U.K. Government Unveils Financial Support Package for Self-Employed Workers Amid Virus Crisis

The WWE says that it is taking significant steps to reduce costs amid the coronavirus pandemic. While the company resumed its live wrestling matches this week on USA and Fox, like most media companies it is expecting the pandemic to impact its financial outlook.

Canadian cable giant Shaw Communications on Tuesday said it will temporarily lay off around 1,000 employees, or 10 percent of its workforce. The Calgary-based media company cited "the extraordinary and unpredictable conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic" for the furloughs set to begin Thursday.

Pay TV giant Dish Network has decided to cut an undisclosed amount of jobs and evaluate its business strategy amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The company had 16,000 employees as of the end of 2019 and didn't say how many of them were affected by the job cuts.

Amid an unprecedented crisis, Bob Iger's hopes of finally stepping away from the Walt Disney Co. were all but totally dashed.

By Anita Bennett

Australian pay TV giant leader Foxtel, which is majority-owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, has laid off 200 employees and put 140 additional staffers on leave until June amid the new coronavirus pandemic. The company's sports unit, which has been lacking fresh content amid the novel coronavirus' spread that has led to sports events being postponed or canceled, was hardest hit.

China's television networks and streaming platforms benefited from an explosion of viewers after the world's most populous nation began practicing social distancing in late January to contain the new coronavirus, says a new report published Thursday by Beijing-based ticketing company Maoyan. The surging television and streaming consumption came amid reduced filmgoing, according to Maoyan.

U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 has unveiled a raft of budget-cutting measures to deal with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

WarnerMedia owner AT&T on Tuesday said it has struck a deal for a $5.5 billion loan, boosting its liquidity amid the coronavirus crisis. It also said it expects to be "sizing our operations to economic activity," a sign of possible layoffs or reduced investment amid the crisis.

Both the BBC and ITV on Monday unveiled measures aimed at assisting the U.K. independent production sector suffering from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, a few laughs could do the world good — and comedians including Adam Sandler, Howie Mandel, Whitney Cummings and more are offering just that during the Laugh Aid live stream. The six-hour charity event on Saturday focused on gathering donations for Comedy Gives Back's COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund, which aims to assist comedians struggling during the virus crisis.

Leah Koch has been shipping packages on her own every day since The Ripped Bodice — a romance-only bookstore co-owned with her sister Bea — was temporarily closed down in mid-March. "It's been like 10 days, but it feels like it's been 14 years," she tells The Hollywood Reporter while packing shipments.

U.K. TV giant ITV said Friday that CEO Carolyn McCall and other management board members and directors will take salary and other compensation cuts amid the new coronavirus pandemic.

Numerous furloughed workers at Hollywood's iconic TCL Chinese Theatre and adjoining multiplex were terminated on Wednesday amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has led to unprecedented cinema closures across the U.S. The historic movie palace, along with six smaller adjacent auditoriums, have been shut for business since March 16.

The novel coronavirus is not only expected to cause a recession and wreak havoc on entertainment industry earnings, the pandemic has also had an impact on mergers and acquisitions, with several planned asset sales in the sector delayed amid the crisis.

SAG-AFTRA has adopted a program to provide dues relief for its members during the COVID-19 global pandemic, the union said Monday. Under the program, members experiencing financial hardship resulting from work stoppages related to COVID-19 will be granted a due date extension and an installment plan for those payments.

ViacomCBS on Friday said it has raised $2.5 billion with an eye to reducing its debt obligations. The Hollywood studio, led by CEO Bob Bakish, is the latest entertainment industry company to raise fresh cash amid the fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

Calling the fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic "unprecedented," the advertising research firm Magna Global predicts that U.S. TV advertising will drop by 13 percent in 2020, revising its earlier forecast of a 1 percent decline.

Self-employed workers will have to wait until June to get a £2500-a-month government bail out to help them through the coronavirus pandemic.