What's news: The 2020 Olympics will be postponed as Comcast warns of a "material" impact to its bottom line, UTA slashes salaries as economic impact worsens, Paradigm signs a five-year agreement with the Writer's Guild as WGA and studio negotiations face a delay, Harvey Weinstein may be L.A.-bound, Tonight Show, Full Frontal plot TV returns. Plus: A new normal for VFX? And 10 comedies to lighten your mood. --Alex Weprin

 2020 Olympics Postponed

In the modern era, only three Olympic games were not held as scheduled: The 1916 games, which were called off due to World War I, and the 1940 and 1944 games, which were called off because of World War II. Now there is a fourth addition to the list...

►The 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics will be postponed. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has agreed “100 percent” to his proposal of postponing the Tokyo Olympics for about one year until 2021 because of the coronavirus outbreak. Bach had previously said the IOC would make an announcement about postponing the 2020 Olympics in the next four weeks. The story.

+Statement from the IOC: "The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present. Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020."

+NBC addressed the postponement possibility in a statement yesterday. “These are extraordinary and unprecedented times, and we fully support the IOC’s decision to step up its scenario-planning for the Tokyo Olympics," an NBC Sports spokesperson said. "We are prepared to stand behind any decision made by the IOC, the Japanese government, and the world health officials with whom they are working regarding the Tokyo Olympics.”

+Comcast warns of "material" coronavirus impact. "The creation and availability of our film and television programming in the United States and globally has been disrupted," the company said in a securities filing, which also noted the potential postponement of the Olympics. At Sky, "these impacts materially exacerbate what was an already deteriorating economic environment and advertising market in the U.K. and Europe." The story.

+Flashback: NBC Sports said earlier this month that it had sold $1.25 billion in advertising for the 2020 Olympics, with inventory more than 90 percent sold. It is unclear what will happen to those advertising deals given the postponement.

►UTA cuts back. UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer and co-presidents David Kramer and Jay Sures have instituted companywide pay cuts to weather the coronavirus pandemic — starting with themselves. The trio will forgo the remainder of their 2020 pay from now through the end of the year, and the rest of the staff will see proportionate reductions to their salary, with higher earners taking larger cuts.

--"Like companies across the industry and our country, UTA is taking some immediate and painful steps to ensure we get through the current public health and economic crisis as strong as possible," the agency said Monday in a statement. "In addition to aggressive cost-cutting measures, this includes asking our colleagues at every level to take pay reductions, structured so our most senior colleagues make the largest financial sacrifice." The story.

The virus continues to wreak havoc on the entertainment business...

+Cineplex execs take 80 percent pay cut amid theater worker layoffs. Canadian exhibition giant Cineplex on Monday said part-time employees will be temporarily laid off and full-time employees will take steep pay cuts to keep their jobs after nearly 1700 screens nationwide were shuttered amid the coronavirus pandemic. More.

+Twitter retracts earnings forecasts amid coronavirus pandemic. The social media giant also retracted its outlook for expenses, stock-based compensation, headcount and capital expenditures for the full fiscal year "due to the growing impact of COVID-19 on the global operating and economic environment and their effect on advertiser demand." More.

+Cirque du Soleil lays off 95 percent of staff after closing shows. The Montreal-based circus giant said temporarily cutting 4679 jobs was necessary after 44 shows worldwide were shuttered amid the virus outbreak. More.

+European cinemas body calls for government support amid virus crisis. The International Union of Cinemas wants national governments to help out hard-hit theaters, which have been forced to close amid the pandemic. More. Related: Richard E. Grant and Alan Cumming are among a group of British stage and screen stars calling on the U.K. government to provide an income guarantee for beleaguered creative workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.

►How SAG-AFTRA's president manages the union from home amid a virus crisis. Gabrielle Carteris is working with the AFL-CIO, Rep. Adam Schiff and Sen. Kamala Harris to ensure that entertainment workers’ unique employment patterns don’t freeze them out of federal relief bills, Jonathan Handel reports. The story.

 The New Normal For VFX?

►Visual effects community urges studios to allow artists to work from home. The Visual Effects Society is urging employers to allow employees to work remotely during the coronavirus crisis. Meanwhile, a VFX artists' petition to Motion Picture Association chairman and CEO Charles H. Rivkin sends a similar message. In both cases, security and non-disclosure agreements are cited as the hold up for keeping more work from continuing during this time. More.

+Hollywood production turns to cloud and remote services amid coronavirus crisis. Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound confirmed that they are continuing to service projects using remote capabilities, Carolyn Giardina reports. While the companies haven't cited specific projects, ILM's upcoming work includes Disney's Jungle Cruise, Universal's Jurassic World: Dominion and season two of Jon Favreau's Disney+ series The Mandalorian. Skywalker's upcoming slate includes Disney/Pixar's Soul and The Mandalorian. The story.

►Lulu Wang's mission to help a hospital obtain masks amid coronavirus crisis. Following her Twitter thread that gained traction last week, THR's Trilby Beresford spoke with The Farewell director about her role in amplifying a message from a medical facility in dire need. More.

+Fashion designers create protective masks to curb coronavirus shortage. Christian Siriano, Brandon Maxwell and Prada are getting hands-on to provide medical staff with face masks and gowns during the coronavirus outbreak, Falen Hardge reports. More.

►NBC's Tonight Show to return with "At Home," repeat hybrid. The show is set to return Monday night with a hybrid of new "At Home" segments featuring host Fallon and highlights from previous episodes. The show joins Comedy Central's The Daily Show and and TBS' Full Frontal With Samantha Bee in returning this week (see below), with hosts and crew working from their respective homes. The story.

+Full Frontal With Samantha Bee sets home-based return. Full Frontal executive producer Jason Jones, Bee's husband, will operate the camera ("from a socially distant six feet away," per TBS, "and even further away if it's a good angle for Bee") as Bee hosts from their home in New York. Other crew members will also work remotely. The story.

+Late night in quarantine: James Corden celebrates The Late Late Show's fifth anniversary amid coronavirus: "We had so many big plans"... Jimmy Kimmel calls Harvey Weinstein's reported coronavirus prognosis "some good news"...

►CineEurope pushes dates back to August. The European exhibitor convention, due to take place in Barcelona, Spain in June, was one of the few major industry events left not to have shifted its dates, having last week set itself a deadline of May 4 to make a decision in light of the ever-changing situation. But on Tuesday, six weeks earlier than this date, it announced that it was moving the 2020 edition to August 3-6, 2020. More. 

+Banff World Media Festival cancels 2020 edition amid coronavirus pandemic. The festival had been set to run June 14-17 in the Canadian Rockies, with Netflix's Ted Sarandos as a keynote speaker. More.

+ViacomCBS cancels VidCon amid coronavirus outbreak. The online video conference is the latest event to be canceled amid the outbreak, joining SXSW, Cinemacon, E3, Coachella and Tribeca in moving their schedule. More.

+The Provincetown International Film Festival on Monday confirmed that it will not be moving forward with plans for this year's edition, which was scheduled to run June 17-21. More.

►Amid coronavirus pandemic, networks face decision: How long to stick with Trump? Six television networks began showing the president's briefing on the outbreak late Monday, but only Fox News Channel stuck it out to the end nearly two hours later. More.

►Will shelter-at-home orders help Disney+ launch in Europe? A report by Futuresource expects Disney+ subscriptions to top 10 million this year with European consumers forced to remain inside during the coronavirus crisis, Scott Roxborough reports. More.

In other coronavirus-related news...

--Thousands of students across the globe have come waddling back to the chilly world of Club Penguin, Disney's massively-multiplayer online game that first launched in 2005, in a time of coronavirus social distancing and self-quarantines.

--Diamond Comics Distributors has told publishers that it will no longer be accepting new product at its warehouses. The move essentially paralyzes a significant part of the comic book industry for the foreseeable future.

--Fox Business Network anchor Liz Claman, who normally hosts a show at 3 p.m., is temporarily off the air and in quarantine.

--Broadway star Aaron Tveit on Monday announced he tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

--The James Le Gros-starrer Phoenix, Oregon has partnered with around 17 art house theaters to release the feature comedy online on March 20.

--British Prime Minster Boris Johnson has ordered the closure of most retail stores and banned gatherings of more than two people in a stepped-up response to slow the new coronavirus.

 The rest of the day's news...

►Paradigm signs 5-year agreement with Writers Guild. The pact, which runs through April 2025, is based on the standard franchise agreement offered by the WGA, with a few key gains for Paradigm: Packaging fees will be allowed until Dec. 31, 2021 (the longest extension an agency has attained yet) and it can own 10 percent (up from 5 percent) of an affiliated production entity. Paradigm so far has no production affiliate, but its packaged series include The Masked Singer, black-ish, grown-ish, The Chi, NCIS: Los Angeles, Evil, Why Women Kill and The Good Fight. The story.

+Writers Guild negotiations fail to start as scheduled. Bargaining sessions typically involve up to 100 people — some flying in from New York — in an AMPTP conference room in Sherman Oaks (Los Angeles). The abeyance was not surprising, as THR reporting contemplated March 6 when the talks were announced and again on March 10 when the WGA canceled in-person meetings. But what happens next is still undetermined. “Nothing has been worked out as yet,” said a guild spokesman. “The WGA is evaluating the situation.” The AMPTP did not respond to a request for comment. The story.

 The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office on Monday continued the process to extradite Harvey Weinstein to face multiple charges of sexual assault and rape. The update occurred the same day the disgraced former movie mogul reportedly tested positive for novel coronavirus. The story.

+Judge universally rejects lawsuit over When They See Us dialogue. A line that says "the Reid Technique has been universally rejected" is a protected hyperbole and the creator of the interrogation style can't sue Netflix and Ava DuVernay for defamation. More.

+Lizzo is asking a California federal judge to dismiss "opportunistic and legally bankrupt" copyright counterclaims in a dispute over her hit "Truth Hurts." The Grammy winner fired first in October asking the court for a declaration that Justin Raisen, Jeremiah Raisen and Justin “Yves” Rothman have no ownership rights in the song, or the now-famous line "I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100 percent that bitch."

--The trio filed its own suit alleging Lizzo's hit was the result of a 2017 songwriting session for an unreleased demo called "Healthy" that never fully panned out, but key elements of which were used in her chart-topper. Now, Lizzo is asking the court to dismiss their request for a declaration that they jointly authored and jointly own the song and a series of related claims. The story.

+Supreme Court vacates ruling allowing bias case against Comcast. Byron Allen's suit against the cable giant now heads back to the Ninth Circuit. He must show Comcast's refusal to license his networks wouldn't have happened but for racism. The story.

+Supreme Court decides North Carolina is immune from filmmaker's copyright suit. Rick Allen's Nautilus Productions said his footage of an 18th century pirate ship was posted online without permission. But he can't beat sovereign immunity enjoyed by states from copyright lawsuits. More.



^10 comedies to lift your mood. A Chaplin classic, an Almodovar farce, a riotous girlfriend-com, Billy Wilder, Borat and more — here are THR chief film critic Todd McCarthy's go-to laugh generators. Here's the full list.

►One Day At a Time review: Inkoo Kang reviews the Pop TV comedy, which saved after being canceled by Netlfix. "Though none of the episodes features the emotional gravity that the show has worn on its sleeve, what is clear is that the writers are striving to provide as much continuity as possible." The review.

►TV ratings: CBS' NCIS: Los Angeles scored its biggest total audience of the season Sunday night, continuing a trend of rising broadcast ratings as coronavirus quarantines continue. NBC's Little Big Shots also got a boost with an abbreviated episode following a news special, and ABC's American Idol grew its audience for the third straight Sunday. The numbers.

►Amazon lifts Prime Video paywall for kids' programming. Shows including If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood will be available free for all customers, with or without a Prime membership. More.

►Curb Your Enthusiasm boss opens up about "prophetic" season 10 finale amid pandemic. Executive producer Jeff Schaffer talks about the uncertainty ahead for the TV industry and why creating a coronavirus-set season of Curb isn't as obvious as Larry David fans might think. More.

►Series Regular podcast: THR's Series Regular dives deep into week two of Westworld season three, with a closer look at Thrones creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss' cameo, and beyond. Listen.

What else we're reading...

--"YouTube to limit video quality around the world for a month" [Bloomberg]

--"‘The deals must go on’: As industry events disappear, execs look to recreate deals at a distance" [Digiday]

--"As Fox News played down the coronavirus, its chief protected himself" [NY Times]

--" Scott Van Pelt on how SportsCenter has adapted and what comes next" [The Athletic]

--"SoundCloud and Twitch just made it easier for musicians to monetize live streams" [The Verge]

Today's birthdays: Jim Parsons, 47, Jessica Chastain, 43, Chris Bosh, 36, Tommy Hilfiger, 69, Kelly Le Brock, 60.