Asia-Pacific Australia On
Network 10,
The Project,
the seventeenth season of
Dancing with the Stars Australia,
Studio 10, and
the eighth season of
Have You Been Paying Attention? suspended their in-studio audiences.
Have You Been Paying Attention? was recorded with only
Tom Gleisner and a handful of production crew filming the show from the
South Yarra studio, with all of the contestants
remote working and using
videotelephony to enforce
social distancing. The
eighth (Brains V Brawn) and
ninth (Blood V Water) seasons of
Australian Survivor were eventually filmed in Outback Queensland. Network 10 also changed the race route for the
fifth season of The Amazing Race Australia so that it would film only in Australia instead of internationally, but was later postponed due to
interstate travel restrictions. The
eighth season of
The Bachelor suspended filming midway into the season, with two virtual "Love In Lockdown" episodes being produced before in person production could resume. On the
ABC,
Q&A, ''
Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell, and The Weekly with Charlie Pickering'' suspended their studio audiences. Filming on the
Seven Network's
Home and Away was suspended as of March 22. The network also removed the show from its schedule for three weeks and replaced it for the first two weeks with the news show
The Latest, and for the third week with the first week of the
8th season of
House Rules. Production resumed on May 25. ''
Australia's Got Talent'' postponed production due to international talent facing a fourteen-day quarantine after arriving in Australia.
Indonesia As the government appeal Indonesians to "work, study, and pray at home", the
Ministry of Education and Culture partners with
TVRI to broadcast educational programming on a dedicated block
Belajar dari Rumah on the network starting April 13, 2020. The block consists of kids program for preschools, instructional programming for elementary and high school students, and a parenting program on weekdays; as well as national movies at several weeknights and children, talkshow, and documentary programs at weekends. The block is aired every day at 08.00 to 11.00
WIB and 21.30 to 23.30 WIB on several weeknights, and also broadcast on
TV Edukasi.
Japan A handful of
anime studios have encouraged their employees to work from home although the employment of freelance animators in some studios has limited work disruption. Anime productions including
A3! Season Spring & Summer,
A Certain Scientific Railgun T,
Infinite Dendrogram,
Asteroid in Love,
The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited were delayed apparently due to the pandemic. Productions which heavily rely on outsourcing
in-between and coloring work to studios in China were the most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to international travel restrictions making it impossible to physically deliver works across national boundary in person. On March 31, media outlets reported that
Toei Company closed its Tokyo studio for disinfection after the lead actor of
Mashin Sentai Kiramager, the 44th season of the long-time running
Super Sentai series,
Rio Komiya (Jūru Atsuta) tested positive for COVID-19 the previous day and halted production of the series. However, on April 3, Toei released a statement that the studio was not closed despite what news and media outlets reported, citing the news as misinformation. As of April 5, Komiya's health condition was improving, and four days later, Komiya was discharged from the hospital and self-quarantined for two weeks. On May 10, both
Kiramager and
Kamen Rider Zero-One, the 30th season of the long-time running
Kamen Rider series was announced to be going on hiatus. In place of the standard weekly episodes,
Kiramager will broadcast Episode ZERO, a prequel episode detailing events before the series, as well as the Director's Cut versions of the first two episodes,
Kira Talk!, and the
Jamental Institute.
Kamen Rider Zero-One will be releasing five special episodes that recount the events of the episodes covered in the 35 episodes released before hiatus, with two of those episodes dubbed "President Special" that are from the perspective of Aruto Hiden and his secretary, Is, while the third episode dubbed "Shooting Special" will be from the perspective of Isamu Fuwa and Yua Yaiba. On May 27, it was reported that
Kamen Rider Zero-One would resume filming on June 1 following Japan lifting its state-of-emergency declaration two days prior, albeit with new guidelines to be used while shooting the remaining episodes. On June 7,
TV Asahi announced that
Kiramager and
Zero-One would return to their regular weekly episodes starting on June 21. Live-action drama series also suspended production to reduce the spread of the virus, and most broadcast stations transmitted works from their archives.
Nippon TV shows such as and
Detective Notice, Tokyo Broadcasting System Television shows such as and
Hanzawa Naoki 2, and
Fuji TV shows such as
Unsung Cinderella and
Suits Season 2 all temporarily ceased production. Additionally,
NHK suspended production and airing of their shows '''', , and . On April 19, 2020,
TV Tokyo, MediaNet & ShoPro announced that the
Pokémon anime series would be going on hiatus, with production temporarily suspended. Reruns of old episodes began airing from April 26 to May 31, 2020; production staff later announced that new episodes would resume airing on June 7, 2020.
Malaysia Malaysia suspended all active filming in March. On May 19, the government has given the green light for the filming industry to resume its activities after
Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
Philippines Television talk, reality, variety and game shows in the Philippines temporarily filmed
without a live audience.
TAPE Inc. announced on March 9 that it would stop admitting live audiences for their variety show
Eat Bulaga!, which airs on
GMA Network;
ABS-CBN followed suit, announcing on March 10 that they would do the same for their television shows including ''
It's Showtime, Banana Sundae, Magandang Buhay, the second season of the Philippine version of I Can See Your Voice
and ASAP. GMA Network then followed suit again with Wowowin (including its Saturday primetime edition), All-Out Sundays, Centerstage, The Boobay and Tekla Show, Mars Pa More'' and
GMA News TV's
Idol sa Kusina and
Tonight with Arnold Clavio. On March 14, 2020, ABS-CBN and GMA Network both announced that they will suspend production on their respective drama and live entertainment shows effective March 15 (the same day a quarantine declared by President
Rodrigo Duterte was enacted in
Metro Manila and
Cainta, Rizal). On March 18, 2020, GMA News TV and
CNN Philippines announced that they will temporarily go off-air beginning March 19, with the latter going off as the Worldwide Corporate Center in
Mandaluyong, where their newsroom and studios are based, is being disinfected after a confirmed case in the offices of one of the building's tenants. The two networks eventually returned on March 20 and 23 respectively, with GMA News TV making way for a temporary full-time video simulcast of
DZBB-AM and its studio programming. In an unrelated matter, ABS-CBN's broadcast licence was not renewed by its expiry date by Congress, and the company's free television and radio stations were hence forced off the air by the
National Telecommunications Commission on May 5, 2020, to much domestic controversy and further worldwide attention when the
European Parliament released a resolution that could lead to the revocation of GSP certifications of Filipino Products if the cases of journalist
Maria Ressa were not dropped alongside the
denial of the Philippine congress to grant ABS-CBN a fresh 25-year broadcasting franchise. The license revocation is believed to involve the network's critical news coverage of President
Duterte's administration, along with overall inaction from the
Congress of the Philippines to renew their broadcast license since the matter came up in 2016. Although the reason for the closure is not directly due to COVID-19, some figures have expressed concern about its impact on public efforts to contain the pandemic. In a statement, ABS-CBN management said that "Millions of Filipinos will lose their source of news and entertainment when ABS-CBN is ordered to go off-air on TV and radio tonight (5 May 2020) when people need crucial and timely information as the nation deals with the COVID-19 pandemic". Furthermore,
Albay Representative
Joey Salceda warned that the network's shutdown could add up to 2,600 COVID-19 cases, as many viewers would lose a vital source of information on how to keep themselves safe during the pandemic.
Vice President Leni Robredo (who does not share Duterte's party affiliation) questioned the move as she believes the network's operations have helped in efforts to contain COVID-19 more than the
country's offshore gaming operations, and added that the shutdown could "cost lives on top of the thousands who will lose their jobs". The company's
premium network ABS-CBN News Channel is unaffected as a cable-only network, continuing to provide full news updates, along with ABS-CBN's social media accounts and YouTube channels, and its international networks, including
The Filipino Channel. On May 8, 2020, the newscast of the network's flagship news programme,
TV Patrol began to broadcast on
ABS-CBN TV Plus channels
TeleRadyo and
Cine Mo!.
Pantawid ng Pag-ibig: At Home Together Concert was a benefit concert, broadcast on March 22. Following the downgrade to general community quarantine, most shows continued their production with safety protocols, such as lock-in tapings in which artists are isolated in a bubble setup and are required to stay in nearby hotels for the duration of the taping cycles and wearing of face shields for certain in-studio programs.
Singapore On February 7, the government announced that the framework scheme Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) was raised to Orange, while
Suria held a live concert special celebrating the channel's 20th Anniversary, which was the last live program to have a live audience, among which
President of Singapore Halimah Yacob was ushered as guest-of-honor. The last three episodes of the 26th season of another live-broadcast
Channel 8 game show,
The Sheng Siong Show (with the first episode airing a day after on the 8th), began suspending their studio audience, though contestants are still invited on-stage for studio segments including the Thousandfold Cash Reward; previously live-broadcast programs airing at the time such as
Te:Ra Seh 4.0 and
Sinar Lebaran 2020, also followed suit and continued production without live audience. After Singapore enforced its lockdown restrictions (dubbed "
Circuit Breaker") from April 7 to June 1, Suria and Vasantham both began their broadcasts earlier at 9am starting April 8, and new local shows featuring celebrities premiered on morning and afternoon timeslots on April 9. However, some reruns on the afternoon were pre-empt on certain days to broadcast update messages delivered by
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. On April 12,
Channel 5 brought the airing for the 2019 film
Spider-Man: Far From Home earlier as opposed to a 2-3 year average gap as other films recently aired. Prior to the period, medical-themed dramas
Big White Duel and
My Guardian Angels were premiered as 7:30pm and 9pm dramas on
Channel 8 respectively to raise awareness. Another medical-theme drama,
You Can Be an Angel 3 began reruns from May 29 at 5:30pm, after the finales of
My Guardian Angels and
Big White Duel on May 15 and 26, respectively. Many other Singaporean shows have also postponed production or delayed broadcast to a later date, such as the monthly crime documentary television series
CrimeWatch, annual
Star Awards ceremony (initially on April 26 before being moved to 2021) and the 27th season of
The Sheng Siong Show (postponed from May 9 to June 6). Since the suspension of production of local dramas, Channel 8 had begun airing international dramas asn replacements for local drama series on the 7:30pm and 9pm, starting with
Heart and Greed and
Sky Castle, as well as the Mandarin dubbing drama
Titoudao: Inspired by the True Story of a Wayang Star. On April 25 at 7:55pm (SGT), all Mediacorp channels aired a short five-minute
sing-along music video of celebrities and musicians singing a rendition of
Kit Chan's "
Home" as a tribute to commemorate the efforts of frontline and migrant workers during the outbreak. On June 1 at 7:30pm (SGT), a second video short titled
Stronger As One was broadcast on all Mediacorp channels, paying tribute to the current events and featured the sing-along segment of
Stephanie Sun's "We Will Get There". Both
pay televisions by
StarHub and
SingTel (and along with their respective apps StarHub GO and CAST) also announced free preview screening during the lockdown from March 20 to June 1, and from April 1 to June 30, respectively. On June 2, after the lockdown was eased in Singapore, StarHub further extended the free preview until June 30.
South Korea Many shows continued as planned, however traveling or outside shows such as
SBS'
Running Man,
KBS 2TV's
2 Days & 1 Night, and
MBC's
Real Man 300 were suspended. Many shows accepted fewer spectators, to allow for social distancing, such as KBS 2TV's
Immortal Songs, ''
You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook'', and MBC's
King of Mask Singer.
Mnet's competition series such as
Road to Kingdom (a sequel to
Queendom) and
Good Girl changed completely, using one set instead of two, and have no live shows. They also changed the process of voting on the shows, so only competitors may vote. In music shows such as
SBS MTV's
The Show,
MBC M's
Show Champion, Mnet's
M Countdown, KBS 2TV's
Music Bank, MBC's
Show! Music Core, and SBS's
Inkigayo, there are also no spectators. Instead, they used pre-recorded screaming and clapping.
Latin America Argentina Since the start of the national lockdown in Argentina, broadcast television in the country saw a 30% increase of viewership during the week between March 17 and 22. The networks increased the airtime of talk shows and news programming, while reality shows were still in production. A fundraising special show aimed to the
Red Cross for supplying hospitals and health centers aired throughout all six broadcast networks on April 5. The show, called
"United for Argentina", included celebrities and famous people from the Argentine media. Donations reached a total of
$87,938,624. The only telenovela that was airing on broadcast television before the beginning of the pandemic,
Separadas (from
El Trece), was removed from the schedule after its March 19 airing and production was suspended temporarily. Two months later, producing company
Pol-Ka definitely cancelled the show due to "economic reasons", leaving Argentine television without any scripted programming. The first cases of COVID-19 reached Argentine television in June. Producers from
Telefe's game show
El Precio Justo were diagnosed, making the show to enter on hiatus and schedule reruns to air instead.
El Precio Justo's hostess
Lizy Tagliani later reported that she was diagnosed positive for COVID-19. Telefe also announced that talk show
Cortá por Lozano would be broadcast with the hostess and panelists from their homes as a preventive measure. News channel
C5N had to implement a protocol to prevent new infections after one of their journalists tested positive for COVID-19.
Brazil TV Globo shifted their programming schedule by expanding their regular news programming and cutting entertainment programming. This included the suspension of the filming of the network's
telenovelas for the safety of cast and crew. Because of this, the currently-running
9pm telenovela Amor de Mãe was replaced by the 2011 series
Fina Estampa, the 7:30pm current series
Salve-se Quem Puder was replaced with the 2015 series
Totalmente Demais and debut of the upcoming 6pm series
Nos Tempos do Imperador was postponed, with the 2017 series
Novo Mundo airing on its place. Journalists for the network over the age of sixty were told to telework.
Mexico In Mexico, as the health crisis expands, it seems that there will be inevitable changes to the broadcasting schedule. Unfortunately, as the health crisis has expanded in Spain and Brazil, it is difficult to broadcast overseas sports leagues, and it is expected that there will be some influence on the production of telenovelas. In addition, since the number of diagnostic tests of per population is relatively small, it is unlikely that there will be a small number of Mexican broadcasters among the suspected patient or potentially infected population, as it is difficult to say that the situation inside Mexico is better than other developing countries. However, it is believed that the minimum number of broadcasting personnel is contributing to the operation of broadcasting companies, as all broadcasting stations seek to slow down and minimize and spread infection.
Anglo-America Canada As in other regions, the pandemic has forced the modification of television production in Canada, including programs being reformatted to not use studio audiences or be produced remotely, and the
Canadian Screen Awards, which were scheduled to be televised in March, were cancelled. The Canadian Screen Awards ultimately announced their winners via
livestreaming in the week of May 25 to 28, while the Junos were presented in an online event on June 29. The
22nd Quebec Cinema Awards were also cancelled, with organizers announcing winners via livestreaming on June 10. Due to the suspension of the
National Hockey League (NHL),
CBC Television replaced its weekly
Hockey Night in Canada broadcast with
Movie Night in Canada, a double bill of Canadian films. With virtually all live sports cancelled,
TSN and
Sportsnet both opted to rerun various past sports broadcasts, including the entire
2019 championship playoff run of the
Toronto Raptors. In addition to
Movie Night in Canada, CBC Television also launched a number of other special short-run series during the pandemic, including ''
What're You At?, a remotely-produced Sunday-evening talk show with Tom Power, and Hot Docs at Home'', a Thursday night series which broadcast several feature documentary films which had been slated to premiere at the cancelled
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. To widen their availability, the CBC and
Bell Media made their news channels,
CBC News Network,
CP24,
CTV News Channel, and
Ici RDI available as free previews on pay television providers, and freely available for streaming online without
TV Everywhere authentication. Due to resource constraints, the CBC temporarily replaced its
local evening newscasts with a simulcast from CBC News Network combining content from local and national journalists from across the country, a decision that was criticized by the Premier of Prince Edward Island
Dennis King (
CBC News: Compass is the province's only local daily television news program). By the end of March, however, local news service began to be restored in most markets. The benefit event
Stronger Together, Tous Ensemble aired across most major Canadian broadcasters on April 26; with around 11.5 million viewers, it was the
most-watched non-sports telecast in Canadian history. On May 22, CTV aired the special
Unsinkable Youth, hosted by
Silken Laumann and
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan in partnership with
Kids Help Phone to promote awareness of youth mental health in the wake of the pandemic. and
WE Celebrate: Class of 2020 on June 6, hosted by
Lilly Singh. In mid-August 2020, it was reported that local unions had resolved an impasse with U.S. studios over safety and testing protocols for their Vancouver-based productions.
United States The COVID-19 pandemic has been the most impactful event to U.S. television production since the
2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, which disrupted nearly all scripted television production. networks were dependent on their remaining inventory of completed programs that had not yet aired (resulting in some completed programs being delayed to air as contingencies in place of other programs), and
esports events as alternatives to cancelled or delayed professional sports.'''' On May 22,
Georgia became the first U.S. state to release guidelines for safety protocols during film and television production. California began to authorize the resumption of film and television production on June 12; the
Big Three networks' soap operas were among the first to resume production (with
The Bold and the Beautiful resuming first-run episodes in July).
Tyler Perry completed production on the next seasons of his
BET dramas
Sistas and
The Oval in July and August respectively at his Atlanta-based
Tyler Perry Studios complex using a "bubble" strategy, with
Sistas being the first U.S. scripted primetime series to complete a season of production under COVID-19 safety protocols. Many of
Adult Swim and
the CW's Atlanta-based series soon followed suit. The
National Women's Soccer League was the first professional sports league to return to play, with all but one of its teams traveling to
Salt Lake City, Utah, for a single-site
Challenge Cup tournament broadcast live on
CBS using off-site
remote integration model production methods to minimize on-site staff. Some
late-night talk shows began to migrate from home-based formats in July, returning to new or re-configured studios with no studio audience, and continued use of remote interviews for guests. Other reality series that were suspended or delayed due to the pandemic, such as ''
America's Got Talent, Big Brother, and Love Island, also began the process of returning to air with additional safety measures in place (and in the case of AGT
and Love Island'', being filmed from different locations than they usually are).
Europe On March 18, 2020, the
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that the
Eurovision Song Contest 2020 would be cancelled; it was scheduled to take place in
Rotterdam, the
Netherlands on May 12, 14 and 16. Rotterdam remained host of the
2021 contest on 18, 20, and May 22, 2021, and countries were required to submit new entries; many countries announced plans to retain their selected artists for 2020 with new songs for 2021. The EBU announced that it would air a non-competitive special on May 16 (the original date of the 2020 final),
Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, featuring the artists that were set to participate. The
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in
Warsaw,
Poland went ahead in a remote format, with most acts performing from studios in their home country. In September 2020, the EBU announced that the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 would have contingency plans allowing for such a format as a last resort, but with other options available, including a less-crowded production with a limited audience, and the option for countries to perform remotely if their act cannot travel to the Netherlands.
Belgium A lockdown in Belgium influenced local studio
Woestijnvis (of
The Mole fame) to produce
The Container Cup, a sports competition series where equipment is delivered to contestants' homes in camera-equipped
shipping containers. Proving popular, the series has been optioned and sold internationally in markets such as Italy, Spain, and the United States.
France Germany As the public health crisis expanded significantly in Germany, there were cases where scheduled broadcasts were postponed or suspended and proceeded without the audience.
Spain Since the second week of March all programs are filmed without audiences. The
11th season of music competition show Operación Triunfo went on hiatus as a precautionary measure over the ongoing pandemic.
United Kingdom The
BBC postponed filming for a celebrity version of
Race Across the World that was set to start filming in April. On March 15, filming for the second season of the
Netflix series
The Witcher in the United Kingdom was suspended for two weeks. On April 23, the BBC held a charity appeal titled
The Big Night In, in collaboration between
Children in Need and
Comic Relief. Chef
Jamie Oliver produced a new programme,
Keep Cooking and Carry On, for
Channel 4, and
Charlie Brooker produced a one-off
BBC Two special, ''
Charlie Brooker's Antiviral Wipe'', to satirize the impact of the pandemic and the British government response. On May 12, it was reported that the British government would allow scripted television production to resume if safety precautions are instituted.
Emmerdale and
Coronation Street were among the first scripted series to resume. In July 2020,
The War of the Worlds became the first British drama series to resume production. Several non-scripted programs normally produced in other countries were re-located domestically, including ''
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! — whose twentieth series moved from Australia to Gwrych Castle in Wales, and The Wall'' – which moved to
Wembley Arena after having filmed its first series at an
Endemol Shine hub in Poland.
Sky Studios paused production of all domestic dramas that involved international filming through at least spring 2021. On December 13, 2021, the
BFI announced that a record £4bn recovery was spent on television production in the UK. TV production slumped during the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The £4bn in 2021 was compared to the £2.3bn figures spent in the same period between 2018-19.
MENASA Bangladesh Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of televising productions came to a halt in Bangladesh. The state television re-aired old shows such as
Songsoptok,
Ei Shob Din Ratri,
Bohubrihi, and
Kothao Keu Nei. Old episodes of
Ityadi were also re-aired.
India All television and film and production in India was halted on March 19, 2020. According to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, filming, post-production work, and movie theaters began to reopen in phases beginning in June. Tamil satellite channel
Sun TV abruptly officially ended four of its running television soap operas such as
Chocolate,
Azhagu,
Kalyana Parisu and
Tamil Selvi owing to
COVID-19 lockdown in India which also resulted in inter-district ban and due to artists refusing to shoot for the relevant television serials amid COVID-19 fears. Alongside Sun TV, other satellite television channels
Star Vijay,
Zee Tamil and
Colors Tamil also started airing old television serials and movies from March 23, 2020.
Tamil Nadu state government granted permission to start shooting for the television soap operas in the mid of May 2020 (May 21, 2020) with allowing only a maximum of 20 cast artists in indoors and cautioned to maintain strict health guidelines during shooting procedures. As of May 25, 2020, shooting of television soap operas commenced but government in Tamil Nadu imposed another lockdown between June 19 to 30 which resulted in yet another halting of television production. However, on July 7, 2020, most of the shooting of television soap operas resumed again to telecast all new episodes. Sun TV Network revealed that it will telecast new episodes of their current television soap operas such as
Kalyana Veedu,
Nayagi,
Roja,
Kanmani and few others with effect from July 27, 2020. Star Vijay also stated that its prime time television soap operas such as
Pandian Stores,
Bharathi Kannamma,
Ayutha Ezhuthu,
Kaatrin Mozhi,
Thaenmozhi B.A,
Mouna Raagam and
Baakiyalakshmi will be telecast with new episodes from July 27, 2020. Zee Tamil also confirmed that their prime time and non-prime time serials such as
Sembaruthi,
Yaaradi Nee Mohini,
Oru Oorla Oru Rajakumari,
Gokulathil Seethai,
Poove Poochoodava,
Rettai Roja,
Raja Magal,
Endrendrum Punnagai,
Sathya and
Neethane Enthan Ponvasantham will also be telecast with new episodes from July 27, 2020.
Saudi Arabia Ahlan Simsim: Friends Time is a program that will be broadcast across the
Middle East and North Africa, featuring characters from the
Sesame Street co-production having a playdate over a video call service.
Turkey Following a campaign started by the cast and crew members of various TV series, many networks temporarily suspended the production of their TV shows and programs until further notice. A few number of TV series, however, still continue to be produced.
Sub-Saharan Africa Ethiopia Nigeria South Africa Many
telenovelas announced an indefinite filming break, causing shows that were planning to shoot to cancel production as television programs faced a sudden reschedule. As South Africa began to ease restrictions starting on May 1, telenovelas and the TV industry as a whole were allowed to film, but only following
social distancing rules. During the pandemic, TV news thrived as most South Africans received their information about the pandemic leading to increased ratings to news media. == Affected productions ==