[Edaily Starin Gim Ga Yeong Reporter] JTBC’s variety show “Lecture Battle Show: The Storytellers of History” (“The Storytellers”) is taking a hiatus.

On the 3rd, JTBC stated, “‘The Storytellers’ will take a break for about a month to reorganize and is scheduled to resume broadcasting in August.”
“The Storytellers” had previously been suspended on the 11th and 25th of last month, as well as on the 2nd of this month, due to the broadcast schedule for the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup. It has been reported that the production team is taking this hiatus to reorganize the program.
“The Con Artists” is a lecture battle show featuring legendary figures from South Korea’s lecture circuit. It captures a head-to-head competition where participants present different stories on a single theme.
Recently, JTBC scheduled special World Cup broadcasts, causing not only “The Con Artists” but also major variety shows such as “Divorce Cooling-Off Camp,” “Knowing Bros,” and “Han Moon-cheol’s Black Box Review” to be canceled one after another.
While JTBC attributed this to the World Cup, concerns regarding program production persist as the network recently entered corporate rehabilitation proceedings, leading to some delays in the payment of appearance fees.
Following its application for corporate rehabilitation on the 15th of last month, JTBC also applied for the Autonomous Restructuring Support (ARS) program. On the 30th of last month, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court approved JTBC’s ARS application but deferred its decision on whether to initiate corporate rehabilitation proceedings. In contrast, the court decided to initiate rehabilitation proceedings for four affiliates of the Joongang Group.