Netflix postponed “Skyscraper Live,” its planned live broadcast of Alex Honnold free-soloing Taipei 101, after rain and low clouds moved over the tower hours before airtime, forcing organizers to delay a climb that depends on dry hands and clean footholds.
Netflix said it would keep Honnold off the building until conditions improve and reset the stream for Saturday, Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. Eastern (5 p.m. Pacific), which corresponds to Sunday morning in Taipei. The show had been set for Jan. 23, and the company told viewers it would share updates through its platform as the forecast shifts.
Crews and spectators still gathered near the site, but cloud cover and intermittent rain kept the 101-story, 508-meter (1,667-foot) landmark partially obscured and slick. Around 100 people waited to watch from the ground, and several said they understood the pause given the stakes.
Honnold, the climber featured in the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo,” planned to ascend without ropes or a harness, using only his hands and feet. That choice turns surface moisture into a critical hazard, raising the odds of a slip on glass-and-steel seams that were never designed for climbing. Netflix said safety would govern any further schedule changes, and organizers had flagged weather as the main variable before the attempt.
The event marks another step in Netflix’s push into live programming, and it carries an obvious reputational risk: a stunt built around extreme difficulty leaves little room for technical or environmental surprises. Honnold has said a skyscraper introduces unfamiliar geometry and a mental hurdle in trusting manufactured surfaces at height, especially across steep, overhanging sections.
Taipei 101, which held the title of world’s tallest building from 2004 to 2010, has attracted climbers before, including French urban climber Alain Robert, who scaled it in 2004 using a safety rope. Netflix has not announced a replacement date beyond Saturday’s window if rain persists.
