I never understand reasoning like this. Graphics packages in the 21st century involve little more than new software and perhaps swapping out a server and a keyboard (plus training and replacing the library of stock elements). It’s not like you need a whole floor of printing presses and diesel generators. If WABC or anybody else wanted to make radical graphic changes at any point, they could and would.
The thing to remember is, when you make a colossal overhaul of your graphic look, it affects more than lower thirds. If your whole look changes radically overnight, suddenly your whole libraries of full screens, banners, over the shoulders and franchise opens are dead. Add in promotion graphics and the rest of the station on air look (because it’s always tied to News), and you are literally reinventing the wheel. That means rebuilding everything before launch, or on the fly. Graphic looks are not like re-painting the living room. It’s building a whole new house.
But a subtle change might give your lower thirds and banners a refreshed look, while preserving the possibly thousands of images in your library. Graphics created with the updated look will still blend in. And over time, everything will change. Until the next time.
You might not like graphic updates that are only subtle changes. But from a practical point of view, they are the only kind that work and preserve sanity.