No News Blackout For Total Eclipse Coverage On TV & Online
Editors Note: This story originally ran August 19.
Monday’s solar eclipse is a cosmically big show, and the media is giving the celestial phenomena the star treatment. The eclipse will allow everyone in the continental U.S. an opportunity to see at least a partial blockage of the sun by the moon, cloud cover permitting. The full 73-mile-wide lunar shadow will take 1 hour and 33 minutes to travel from Oregon to South Carolina.
If you can’t get outside to see the first U.S. total eclipse in nearly 40 years (or if you’re not in one of the 14 states that will fully experience it), here are TV and online plans for your viewing pleasure:
CBS will feature a full day of coverage, starting with CBS This Morning at 7 AM ET. Expert interviews and reports from the cities where the eclipse is anticipated to be most visible are on tap. CBSN, the 24-hour streaming news service, starts live coverage at noon from around the country, with a two-hour special kicking off at 1 PM ET. The CBS Evening News caps the day with a live report from Carbondale, IL, the closest city to the point of greatest duration for the eclipse. CBS social media will have real-time updates on the @CBSNews, @CBSEveningNews, and @CBSThisMorning Twitter accounts, all using the hashtag #CBSEclipse. The live reports from CBSN will be livestreamed on the CBS News Facebook page.
ABC will present two hours of live coverage, including visiting viewing parties around the nation from correspondents. ABCNews.com’s various social media accounts promise to be active, with World News Tonight anchor David Muir leading live coverage starting at 1 PM ET.
NBC will have Today’s Al Roker live from the USS Yorktown in Charleston, SC, the last city in the eclipse path. NBC also has live coverage with Lester Holt hosting special reports at 1 PM and 2 PM ET, as correspondents weigh-in from Oregon, Illinois, Wyoming and South Carolina.
Fox News will break into the Fox News Channel beginning at noon ET with updates, highlighted by NASA footage and observatories’ observations.
CNN is offering a package called Eclipse Of The Century, which includes two hours of livestreaming. A unique twist is coverage accessible in virtual reality through Oculus and other headsets, all beginning at 1 PM ET.
Telemundo coverage is headlined by live coast-to-coast coverage billed as Al Rojo Vivo Edicion Especial: El Gran Eclipse. The network also features continuous programming on Un Nuevo Dia, Suelta la Sopa, Al Rojo Vivo con Maria Celeste and Noticias Telemundo. Social media, digital properties and mobile apps will also be active, with NASA’s real-time broadcast also available online.
The PBS science series NOVA will premiere a documentary, Eclipse Over America, that explains why and how eclipses occur. Images from the actual event will be incorporated into the documentary.
Over at the Science Channel, live coverage from Madras, OR starts at noon ET. Astronomers and educators from the Lowell Observatory will offer commentary on the eclipse.
NASA is blasting-off with hours of coverage on NASA Television starting at noon ET. Livestreaming of the eclipse begins at 1 PM ET, with images from satellites, research aircraft, high-altitude balloons and modified telescopes highlighting the presentations.
MTV, which annually honors its VMA award-winners with a Moonman statue, will have live events for fans that offer free VMA eclipse-viewing glasses and astronaut ice cream. Live coverage from Times Square will also feature giveaways.
Coverage of the eclipse via YouTube will be available on channels from The Weather Channel, Discovery’s Science Channel, Univision, Washington Post, TIME, and the Exploratorium.
Facebook will do a Facebook Live simulcast with NASA TV.
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