What's news: Major League Baseball to resume play as live sports return, Bob Costas joins CNN, China's movie theaters reopen, South Korea's box office smash, news from Venice and Locarno, YouTube is the new front in the streaming wars, Amber Heard testifies against Johnny Depp. Plus: Kanye West's bizarre campaign event, and a review of Dave Franco's The Rental. --Alex Weprin

 The Return of Live Sports

When it comes to the TV business, March 11, 2020 will be remembered as one for the history books. It was the day the NBA suspended its season amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, ultimately leading MLB to suspend its spring training and the NCAA to cancel the remainder of its season. Now, more than four months later, the first major live sports are set to return to the airwaves, with many announcers working remotely, cardboard cutouts in the stands instead of fans and in the case of the NBA a "bubble" located in Walt Disney World.

►Major League Baseball going first: MLB will host its "opening day" on Thursday with a double header on ESPN, with Fox scheduling a quadruple-header on Saturday. It is a very, very big deal for the cable sports channels, which have largely been without live sports since March. While Disney has tried to fill the lineup with eSports, sports movies, Korea's baseball league and of course series like The Last Dance, ESPN's lineup is built around live sporting events, so the return of games marks a return to something closer to normal for the channel. It also gives the channel an opportunity recoup some of the estimated $2.6 billion in ad revenue lost since the pandemic shutdowns. More on the advertising impact.

+Just in: CNN says that Bob Costas, the longtime voice of MLB Network and NBC Sports and former HBO host, has joined the cable news channel as a contributor to discuss sports-related issues.

+What's next? The NBA tips off on July 30 from Disney's Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando... assuming the virus doesn't penetrate the "bubble" housing the players, coaches, broadcast and support staff. Of course, the big show will come in a couple of months when the NFL (hopefully) returns. This week high-profile NFL players have released statements on social media demanding that the league negotiate with the players' union on safety protocols.

+Already out there: NASCAR, PGA golf, Major League Soccer and a few other sports have resumed play, though MLB and the NBA are an order of magnitude more important to the major broadcasters, and the NFL is most important of all.

+Analyst take: The return of live sports to U.S. TV screens will set "record" ratings in the second half of 2020 and attract new pay TV subscribers, including so-called "cord-nevers," or, mostly younger, people who have never before subscribed to pay TV services, instead relying on video streaming products, writes Needham analyst Laura Martin in a new report Monday.

--"We believe that the return of seven pro sports in July and August plus the NFL in September suggests higher linear TV sub adds in the second half, including by cord-nevers, and higher subscriber churn for streaming services," Martin wrote. "Disney, Fox and ViacomCBS are the companies in our coverage universe that have the most upside from the return of live sports." The story.

+TV's saving grace? The return of major sporting events comes as original entertainment programming is beginning to run dry on many broadcast and cable channels. Production shutdowns also shut down shows that would have otherwise launched over the summer or in the fall. Some shows that were in the can and set to debut this summer are being held by networks for later in the year as potential lineup fillers.

 China's Theaters Reopen

►China's cinemas flicker back to life after 6 month coronavirus closure. Total ticket sales for Monday were just shy of $500,000 at around 8 PM, local time, Patrick Brzeski reports. Just one new film, a local drama, was released Monday, with most cinemas showing rereleases like Disney's Coco or local blockbuster Wolf Warrior 2. The story.

+Foreign box office: South Korea's Peninsula bows to big $19-$20 million. South Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho’s Peninsula — a follow-up to the 2016 cult zombie action flick Train to Busan — scored $19 million to $20 million in its international debut in a much-needed boost for the box office, according to early industry estimates.

--That includes more than $13 million to $14 million in South Korea despite capacity limitations and ongoing concerns amid the novel coronavirus. The film also launched over the weekend in four other Asian markets, including Taiwan. While cinemas remain shuttered in the U.S., theaters in many regions overseas are reopening, albeit it with social distancing measures in place such as staggered seating. The numbers.

►The Locarno Festival: The Swiss film festival has unveiled the selection of historic titles that will screen this year as part of the event's special edition amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

--Art-house classics ranging from Roberto Rossellini's 1948 drama Germany, Year Zero to Jim Jarmusch's 1984 breakthrough Stranger Than Paradise to Yolande Zauberman's French feature M, which premiered at Locarno in 2018, have been selected by directors taking part in Locarno's Films After Tomorrow section. The filmmakers picked twenty emblematic titles from Locarno's back catalog, which stretches from 1948 to 2019. The story.

+The Venice Film Festival: Oscar-winning Scottish actress Tilda Swinton and acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui will be honored with lifetime achievement awards at this year's Venice International Film Festival, organizers said on Monday. More.

►The big winner of the streaming video wars? YouTube. In half an hour of watching the Google-owned video platform this weekend, I saw pre-roll ads for Peacock, HBO Max, Disney+ and Quibi, suggesting that it has become the go-to place for new streaming services hoping to peel away viewers. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has long been bullish on YouTube, telling analysts on earnings calls that the platform has served as a springboard to promote new shows, and demonstrates the value of ad-supported video as a complement to Netflix's ad-free offering. Now every other streamer want to get in the game too, and Google seems to be the big winner.

+NBCUniversal also got creative in promoting Peacock this weekend, having a small fleet of planes carrying banners promoting the service fly around Los Angeles and Long Island.

 Amber Heard Testimony

 Amber Heard began giving testimony at Britain’s High Court on Monday against ex-husband Johnny Depp, who she has accused of abusing her both physically and verbally during their tempestuous relationship.

Depp, 57, is suing News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and the paper’s executive editor, Dan Wootton, at the court in London over an April 2018 article that called him a “wife-beater.” The Hollywood star strongly denies abusing Heard. He was at the court to hear Heard’s evidence. The story.

►Tonight on cable news: Two things to watch this evening: First, Joy Reid makes her debut as MSNBC's 7 PM host with The ReidOut, and has booked Hillary Clinton as her debut guest... Then at 8 PM, Tucker Carlson returns to Fox News after his vacation following the resignation of his head writer for using racist slurs in an online forum. Will Carlson address the matter again?

►Kanye West breaks down crying amid bizarre campaign rally. The rambling speech — posted to social media by some in the crowd, including reporters — was met with numerous groans as the rapper and clothing designer made such statements as “Harriet Tubman never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other white people.” More.

►Film review: Jon Frosch reviews Dave Franco's directorial debut The Rental, writing that the film "doesn't break any ground, but it's a confident, enjoyably nasty piece of work, unnerving enough to cure your FOMO about that canceled summer vacation." The review.

In other news...

--Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti warned that the county is "on the brink" of enduring another stay-at-home order as novel coronavirus cases continue to rise.

--The cast of Amazon's Invincible, based on the Robert Kirkman comic book series of the same name, is expanding, adding Zachary Quinto and Khary Payton to its voice cast.

--Linkin Park is speaking out against Donald Trump after the president's team tweeted a campaign advertisement featuring the band's music without its permission.

--John Oliver enlists Alex Trebek, Catherine O'Hara, Billy Porter and more to help quash coronavirus conspiracy theories.

--Japanese film, TV and stage actor Haruma Miura, known for playing Eren Jaegar in the adventure drama Attack on Titan, has died according to The Japan Times and Kyodo News. He was 30.

--Katherine Langford and cast of Cursed on the "grueling" process of shooting their Netflix drama.

--Juice WRLD's Legends Never Die marks the biggest posthumous album debut.

--A space suit from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and a cape worn by Christopher Reeve while playing the Man of Steel in the Superman franchise films were highlights of Julien's Auctions recent "Hollywood: Legends & Explorers" memorabilia event...

What else we're reading...

--"Disney slashed ad spending on Facebook amid growing boycott" [WSJ]

--"Nick Cannon, fired from ViacomCBS but embraced by Fox, is turning into one of Hollywood’s biggest enigmas" [Washington Post]

--"Trump campaign urges supporters to back TikTok ban in online ads" [Bloomberg]

--"Inside the Federal Trade Commission's Facebook probe" [Axios]

--"How should L.A.'s legacy theaters change after COVID-19? Well, for starters ..." [LA Times]

Today's birthdays: Sandra Oh, 49, Carlos Santana, 73, Gisele Bundchen, 40, Julianne Hough, 32, Omar Epps, 47.