ESPN is "canceling all of its DC-based shows for the moment," including "PTI," due to the coronavirus threat, according to The Athletic's Richard Deitsch. The net also will be "putting its early morning SportsCenter on hiatus" (TWITTER.com, 3/15). ESPN's moves come after Fox on Friday announced it is "suspending production on all of their daily FS1 programs" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 3/13). Fox' affected shows include "First Things First," "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed," "The Herd," "Speak For Yourself," "Lock It In" and "NASCAR Race Hub." FS1 said in a statement, “Our top priority is the health and safety of our employees. We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust accordingly.” See the full updated programming schedule (DEADLINE.com, 3/13).
MINING THE ARCHIVES: The cancellation of virtually all live sports over the weekend led the broadcast channels to dip into their archives for afternoon programming on Saturday and Sunday. In L.A., Mike DiGiovanna writes network execs are "scrambling to fill hours of time devoted to live sports events," and "if the first weekend without live sports action is any indication, the pickings are going to be pretty slim." FS Prime Ticket’s original Saturday schedule included a Ducks-Kings game at 1:00pm PT and a Clippers-Pelicans game at 7:30pm PT. Those were "replaced by replays of an NHRA drag race, something called the 'Air Race World Championship' from Spielberg, Austria, and a Crashed Ice downhill ice-skating race from Marseille, France." Instead of Angels Spring Training games, FS West "televised a Red Bull air race and downhill mountain-biking competition Saturday and a snowboard competition and replay of a tennis tournament Sunday" (L.A. TIMES, 3/16). THE ATHLETIC's Fred Katz wrote NBC Sports Washington "plans to go back in the archives and reach for old games, but turning them TV-ready will take more than a moment" (THEATHLETIC.com, 3/14).
RADIO HIT HARD: On Long Island, Neil Best wrote "solutions still are a work in progress" for N.Y. sports radio stations, and execs are "reluctant to talk about it in detail." Other than "NFL free agency and the occasional COVID-19 update, look for lots more non-sports talk from both" WFAN and ESPN Radio in N.Y. WFAN VP/Programming Mark Chernoff said his station has a "lot of ideas to hopefully keep listeners both informed and entertained" (NEWSDAY, 3/14). In Vancouver, Steve Ewen writes the "people at TSN 1040 and Sportsnet 650, who spend 12 hours or more each weekday talking about sports," will have no live events to discuss "for the foreseeable future." TSN radio personality Don Taylor said, “You’re obviously going to try to keep people updated about the coronavirus. You’re also going to try to get as creative as possible." TSN radio's Blake Price said, for the moment, “I’m not worried. Maybe check back with me in three weeks. Maybe I’ll be in a different mood then" (Vancouver PROVINCE, 3/16).
