He adds: "The channel’s daytime programming is especially reliant on talk shows, not on live sports, and while there’s certainly less to discuss in a sports-free world (as this disconsolate sportswriter can tell you), there’s still plenty of hot air to spread around at the headquarters in Bristol, Conn. You try telling Stephen A. Smith there’s nothing in sports worth braying about....ESPN has spent much of the past decade making itself more and more powerful through various platforms. Much of this has been alarming, particularly with so many of the layoffs of terrific journalists at the network and at its websites. But whether the network realized it or not, its power and scope has put it in an excellent position to weather this sports-less storm."
ALSO:
Can ESPN stick to sports when coronavirus becomes a political topic? (https://www.vulture.com/2020/03/espn-without-sports-coronavirus.html)
ESPN's ratings are expected to fall 80% without live game (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-03-18/coronavirus-pandemic-forces-espn-to-reinvent-itself-for-a-sports-free-world)
How coronavirus could upend the entire sports media business (https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2020/03/espns-remote-ops-rapidly-expands-its-innovative-home-studio-network/)
ESPN’s remote operations team has been busy installing remote home studios for on-air personalities (https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2020/03/espns-remote-ops-rapidly-expands-its-innovative-home-studio-network/)
Meanwhile, ESPNews will show video simulcasts of radio shows and taped programming in response to the coronavirus.
ESPN has the challenge of filling more than 200 hours of programming each day without live sports (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/sports/sports-television-coronavirus.html)
The sports network, which has nine domestic cable channels and a streaming service, has been sending out its schedule for each day only one day in advance. "That seems about as far out as it is possible to plan for a reality that changes each day, each minute," reports The New York Times' Kevin Draper. "With little time to plan alternative programming — or even to update some channel guides — most sports networks are opting for older versions of their originally scheduled programming, borrowing the strategy endemic to ESPN Classic. CBS ran the Big Ten men’s basketball conference championship games from 2018 and 2019 this weekend. NBCSN showed a Premier League match from earlier this season. Fox played the movie Whiskey Tango Foxtrot instead of an M.L.S. match....SportsCenter has gained prominence in ESPN’s lineup. Sports documentaries, like those from ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, are in heavy rotation. They are not live sports, but at least they aren’t rerun sports. The strength of live sports on television is in the very name: They are live. They are appointment viewing. They cannot be missed. In a DVR and streaming world, sports are practically the only thing that needs to be viewed on a specific channel at a specific time. If a network has enough live sports media rights, cable companies are all but forced to carry it — and to pay a hefty monthly fee for the privilege of offering the games to their customers — and advertisers have to pay large sums of money to reach the vast audience of sports fans. Live sports are the star of the show, and the surrounding programming is just window dressing."
ALSO:
ESPN would like to air Chicago Bulls docuseries The Last Dance now, but it's not completed (https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/17/media/coronavirus-espn-programming/index.html): "The reality is that the production of that film has not yet been completed, so we are limited there at the moment," said Burke Magnus, ESPN's vice president of programming, of the 10-episode docuseries scheduled to premiere in June. "Obviously, you can't air it until it's done."
FS1 plans to bring back some of its studio shows on Wednesday (https://twitter.com/AndrewMarchand/status/1240092052018397189)
Could TV networks actually air old basketball tournaments?: ESPN says it's exploring that possibility (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katherinemiller/tv-networks-march-madness-old-archival)
Scott Van Pelt talks anchoring SportsCenter without any live sports (https://www.gq.com/story/espn-scott-van-pelt-covid-19-no-sports-interview)
If Tom Brady signs with NFC team, which will likely happen Wednesday, it'll help Fox (which has NFC rights) and hurt CBS (https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/tom-brady-nfc-fox-cbs-01e3mcykcn0m)
ESPN's Pardon the Interruption's Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon becomes "Pardon the Isolation" (https://twitter.com/pti/status/1240036108148396038)
ESPN's Highly Questionable becomes "Highly Quarantined" for the web (https://www.instagram.com/p/B921ht1HHz9)
ESPN's Around the Horn reacts to Tom Brady leaving the Patriots with "Around the Home" (https://twitter.com/AroundtheHorn/status/1239959670942507019)
Host Tony Reali created a special web version of his daily ESPN show, which is on hiatus due to the coronavirus, with Around the Horn regulars Sarah Spain, Mina Kimes and Jackie and Jackie MacMullan.
How ESPN can survive the Era of No Sports (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/18/world-without-sports-espn-scrambles-new-game-plan/)
Without live sports over the past week, "ESPN has in many ways fallen back into its old habits of self-promotion, loud 'debate' (nailed by a 30 Rock satire with the show 'Sports Shouting' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mwTo1EHvJk)) and fevered sycophancy toward the NFL, which is in the middle of its trading and free agent season," says Will Leitch. "Hard to blame the network too much for that: There isn’t a lot of sports to cover. With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urging restrictions on gatherings of 50 people or more for the next eight weeks, and Trump suggesting capping it at 10, it’s clear that ESPN has to figure out at least the next couple of months. But, hey, so do the rest of us." He adds: "The channel’s daytime programming is especially reliant on talk shows, not on live sports, and while there’s certainly less to discuss in a sports-free world (as this disconsolate sportswriter can tell you), there’s still plenty of hot air to spread around at the headquarters in Bristol, Conn. You try telling Stephen A. Smith there’s nothing in sports worth braying about....ESPN has spent much of the past decade making itself more and more powerful through various platforms. Much of this has been alarming, particularly with so many of the layoffs of terrific journalists at the network and at its websites. But whether the network realized it or not, its power and scope has put it in an excellent position to weather this sports-less storm."
ALSO:
Can ESPN stick to sports when coronavirus becomes a political topic? (https://www.vulture.com/2020/03/espn-without-sports-coronavirus.html)
ESPN's ratings are expected to fall 80% without live game (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-03-18/coronavirus-pandemic-forces-espn-to-reinvent-itself-for-a-sports-free-world)
How coronavirus could upend the entire sports media business (https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2020/03/espns-remote-ops-rapidly-expands-its-innovative-home-studio-network/)
ESPN’s remote operations team has been busy installing remote home studios for on-air personalities (https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2020/03/espns-remote-ops-rapidly-expands-its-innovative-home-studio-network/)