Media Plan Total Coverage of Upcoming Eclipse

Total Eclipse
(Image credit: NBC)

As you may have heard, there’s a solar eclipse going on Monday, April 8, and the news networks are all over the uncommon event. The so-called path of totality will run from northern Mexico, through Texas and across the Midwest, including Indianapolis and Cleveland, then on to Maine. The last total solar eclipse in the U.S. happened in 2017, and the next one, after April 8, is scheduled for 2044. 

The Weather Channel has Stephanie Abrams kicking things off that day at 6 a.m., reporting from Fredericksburg, Texas on America’s Morning Headquarters. Heather Zons hosts the interactive live chat called Follow the Shadow

Weather Channel will have meteorologists up and down the swath of the country experiencing the total eclipse, including Alex Wilson in Dallas, Jim Cantore in Indianapolis and Felicia Combs in Russellville, Arkansas. 

ABC News and Nat Geo will team up on the two-hour live special Eclipse Across America, on at 2 p.m. Monday on a range of networks, including ABC, Nat Geo, Nat Geo Wild, Disney Plus and Hulu. David Muir and Linsey Davis anchor, with assists from Nat Geo talent Mariana van Zeller, Cristina Mittermeier and Babak Tafreshi, among others. Reports come from Del Rio, Texas, Carbondale, Illinois and Indianapolis, along with other sites.

On CBS, it’s Total Eclipse of the Heartland, on CBS and CBS News Streaming April 8 from 2 to 3:30 ET. CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil anchor from Indianapolis. Janet Shamlian will be in Kerrville, Texas, Omar Villafranca in Dallas and Dave Malkoff in Cleveland, along with other correspondents in other locales.  

The CBS stations are in on it too, including KYW Philadelphia chief meteorologist Bill Kelly on the set in Philly, WCBS New York anchor Kristine Johnson in Niagara Falls and WBZ Boston reporter Mike Sullivan in Burlington. 

Over at NBC, Lester Holt anchors Total Eclipse 2024 starting at 2 p.m. from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He’ll anchor NBC Nightly News that evening from Indianapolis too. 

Among the Today crew, Al Roker will be in Dallas, and Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Craig Melvin and other talent at the Museum of Natural History in New York. Correspondents will be up and down the eclipse path, including Jesse Kirsch in Cleveland, Kate Snow in Houlton, Maine and Maura Barrett in Bloomington, Indiana.

Correspondent Katy Tur anchors coverage of the eclipse beginning at 2 p.m. on MSNBC. 

NBC’s owned stations will cover the event on their FAST channels starting at noon ET. KXAS-KXTX Dallas-Fort Worth produces the live-streaming special. 

Fox Weather, for its part, offers America’s Total Eclipse that day, with meteorologists and correspondents in a bunch of cities, including Stephen Morgan in Dallas, Kendall Smith in Indianapolis and Janice Dean in Little Rock. 

CNN’s coverage will include Brianna Keilar and Boris Sanchez on CNN News Central from 1-4 p.m. ET, and CNN en Español anchor Rey Rodriguez reporting from Mazatlán, Mexico. Meteorologists Chad Myers, Allison Chinchar and Elisa Raffa will provide eclipse context from the studio. 

NewsNation has Brian Entin, senior national correspondent, anchoring with NewsNation Now talent Nichole Berlie and Connell McShane from Chicago at 1 to 4:30 p.m. ET. Correspondent Brooke Shafer will report from the Indianapolis Speedway and Caitlyn Becker from Niagara Falls, among other correspondents in various locales. 

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.