Most of the broadcast networks aired a full slate of sports-related programming yesterday afternoon despite the lack of live games taking place. With college basketball conference tournaments originally slated for CBS and ABC, those nets both aired hoops-related content. CBS aired the finals of three recent Big Ten tournaments -- ’15, ’16 and ’19 -- while ABC aired “30 for 30” installments on Christian Laettner and Houston’s Phi Slama Jama teams (preceded by a recap of X Games Norway). NBC re-aired the England-Wales Six Nations rugby championship from earlier this month, along with a replay of the third round of the ’19 Players Championship. Fox opted not to air any sports programming. Meanwhile, ESPN aired a replay of UFC 246 from January before live coverage of UFC Fight Night from Brasilia, which was moved up to earlier in the day from its original time slot.
CBS and NBC are taking a similar approach today, with the former re-airing three more conference tournament finals -- the Atlantic 10 from ’15 and the Big Ten from ’17 and ’18 -- and the latter airing the finals round of last year’s Players. ABC shifts to several episodes of the “College Football 150” series, while ESPN picks up the “30 for 30” mantle. It was to be determined what Fox would air in place of the scheduled NASCAR Cup race from Atlanta, as well as what CBS would broadcast in place of the hour-long NCAA selection show set for 6:00pm ET (THE DAILY).
CNBC.com goes with the header, "ESPN Scrambling To Figure Out Programming While Live Sports Shut Down Indefinitely."
