TheChek News Flow

Surge in inquiries from individuals seeking to reduce maintenance payments due to Covid-19

Family lawyers are reporting a surge in inquiries from individuals hit hard by economic turmoil caused by coronavirus who are seeking to challenge generous divorce settlements following a change in their financial circumstances. 

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown stock markets into chaos and resulted in rising unemployment across the UK, causing problems for some divorcees with sizeable maintenance obligations.

Lawyers have told the Financial Times of panicked calls from clients who have lost their jobs or who seen their investment portfolio hit hard by a turbulent stock market. These individuals argue that they can no longer afford to keep up with their maintenance obligations. 

Katie O’Callaghan, a divorce specialist at Boodle Hatfield, said it was reminiscent of the financial crisis in 2008 when higher earners sought to reduce maintenance payments to their former spouses.

“A lot of people have lost a fortune in the stock market crash and will feel they can no longer afford the maintenance payments that they were paying,” she said. “They can apply to the court for those payments to be reduced or completely cancelled.”

She said there were a lot of these cases after the financial crisis when shares fell heavily and a lot of jobs were lost in highly paid sectors such as investment banking.

“If you have lost a very large part of your wealth or your income then the courts ought to take that into consideration as a ‘material change in circumstances’ when looking at an application to reduce or end spousal maintenance payments,” said Ms O’Callaghan. 

Others lawyers said it was unclear whether coronavirus would be accepted as grounds for reviewing a settlement and that it would likely depend on how much the individual’s net worth had dropped.

Mark Freedman, a senior partner Osbornes Law, said if one party agreed a settlement on the basis of the value of their shares and then saw those investments plummet in value then they could theoretically appeal to the courts to review that agreement or decision.

The normal rules relating to divorce allow either party to appeal the final settlement within 21 days, but Mr Freedman says the unprecedented nature of the current pandemic could allow cases to be reopened.

“I fully expect people whose finances have been affected and have recently concluded divorce agreements to appeal to the courts for an adjustment,” he said.

An appeal can be lodged under what is known as a “Barder event” a reference to a legal precedent set in 1987. 

But a successful appeal would depend on whether a judge views the coronavirus outbreak as an “unforeseen and unforeseeable” event, Mr Freedman said. “This is questionable and open to interpretation but I would expect clients to certainly try, and if one person was successful then many cases could open the floodgates,” he added.

The case of Myerson tested this principle, in 2009, where a husband appealed out of time after his share portfolio lost 90 per cent of its value in the year following a divorce. In that case, the husband lost his case after the courts held that the event — the global financial crisis — was not unforeseeable or unforeseen.

Anyone who wanted to appeal a settlement out of time should lodge papers with the court as soon as possible, lawyers advised. They would then have to wait until the court system returned to normal for their case to be considered.

But they cautioned that individuals should not make the decision to apply to vary the maintenance payments without serious consideration. The process would involve court hearings and the requirement to make a full disclosure of finances. It can be an expensive and time-consuming process.

Matthew Brunsdon Tully, partner at Forsters law firm, said he had received dozens of calls from clients who had been hit financially. “At the moment these people just want to know that we’re here for them and can advise them on what to do. I expect there will be a flood of people wanting to reduce payments in due course,” he said.

He recommended that before seeking a court order, the divorcee should explore a temporary reduction in payments with their former spouse. “You should only go to court to vary the maintenance payments as a last resort — especially at the moment when most of the courts are closed,” he said. 

Ms O’Callaghan agreed: “The court won’t look kindly on you if you have been reckless with your money, nor will it reduce the maintenance payments just to save the higher earning spouse from having to moderate their lifestyle.”

She also cautioned that a judge would not look kindly on any decision to unilaterally cut maintenance payments.

Transactions are now in purgatory across the US, suspended between signing and closing

For US retailers, every dollar has counted for a long time. Bed Bath & Beyond was trying to restructure itself to fight the might of Amazon, even before the coronavirus crisis that has shut down most of its stores. 

In mid-February the New Jersey-based retail chain had announced the sale of PersonalizationMall.com, a unit that sells knick-knacks such as picture frames and coaster sets, to 1-800-Flowers.com. The divestiture, for $252m in cash, was set to close on March 30 with the funds set to be wired over that day.

But in the days leading up to consummation, 1-800-Flowers.com had second thoughts, and told Bed Bath & Beyond it wanted to wait 30 days before sending over the money. The coronavirus pandemic had been so disruptive that the company said it needed to pay attention to its own business for now and there was no way to clinch such a big deal.

The seller believed that 1-800-Flowers had no legal basis to avoid completion, and has now sued it in a Delaware court.

It is one of several transactions now in purgatory across the US, suspended between signing and closing. The dramatic Covid-19 slump has weakened the balance sheets of buyers who now may prefer to take on the risk of violating deal contracts rather than hand over precious cash or take on a mountain of debt for a business that is suddenly worth a lot less.

Investors seem to have priced in that risk. According to a Financial Times analysis of nearly 40 pending public company deals in the US, on March 18 the average spread between deal price and targets’ trading price approached a whopping 15 per cent — more than three times the usual gap.

Part of that chasm could be attributed to a wave of indiscriminate, panic-driven selling that week. However, a large portion came from the view that skittish buyers would walk away from or recut deals. That view still lingers, judging by discounts of about 7 per cent or 8 per cent.

In theory, such manoeuvres should not work. For a long time, investors have thought that companies and private equity firms would not renege because of the risk of damage to their reputations. Moreover, sellers have tightened terms considerably since the last financial crisis, writing contracts that compel buyers to live up to obligations under almost any set of circumstances.

“During their pre-signing negotiations, lawyers on both sides are trying to anticipate what could happen between signing and closing and provide for deal certainty,” said Richard Langan, an attorney at Nixon Peabody.

The key exception is the so-called material adverse effect, where a target company suffers such great damage that the buyer is allowed to walk away. However, sellers tend to carve out very broad exceptions, meaning that deep recessions, natural disasters or even pandemics do not count as an MAE. Only in one single case, decided two years ago, did a court find in favour of a buyer looking to exploit an MAE to avoid completion.

Still, buyers know that tying up a seller in court can be a mean but effective strategy. In 2007 and 2008, private equity buyers, in particular, tried to walk away from risky leveraged buyouts as financing markets collapsed.

In several instances, purchase prices were either negotiated down, or a different transaction was agreed instead, such as a minority equity investment. Meantime, contracts that were looser than today’s equivalents allowed some private equity firms to pay a fee of just a few per cent of the deal price to exit.

In the last week of March, 1-800Flowers told Bed Bath & Beyond that it was too soon to determine if PersonalizationMall.com had suffered an MAE. But it also argued that Bed Bath & Beyond had not adhered to certain, unspecified conditions. Between signing and closing, sellers and buyers agree on how the seller will run the company and other straightforward items that ensure that the buyer gets what it ordered.

In a similar case that escalated last week, auto parts maker BorgWarner said its rival Delphi Technologies had violated covenants in the pair’s $3bn merger agreement, struck in January, by drawing down $500m from a bank line of credit — without BorgWarner’s approval. Delphi fired back by accusing its acquirer of unreasonably withholding its consent. The pair will now tussle over whether such an event can derail a large deal.

Most M&A deals are a bad idea, ultimately, because acquirers end up paying too much. In the rare instances that this becomes obvious in the period before closing the deal, it is understandable that buyers will try — and probably fail — to bolt for the exits.

Brand New Chinese Aircraft Carrier Catches Fire

Black smoke has been seen billowing from China’s first assault carrier in Shanghai. The new Type-075 carrier is similar to the U.S. Navy’s America Class assault carriers. She will carry helicopters and hovercraft to support amphibious landings.

The smoke was reported on Chinese social media platforms earlier today. Images suggest that the fire took hold within the hull of the ship, possibly in the expansive aircraft hanger. Smoke came out of the open aircraft lift near the front of the island superstructure. Smoke also came out of the rear hangar opening. For a time a massive cloud of smoke rose high into the air, and would have been visible for miles around.

The fire was put out, but not before causing significant smoke damage to the hull. The extent of damage inside is not yet known. Black stains can now be seen from the ship's large well deck in the stern, contrasting with the clean gray paint. The vessel was only launched on September 25 last year and is being fitted out before sea trials.

The incident is clearly bad news for China's Navy, known as the PLAN (People's Liberation Army Navy). Yet although it will clearly set back the fitting out process for the ship, outward signs are that it was dealt with quickly. It is unlikely to prevent the completion of the ship.

And this is only the first of several Type-075 assault carriers. The second is being built just yards away at the Hudong–Zhonghua shipyard. Yesterday we reported that the it is likely to be floated into the river imminently. That may now be pushed back a few days while the first carrier is cleaned up, but overall I do not expect a major delay.

Antiviral treatment helps two-thirds of patients in New England Journal of Medicine study

Gilead’s remdesivir drug has shown early positive signs that it might be effective in treating coronavirus, in a study of patients who have taken it on a compassionate use basis. 

The New England Journal of Medicine published a small study analysing data from 53 patients, which found that about 68 per cent improved after being treated with remdesivir, an antiviral that some experts hope could stop the Sars-CoV-2 virus from replicating. The drug was originally developed for Ebola, but has never been approved.

But the study did not have a control arm, so the results cannot be compared against patients who did not receive the drug, and should not be treated as conclusive. Large randomised control trials evaluating the drug — and others — are underway across the world. 

Jonathan Grien, the epidemiologist who was the lead author of the journal article, said they cannot draw “definitive conclusions from these data, but the observations from this group of hospitalised patients who received remdesivir are hopeful”. 

Remdesivir is one of the most prominent of the many drugs being explored for treating Covid-19 patients. Other antivirals include HIV drugs developed by AbbVie and a flu treatment from Fujifilm. Many trials are also testing hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, antimalarials, as well as anti-inflammatories to help calm the body’s immune response if it goes into overdrive in the latter stages of the disease. 

The NEJM study, which took in data from patients in the US, Europe and Japan, found no new safety issues, other than those already reported, which include kidney and liver problems. Without a randomised trial it is hard to tell if those problems are complications of the disease or caused by the drug. 

Scientists are researching whether the drug may work better if it is delivered during the early stages of the disease. In this study, the patients were already hospitalised when they were given the drug and more than half were receiving ventilation. Patients who did not improve were more likely to be on invasive ventilation and 70-years-old or over.

Gilead, the California-based biotech company that developed the drug, funded the study. The company initially applied for “orphan status” for the drug, designed to expand intellectual property protection to drugs for rare diseases, but has since rescinded the status. 

Merdad Parsey, chief medical officer at Gilead, said the outcomes were “encouraging” but the data are “limited”. 

“Gilead has multiple clinical trials underway for remdesivir with initial data expected in the coming weeks,” he said. “Our goal is to add to the growing body of evidence as quickly as possible to more fully evaluate the potential of remdesivir and, if appropriate, support broader use of this investigational drug.”

It may lead to better outcomes, some experts say

In the 1970s, a University of Michigan physiologist named Matthew Kluger conducted a series of experiments in which he and colleagues infected iguanas with illness-causing bacteria. Their goal was to study how these infections responded to fever.

In one experiment, the sick iguanas were given access to heat lamps, which helped the cold-blooded lizards raise their body temperatures in ways that mimicked a fever. All but one of them took advantage of the heat lamps, and the outlier was the lone animal to die of its illness. In another experiment, Kluger gave sick iguanas fever-reducing drugs. Five of these iguanas still managed to develop a fever, and those five lived. Meanwhile, the seven that did not develop a fever died.

Fevers are no fun — for lizards or for human beings. In people, fevers are associated with sweating, chills, and body aches, as well as weakness, nausea, breathing problems and, in some cases, strange dreams or hallucinations.

Why put up with all that? Many doctors say you shouldn’t. Take a fever-reducer like aspirin or acetaminophen and feel better. “Fever is your body’s way of telling you that something’s wrong, and you need to do something about it,” says Dr. Lee Riley, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. A fever not only causes unpleasant symptoms, but it also places added stress on the body — stress that may impair its ability to recover.

The Covid-19 crisis has a lot of people on the lookout for fever. Along with a cough and shortness of breath, fever is one of the virus’s primary symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But the CDC does not explicitly recommend taking fever-reducing drugs to treat the virus. And not all doctors believe that a fever is something unpleasant to be suppressed or snuffed out.

Some argue that, rather than impeding the body’s ability to get better, a fever actually helps the body rid itself of harmful pathogens. “Every aspect of your immune system works better at a higher temperature,” says Dr. Paul Offit, a professor of vaccinology at the University of Pennsylvania, and a professor and attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Take a pill to reduce a fever, Offit says, and you’re more likely to prolong or worsen your illness. And there’s research — in animals, and also in people — to back up his claims.

The Greek physician Hippocrates, who is often called the father of Western medicine, wrote more than 2,000 years ago about the beneficial effects of fever. In the 17th century, the English doctor Thomas Sydenham called fever “nature’s engine which she brings into the field to remove her enemy.”

During the late 1800s, a German physician named Carl von Liebermeister made a name for himself by studying fevers and their response to cold baths and other treatments. While Liebermeister thought that fevers could be dangerous if they raged too high or lasted too long, he also believed that short or moderate fevers were helpful.

But at some point between Liebermeister’s day and the present, mainstream medicine embraced the belief that a fever — usually defined as a temperature of 101 degrees or higher — places added and unnecessary stress on a sick person’s system. “[Doctors] seem to possess an ingrained philosophic opposition towards fever, prompting a knee-jerk response to treat that is not supported by high-level evidence,” write the authors of a 2015 review study in the Journal of Thoracic Disease.

One 2015 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined the effects of acetaminophen (Tylenol) among people with fever in a hospital intensive care unit (ICU) setting. Those who got acetaminophen fared no better than those who got a placebo, the study found.

Another study, published in 2005, examined the effects of fever-reducing drugs and cold blankets among 82 people in an ICU. In about half of these people, doctors and nurses treated fever “aggressively,” meaning they used drugs and cold blankets whenever a patient’s temperature reached 101.3 degrees. In the other half, they treated fever “permissively,” meaning they only took action when a person’s fever reached 104 degrees. The study had to be ended early because seven of the people in the aggressive-treatment group died, compared to just one in the permissive group.

To date, the evidence for or against the use of fever-reducing drugs is mixed — and also inchoate. And that’s doubly true when it comes to a virus like Covid-19, which medical experts have only begun to study intensively. But some, like University of Pennsylvania’s Offit, say there’s reason to believe these drugs do more harm than good.

The argument for letting a fever run its course

“Anything that walks, crawls, and flies on this planet can make a fever, so I think it’s reasonable to conclude that this response is there for a reason,” Offit says.

He points to research that has found that neutrophils, which kill infectious bacteria, seem to work better at elevated temperatures. Research also suggests that antibody-producing B-cells and infection-clearing T-cells work better when the body’s temperature is elevated. (It’s worth noting that Offit helped invent a patented rotavirus vaccine, and he’s the author of a book about the myth of the vaccine-autism link, which has made him a major target for those in the anti-vaccine movement. In other words, he is not someone who broadly rejects medical intervention in favor of letting nature do its thing.)

If a fever is so helpful, why are fever-reducing drugs so popular among both doctors and laypeople? “For one thing, they make people feel better, which provides the false sense that they’re treating the underlying problem,” he says. There’s also a popular belief that a very high fever can cause brain damage. But Offit says this is a misconception, and research again backs him up on this.

He also says that many parents worry about a child who has a fever, and that a fever can cause seizures in very young kids. But these “febrile” seizures, as they’re called, do not cause any lasting damage. “They’re hard to watch, but they don’t cause any permanent [issues],” he says.

So, the big question: Should people who develop a fever take something for it? Offit says no. “Unless you’re in the hospital for another condition like severe heart or lung disease — something that may make it difficult for your system to handle the metabolic stress of a fever — you should let a fever run its course.” (University of California, Berkeley’s Riley, who doesn’t share Offit’s views on fever-reducing drugs, says he also doesn’t know of any lasting harm that could result from letting a fever run its course.)

Even for people who develop a high fever — 104 degrees or above — and even for those who believe that they may have Covid-19, Offit says he doesn’t advise taking a fever-reducer, although people in these situations may still need emergency medical attention. (The CDC does not list a high fever as cause to seek medical attention for those who may have Covid-19.)

“It’s more important to pay attention to other worrisome symptoms like difficulty breathing or feeling quite ill even after the fever has come down,” he says. In other words, a high fever alone isn’t a reason to rush to the ER.

“With a fever, your immune system works better,” he argues. “So why cripple that?”

Looking at the impact of COVID-19 on digital payment platforms, its acceptance in the near term will be improved leading to a stronger role in the longer term.

COVID-19 has damaged both, demand and supply. With lockdown across various parts of the world, many manufacturing and production units are shutting down. It led to a steep fall in the supply of intermediary as well as final goods. The COVID-19 crisis does not seem to be a short-stay guest, it will result in the exit of many small to medium scale businesses from the market. On the demand side, people are facing a threat to their livelihood, pushing the economy generations back.

Cash as a medium of exchange losing its dominance

During the COVID-19 crisis, cash is seen as a potential carrier of the virus; governments and regulatory bodies are discouraging its use. The urgent need for essential goods is forcing people to switch to digital payments sooner than perhaps they would otherwise have done. For those for whom cash is their only means of payment are finding it harder to make purchases.

Furthermore, with many bank branches also closed, retail stores have limited options for processing cash into their bank accounts and they do not want to be left holding large amounts of cash that may be vulnerable to theft.

Shift towards the digital payment platforms and examples

During the lockdown, the frequency as well as the total monetary value of transactions, has declined. However, with people only buying necessary goods and more goods in one go, the value per transaction is increasing, and people are increasingly relying on digital platforms:

Cash use in Britain has halved in just a few days following the government’s imposition of a nationwide lockdown. Stores selling essential goods and services are trying to avoid cash transactions. For transactions of GBP30 (~$40) and under, most stores can accept contactless payment by credit or debit card, or mobile payment, for example Apple Pay.

In Australia, basic amenities outlets are also asking customers to use contactless technology to avoid touching EPOS machines.

PayCargo, Florida based online payment platform has launched a new service to help the freight and shipping community.

While official coronavirus cases in Russia are low, the country has still instituted a lockdown in Moscow and other major cities. Here too, there is a push for digital payments to discourage the circulation of banknotes.

Emerging regions, such as Africa, which is known to have the largest unbanked population, are implementing measures to shift a greater volume of payment transactions toward mobile money and away from cash.

M-Pesa, the dominant player in Kenya is waiving fees, and the daily transaction limit has been raised from Ksh70,000 (≈$660) to Ksh150,000 (≈$1400).

Paga, a mobile money operator based in Nigeria, with free P2P transfers, now allows for free transfers up to roughly 5000 Naira (≈$15) from customer accounts to bank accounts, to encourage more digital payments.

Ghana’s monetary body also eased know-your-customer (KYC) requirements on mobile-money, allowing citizens to use existing mobile phone registrations to open accounts with the major digital payment providers

People’s anxiety about obtaining enough food and medicine is offsetting long-standing concerns about the potential for fraudulent activity that may have prevented stronger uptake so far. This new spike in activity will encourage payment providers to continue investing in service quality and anti-fraud measures, though fraudsters will also see the increased use of digital platforms as a golden opportunity.

Conclusion

Until 2019, digital payment adoption was slow and varied significantly by country. Reasons included cultural, demographic and technological – many of which were a function of economies being at different stages of development. However, the uncertain longevity of the COVID-19 crisis will lead to the public being habituated to digital payment platforms, almost by force. With handset penetration improving significantly, with nearly 5.1 billion total unique mobile users and 3.7 billion unique mobile internet users at the end of 2019, it will help smooth the adoption of digital platforms for payments.

And with more competitors providing digital payment platforms, the competition should help to sharpen the service experience for users as poor performance will lead to users voting with their (digital) wallets.

Families looking for a distraction are plugging into more home entertainment than ever before. But producing new shows to satisfy these viewers is getting more difficult the longer the coronavirus pandemic lingers.

WarnerMedia hoped to launch its new streaming service HBO Max next month with a reunion special for the hit comedy “Friends.” It won’t be ready.

Also grounded is “The Flight Attendant,” a new drama starring Kaley Cuoco based on a novel about a flight attendant who fears she might have killed someone in a drunken haze, according to people familiar with the situation. HBO Max had also planned that as a centerpiece.

Both are victims of the coronavirus pandemic and shutdown, which has led to canceled movie and TV shoots across Hollywood. “Production is entirely shut down,” said John Stankey, president and chief operating officer of WarnerMedia-parent AT&T Inc.

Many American industries have seen demand for their products collapse while the U.S. economy retracts and the deadly virus rages across the country. The streaming video business has the opposite problem: It faces diminishing supply for a product that is—at least for now—in very high demand.

Millions of Americans who are now at home are craving shared experiences and escapism, or are seeking activities for restless children. For many households, more streaming video is the answer. Americans spent an average of $37 a month on streaming services in March, up from $30 in November, according to a survey of nearly 2,000 people in recent days by The Wall Street Journal and the Harris Poll. New subscriptions were most popular among parents with children or adults working from their homes.

“The reports that we get are jaw-dropping,” said Albert Cheng, chief operating officer and co-head of television at Amazon Studios. “Across the board all the metrics are up significantly.”

Walt Disney Co. ’s Disney+ said Thursday it has surpassed 50 million global subscribers five months after its launch. The company initially told investors it expected Disney+ to have 60 million to 90 million subscribers by the end of fiscal 2024.

Maintaining a pipeline of content to satisfy these users will get harder the longer the pandemic lingers, raising the stakes for many streaming video services that are designed to challenge Netflix Inc. NFLX -0.11% Disney+, Apple Inc.’s TV+ and soon-to-debut services including HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock are still in building mode. Their cupboards of original content could get bare quickly.

Every major player in the entertainment industry is rethinking its strategy, considering how it can gain market share and keep costs in check. The companies with deep libraries of older programming will be on stronger footing, Hollywood executives say. Programming that doesn’t require big sets in public places—animation, for example—will be easier to produce. Companies that have been spending ever-larger sums to make content will retrench and avoid bidding wars for hot titles, executives say. Pitching a new product also becomes more difficult without big sporting events that advertisers use to reach mass audiences.

“You are going to see a lot of changes in our industry after this,” said Jeff Frost, president of Sony Pictures Television Studios.

The Wall Street Journal and the Harris Poll recently conducted a survey of 1,993 people to gauge their viewing habits as the new coronavirus isolated Americans in their homes. The survey found that major streaming services, and especially Netflix, benefited from the captive audience.

Surging demand for streaming is a prime example of the epic shifts under way in the U.S. economy. With restaurants and retail stores closed, consumers in some parts of the country are ordering much more from food-delivery services and e-commerce sales—from goods like hand soap to children’s books—are way up. Likewise, with movie theaters and big events shut down, streaming is the go-to entertainment.

Still, some veteran Hollywood executives warn a recession could make it even tougher to persuade consumers to pay for subscriptions. Some 37% of streaming households would drop a subscription if they lost their job during the pandemic, according to a survey by Kagan, a unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence.

“I do think it will stunt the growth of the new services. People are pretty insecure about their finances,” said Gary Newman, a former president of Twentieth Century Fox Television who is now a consultant.

Entertainment companies are taking a hit in the crisis, with movie theaters and theme parks shut down. That will make it even more important to capitalize on the rising demand for streaming—the future of their businesses, entertainment executives say.

AT&T’s Mr. Stankey acknowledged that the $14.99 a month HBO Max service will be forced to launch without some programming it hoped to have, and that additional productions will be delayed for several months.

NBCUniversal’s Peacock is also going to debut without some of its most-anticipated original programming including the drama “Dr. Death” starring Jamie Dornan, Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater—based on the podcast of the same name about surgeon Christopher Duntsch, who was sentenced to life in prison for gross malpractice. An executive at NBCUniversal, which is a unit of Comcast Corp., said some originals planned for the service’s July national launch will get pushed to next year. Customers of Comcast and some other providers will get Peacock for free, while others will pay $4.99 a month for a version with ads and $9.99 a month for a commercial-free version. One version, with limited content, will also be free to all.

The second season of Apple TV+’s most popular program, “The Morning Show,” starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, is on hold. So are several other shows for the nascent streaming service that was launched with much fanfare last November.

While HBO Max, Peacock and Disney+ all have large libraries of popular shows, Apple TV+ doesn’t, which could make the production shutdown painful for the service if it drags on.

“If there are no new originals, it’s tough to see where the subscribers would come from,” said Wells Fargo & Co. analyst Steven Cahall of Apple’s $4.99 a month service. Conversely, he added, “even if Disney had no new content for a year, subscribers will come on just for the existing library.” Apple and Disney declined to comment.

Likewise, incumbents such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have built up caches of original content and may be better prepared to endure this period. Netflix, which has 167 million global subscribers, has “a content pipeline that probably takes them to the end of the year,” said David George, chief executive of ITV America, the production company which makes “Queer Eye” for the service. Netflix declined to comment.

The Journal-Harris Poll survey found Netflix was the biggest streaming beneficiary in the crisis, with some 30% of respondents saying they added a Netflix subscription in March. Since subscription services also lose customers each month, the survey doesn’t reflect their net gain.

Although content production is halted, development of story ideas and scripts continues at a brisk place through Zoom videoconferences. Basketball star LeBron James is benched due to the suspension of the NBA season but the production companies working on his show “Becoming” for the Disney+ streaming service are charging ahead.

“It’s one of the few shows on our entire slate that we’re actually able to finish,” said Brent Montgomery, chief executive of Wheelhouse Entertainment, whose Spoke Studios is one of the “Becoming” producers. The documentary series about artists and athletes doesn’t have a premier date yet but will be ready if other Disney+ shows are delayed, because primary shooting was done and it’s being edited.

Postproduction houses where editing is done after filming is complete have retooled to adapt to the situation. Atlas Digital, which works with a range of networks, studios and streaming services, has set up 200 remote systems for producers and editors to work from home. “It was an overnight change,” said Chief Executive Shawn Sanbar.

Children’s programming, which has enjoyed a jump in viewership during the crisis, could be a go-to genre as companies look to fill out their offerings. Animation is insulated from production delays, since artists and modelers can work at home, said Michael Hirsh, chief executive of Wow! Unlimited Media Inc., a Toronto-based animation company that has created content for Netflix and AT&T’s Cartoon Network.

Fox’s “The Simpsons” continues to produce original episodes during the crisis. Table reads where cast and writers and producers go over scripts are happening on Zoom as are meetings among writers. Animators are working from home and the actors record their voice parts usually from home studios.

“Animation is something you can order and actually count on getting delivered today,” Mr. Hirsh said. He said he is in talks with several major streaming services and if some of those deals come to fruition he would need to increase the company’s animation staff by about 50% within a few months.

Unscripted programming—reality TV and documentaries—may fill the original content void after production resumes because it is often quicker to turn around. “We are by nature the scrappiest people in the food chain of entertainment,” Mr. Montgomery said.

Parents with children at home are spending $60 a month, on average, for streaming subscriptions—well above the general population—and have 3.8 services, compared with 1.7 for households with no children, according to the Journal-Harris Poll survey. A fifth of homes with children are watching more than four additional hours of streaming content a day. “Parents have hired streaming services as nannies to keep their kids occupied,” said John Gerzema, chief executive of the Harris Poll.

Adults working from home also are driving usage, with nearly two-fifths paying $100 or more a month, the survey found.

Ian Bass, 23, who lives in Dallas and will leave for Marines boot camp in coming weeks, said he didn’t watch much TV before being forced to stay at home, but quickly found refuge in streaming. “Disney+ is getting me through this time. I’ve been watching it a lot in the evenings,” he said. Mr. Bass has been watching Marvel Studios movies in chronological order.

Roland Heusser, 30, a software engineer who’s been working from home in Daly City, Calif.the Bay Area, has been cycling through the Star Trek Voyager series on Netflix and said he’s considering adding Disney+ to watch the Star Wars offshoot “The Mandalorian.” He enjoyed Apple TV +, but canceled his subscription earlier this year because there weren’t enough shows.

One attraction of the streaming services is they will be home to some major movie releases that studios can’t launch in theaters. But the new programming services still face unanticipated marketing challenges. Quibi, which was founded by Hollywood veteran Jeffrey Katzenberg and has raised $1.75 billion, billed itself as a service that could entertain on-the-go commuters or lunchtime viewers during their brief snatches of free time.

Now it is launching at a moment when millions of Americans are quarantined in their homes. Mr. Katzenberg said homebound Quibi viewers still have plenty of time between tasks.

“You’ve got kids, you’re home schooling them, you’re trying to keep them occupied and entertained and you’re answering FaceTimes and emails and doing Zoom calls,” Mr. Katzenberg said. “But you absolutely have in-between times. Nobody can sit at a desk from eight in the morning until six in the evening.”

Quibi executives said the streaming service will be free for 90 days for early subscribers. In place of a planned splashy red carpet promotion featuring talent who made content for Quibi, including Chrissy Tiegen, Chance the Rapper and Jennifer Lopez, executives organized a marketing campaign with social media posts from some of its biggest stars.

While most Americans are stuck at home in front of their TVs, many big events advertisers use to reach consumers have been canceled. HBO Max was planning to bombard the March Madness college basketball tournament with promotional spots.

“Suddenly there are no social and iconic events in society,” said AT&T’s Mr. Stankey.

For its part, ViacomCBS Inc. will strive to reposition its existing CBS All Access service into a broader offering with additional programming from its cable networks. The company is targeting 16 million subscribers by the end of the year.

NBCUniversal’s Peacock was banking on the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan to promote the service, but the games are being delayed until 2021. The virus is causing Peacock to rethink some of its strategy. News content was originally supposed to have a strong presence on the platform, but now executives are reassessing.

“People are turning to streaming services as a distraction or an escape” from the virus, the NBCUniversal executive said.

Reading Poetry in isolation in the age of artificial intelligence enables us to bridge two epochs and to escape our daily routine of isolation.

For me, Kipling’s If is one of the most compelling poems for the time.

“If you can wait and not be tired by waiting . . .”.

Enjoy and have a great Easter Week end

Laurent C.

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

(1865 - 1936)

Nobel Prize of literature in 1907