2020 notable events in American television

The following is a list of notable events in American television in 2020.

January Date Event Source 1 FuboTV drops the Fox Sports Networks after failing to reach a deal with the regional network group's owners, the Sinclair Broadcast Group/Entertainment Studios joint venture Diamond Sports Group. Representatives with the virtual MVPD service stated that the decision was based on the rates "not being consistent with its mission to provide value and keep costs low to consumers". The move comes a day after FuboTV dropped Disney-owned entertainment networks FX, FXX, FXM and National Geographic, citing concerns over the cost of the full Disney networks bundle resulting in increased subscriber rates. 3 Hearst Television removed its 34 stations from AT&T's pay television services (DirecTV, AT&T U-verse and AT&T TV Now) at 3:00 p.m. EST that afternoon, after failing to come to terms on a new retransmission consent agreement, affecting viewers in 26 television markets. The dispute is settled in less than two days for undisclosed terms. 5 The 77th Golden Globe Awards airs on NBC, hosted by Ricky Gervais for the fifth time. In television, Succession, Fleabag, and Chernobyl were the most awarded, with two awards each. Among television performers, Succession Brian Cox and The Crown Olivia Colman won actor and actress honors for Best Performance in a Television Series – Drama, while Ramy Ramy Youssef and Fleabag Phoebe Waller-Bridge each received honors for Best Performance in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy. 6–10 As long-time host Pat Sajak continues to recover from last November's intestine surgery, his daughter, country singer Maggie Sajak, co-hosts Wheel of Fortune this week, turning letters while Vanna White continues to fill in for him. 7 Gray Television, owners of CBS/Fox/CW+ affiliate WAGM-TV in Presque Isle, Maine, finally signs-on WWPI-LD, giving Presque Isle its first full-time NBC affiliate. This leaves Alpena, Michigan as the sole remaining market in the United States without a locally-based NBC affiliate until January 24, 2022 when CBS/Fox/ABC affiliate WBKB-TV, the only over-the-air commercial station in the market, begins broadcasting NBC programming on DT2.Great News,,,WWPI NBC is now on Dish channel 2 and on Pioneer cable channel 101,,we thank you for your patience!Welcoming NBC to WBKB! You will need to rescan your channels to receive FOX. Here's how. 7–14 Brad Rutter, Ken Jennings, and James Holzhauer play against each other in the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament, a prime time special which aired on ABC. Jennings won the tournament and its $1 million prize after winning the fourth game of the tournament (based on a three-game win structure), eventually regaining the honor on the largest winnings record in the history of American television for the first time since Rutter retook the title back in 2014. It also marked the first time both Jennings and Rutter amassed more than $5 million total in terms of their overall game show winnings. 10 Disney Channel premieres one of the most popular animated series of all time, The Owl House. 14 CNN and its political correspondent Abby Phillip receive criticism from supporters of Bernie Sanders as well as some media outlets (among them, political talk hosts long criticized by progressives for coverage slanted against Sanders) and journalism organizations (such as the Poynter Institute, which called the moment "stunning in its ineptness, and stunning in its unprofessionalism") for a question Phillip asked during the seventh Democratic presidential debate. The question appeared to dismiss or imply lack of believability of Sanders's denial of a January 13 story by CNN, which claimed that he had told fellow progressive candidate Elizabeth Warren, who asserted validity to the claim despite lack of evidence, that a woman could not win the presidential election during a meeting with her in 2018. Sanders stated the conversation had touched upon the role sexism would play in the 2020 presidential campaign, specifically regarding President Donald Trump's history of verbal attacks against female politicians including Warren; Sanders's campaign alleged Warren and her staff had embellished the details of the discussion. Warren and Sanders were also caught on a hot mic accusing each other of lying on national television. 15 Nexstar Media Group announces plans to launch a three-hour, nightly prime time newscast on its recently acquired cable channel WGN America. The program, titled "News Nation", will be based out of the studios of Nexstar-owned WGN-TV/Chicago, compiling reports from that station and the group's 109 other local news operations nationwide into a cohesive program featuring straight news and feature reporting. (News Nation will be the first national newscast to air on WGN America since the then-superstation feed of WGN-TV carried the similarly formatted 1980–90 syndicated program Independent Network News, distributed by former parent Tribune Broadcasting.) 18 After 30 years, Hank Azaria announces he will no longer voice The Simpsons character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. This comes after the 2017 documentary The Problem with Apu by comedian Hari Kondabolu in which he claimed the show portrayed "outdated" Indian American cultural stereotypes, racial microaggressions and slurs. Cox Media Group removes stations in ten markets (all affected stations were formerly owned by Northwest Broadcasting) from Dish Network and Sling TV at 7:00 p.m. EST that evening, after failing to come to terms on a new retransmission consent agreement. Dish alleges that Cox Media parent Apollo Global Management was seeking to increase its retransmission payments by double the amount they were receiving and had turned down an offer to extend the existing agreement, specifically to allow viewers in Binghamton (WICZ-TV), Syracuse (WSYT), Medford (KMVU-DT), Spokane (KAYU-TV) and Tri-Cities–Yakima (KFFX-TV/KCYU-LD) to watch Fox's coverage of the January 19 NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl LIV on February 2. Dish was also granted a temporary restraining order to prevent a blackout involving the 14 Cox Media stations that Apollo jointly owns with Cox Enterprises, despite a multi-year agreement covering those stations it signed in 2019. On March 16, 2020, all Cox signals are restored to Dish through a mutual agreement in order to disseminate coronavirus news and information, though a new retransmission agreement remains unsigned. 21 CMT launches an "equal play" initiative in which, effective immediately, songs by female country music artists will be guaranteed to make up 50% of the videos featured as part of the network's overnight and morning music video blocks. (CMT estimates that it previously offered a 40/60 ratio of music videos featuring female artists compared to those by male artists, itself a larger share of female-led songs than averaged to receive airplay on country radio stations nationwide [accounting for 13% of songs played].) The move is praised by veteran female music artists in the genre (including Sheryl Crow, Brandi Carlile and Mickey Guyton) and listeners, while some country fans on social media criticized the move to suggest videos would be based on gender instead of song quality. 26 The 62nd Grammy Awards—held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles—aired on CBS with Alicia Keys as the host. Billie Eilish (alongside her brother, songwriter/producer Finneas O'Connell) received the most Grammys, with five wins each, becoming the first artist to win Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist in the same year since Christopher Cross in 1981. In light of the death of retired Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant (whose former team uses the Staples Center as its home venue) in a helicopter crash that morning, several tributes to Bryant were featured during the telecast, including a performance of Boyz II Men's "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" by Keys and group members Shawn Stockman, Wanya and Nathan Morris, while Lil Nas X (who won two awards), Lizzo (who won three awards) and DJ Khaled included tributes to Bryant within their performances. The telecast was watched by 18.7 million people, the lowest amount in 12 years. In reporting on the aforementioned death of Kobe Bryant, MSNBC anchor Alison Morris referred to the basketball star's former team as the "Los Angeles Nakers". Morris claims she misspoke, combining the Lakers' team nickname with that of the New York Knicks. However, the slip-up led to accusations that Morris used a racial epithet and calls for her firing. 27 Sinclair Broadcast Group discloses through an SEC filing that it reached a $60-million cash and asset settlement with Nexstar Media Group pertaining to a lawsuit filed in concurrence with the August 2018 termination of the deal by Tribune Media (which merged with Nexstar in September 2019) over its aborted 2017 purchase by Sinclair. Tribune terminated the deal after the FCC designated it for hearing by an administrative judge over concerns about Sinclair's proposed sales of Tribune stations in certain markets (including those where Sinclair had existing station properties) to sidecar licensees in an attempt to comply with FCC national and local ownership rules. Through the settlement, Nexstar will acquire Fox affiliate WDKY-TV/Lexington, Kentucky and certain non-license assets of KGBT-TV/Harlingen, Texas from Sinclair (which will remain owner of the latter's license but relinquished its programming inventory—including its CBS affiliation—to Nexstar-owned NBC affiliate and new outsourcing agreement partner KVEO-TV on January 28), and modifications will be made to Nexstar's affiliation agreements with Sinclair multicast networks Comet and TBD (which Nexstar largely inherited through the Tribune purchase). Ion Media announces its purchase of Azteca América affiliate KMCC/Laughlin, Nevada from Entravision Communications for a yet-disclosed price. The deal—which will give the company 71 full-power stations in 62 markets (including 41 based in the 50 largest markets)—will give Ion a Las Vegas-area O&O for its flagship network Ion Television (which has been affiliated locally with KBLR-DT3 since 2016 through an agreement with station parent NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group unit) and sister properties Ion Plus and Qubo (neither of which have local broadcast carriage). It will also break up a duopoly formed between KMCC and Univision affiliate KINC in 2018 (by way of Entravision's purchase of KMCC from Cranston Acquisition LLC in March 2017). 28 ABC affiliate KVII-TV/Amarillo fires morning anchor Anthony Pittman following his January 24 arrest in Randall County, Texas on solicitation and prostitution charges, a class B misdemeanor which carries a 180-day jail sentence and a $2,000 fine. The Sinclair Broadcast Group station also removed his profile from the website the same day. Pittman had worked at KVII since 2013 and prior to that was a fixture as a sports reporter at Fox-affiliated sister station KABB/San Antonio from 2000 to 2010. 29 Winemiller Television, LLC announces it will sell WSCG/Baxley–Savannah to Tri-State Christian Television affiliate company Radiant Life Ministries for $3 million. The sale follows Winemiller's failed sale of the station—a primary Heroes & Icons affiliate with 11 additional subchannel services (including Ion Television, Court TV Mystery, HSN and Cozi TV)—to HC2 Broadcasting in November 2019. Upon completion, the station will likely become the Savannah market's first full-power religious station as an O&O of the religious TCT Network. ABC News suspends chief national correspondent Matt Gutman over a false statement he made on-air on January 26 following the death of Kobe Bryant, where Gutman had erroneously reported that all four of Bryant's daughters were on board the helicopter that crashed into the hills of Calabasas, California in a breaking news report aired after the start o