TV adjusting to Sydney lockdown

Television production schedules in Sydney have been forced to respond to a one week lockdown announced yesterday.

Seven, ABC and 10 are all located within City of Sydney, which joins Woollahra, Waverley and Randwick LGAs.

Nine, based in North Sydney is also understood to have directed staff to work from home where possible. SBS is based in Artarmon and Foxtel at Macquarie Park.

Broadcast remains an essential service but will be heavily impacted.

Sydney is the hub of Australian production, including for news and current affairs. A number of productions have had to scale back or halt productions.

Big Brother has a Live finale at Hordern Pavilion on Tuesday nigh which is proceeding. Seven sources confirm a ticketed audience was advised yesterday afternoon they could no longer attend, which is a disappointment given it had planned a big crowd. A bunch of housemates will still be in attendance to see who wins the $250,000 and presumably a crew to cheer them on.

Australia’s Got Talent has held off plans to start filming next week and is said to be looking at another venue away from The Star Event Centre, Pyrmont.

The Chase has put a halt to production next week which would have included the show’s 1000th episode, with new host Larry Emdur.

Also hoping to film next week with an audience were Frogger, Win the Week, Q+A amongst others.

At this stage The Masked Singer, due to film at Carriageworks, Eveleigh, from Saturday July 3, is just outside current restrictions. It isn’t clear if it may push back to later dates on July 5 and July 7.

There is also havoc for those attending events from interstate, mostly around quarantine they face upon return.

This lockdown could potentially also trigger some rethinking around upcoming plans for 2022 Upfronts (which everybody wants to do in person this year) and Logie Awards, five months away.

At least those lockdown ratings will be up, starting with Origin II.

Updated: NSW govt has extended lockdown across Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast and Wollongong, you can read up on here.