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This was a huge upgrade for WPXI and WSOC

Working at WABC as an intern helps. Congrats to Sandra. We've certainly had old late 90s weekends with Bill and Sandra working so much on weekdays.

Hallelujah! Thought this day would never come! WSB debuted new graphics at noon, ok well maybe not entirely new graphics, more like an update on their last package, which was an update from another package...... Regardless the main thing is things look a little different on air, this new update is very flat, no gradients actually, honestly so far, color me disappointed. Below are some screenshots of how it looks on air so far. Unsure what the new intro looks like, if there is a new one at all, we shall see at 4pm!

Branch off from the Atlanta News first thread that eventually became about every station in Atlanta.

From this press release, It's official. After 25 years on the weekends, Sandra Bookman is moving to the Noon show. Also announced, former KTLA reporter/anchor Pedro Rivera will anchor Weekend Mornings, beginning February 3rd.

Add WPXI to the list.

Except for possibly the First Alert logo, this is a 1:1 preview of WOIO’s take on GrayONE.

She could just be sick, it’s really not a big deal. There’s an uptick in COVID, flu, and RSV right now (and I should know).

Might be a good idea to retitle this thread “CoxPollo New Graphics”, since this is certainly appearing to be a group-wide rollout. I just thought of something: This new package will fit WFXT like a glove.

WSOC just debuted the graphics at Noon. Finally phasing out that butchered package from like 2011 or 2012 I think?

EDIT 1/16/24: WAFB has moved to GrayONE as of Noon on 1/16/24. Put WAFB/Baton Rouge on the clock for GreyONE - this new logo just popped up on their website: Previous logo, in place for decades with the CBS eye logo added along the way:

KIRO: WPXI (this one a breaking news open):

I wonder if Ken Rosato’s return to tv was supposed to be for Good Day New York, since we still haven’t seen him pop up anywhere. If so, FOX 5 missed a huge marketing opportunity to have Scotto & Rosato!

CBS Plans Week-Long Residency In Las Vegas For Super Bowl LVIII This is not limited to sports broadcasts, it also includes; CBS News CBS Media Ventures & Entertainment CBS Affiliates may include non-O&Os

KOLD has the GrayOne graphics and went with red.

KDVR / KFCT (FOX31) & KWGN (Colorado's Own Channel 2) employees that work the combined assignment desk & the Nexstar master control hub for a dozen Nexstar TV stations across the country intend to unionize according to an article posted on the station's website yesterday. If this comes to pass they would be the 2nd & 3rd Denver TV stations to Unionize after KCNC "CBS NEWS Colorado" went union in late 1995 after being acquired by Group W/CBS. I also have this up on my blog about Denver TV stations that can be found in my profile. Article here:https://kdvr.com/news/local/nexstar-workers-in-denver-declare-intent-to-unionize/

Closing this thread as it's gone wildly off course from the initial topic. Folks, it costs nothing to create a new thread... Just Saying...

we need an Atlanta forum now, the people have spoken.

I really like the overall lower thirds/OTS/boxes/etc (though there are some questionable choices in certain aspects). You can really tell a lot of thought went into making this into a comprehensive package where everything works with everything else. The in-show graphics remind me a lot of the original NewsNation graphics and the ABC O&O package being rolled out. But... and I know this is a tough pill for some to swallow, but the 3D stuff ruins it. They look like they came from a graphics package that debut 12 years ago. The opens being a bunch of 3D text and logos flying around with no reason is completely out of place in this package where everything else is designed with some thought and order. It honestly looks like they debut a mashed up old and new graphics package. Did two different firms work on this or something? Did they change course halfway through and not want to pay to redo the opens and interstitial stuff? The very first transition out of black and into the show in that WAXN video seems like it "fits" better. You can have some 3D, but stuff like the logos flying in and the letters twirling around has been a news graphics cliche for at least the past decade (where it should have been left.)

WSOC in action

Reminds me a lot of FOX -- almost to the point where it wouldn't surprise me if one of the FOX O&O hub folks got poached to produce this.

Massive downgrade

Given how quickly this rollout is going (4 news departments in a 16 hour period), it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the others get the new graphics over the rest of the week.

I guess it could be, but this studio looks to have a higher quality of finishes and more tech than WNBC’s, if you look at pictures of 3B this one seems to be bigger too. I guess we’ll have to wait and see who’s it is!

The font and look reads to me like a copy of the Fox O&O graphics; if you took away all branding and asked me to compare WSB to WAGA, I would be hard-pressed to tell the difference outside the "5", which has a signature look with Fox's Neue Plck font which isn't in the Coxpollo package.

The WSB package would look better as 3D not flat. The Action News Jax look awkwardly mixes the 3D glossy logo with flat L3s. I liked that COX still maintained the 3D look. Hopefully Hearst doesn't go the flat route.

WSB broke into severe weather coverage during GMA 30 mins ago to cover a Tornado Warning for the Atlanta metro area. One thing I noticed is the lower third remained the default blue instead of red like it did in the previous graphics package. It’s a subtle change, but I thought it was interesting change from the past decade or so of seeing a red lower thirds during severe weather coverage.

For a company that throws (or used to throw?) away a lot of money at consultants to tell them what to think and do, this looks pretty underwhelming for a group-wide graphics package.

And here's a picture of the end of the new open:

Not bad! Like the still Falcons transition WSB used today. Hope that transition animates nicely! Like that infographic here too! IMO from what we've seen this looks like Scripps News meets NewsNation.

More screenshots of the package:

Yeah, with WPXI's current package (in use since 2015) being an evolution of the package from 2007.

It definitely has the FOX O&O vibe, at least with the font. Once this package gets to the other markets (especially Pittsburgh and Charlotte) it will be a major improvement. Both of those packages probably go all the way back to their launch in HD, which seems like an eternity.

I just went to the Action News Jax website to watch the livestream, and yes indeed, they have the new graphics. The font looks like it is Calibre, which Portugal's public broadcaster RTP uses in the logos of its channels.

Also depends on how the channels are sold to advertisers. If it's purely "added value" on a primary investment....

For being new graphics in 2024? Woof. They're pretty bad. That aside, the font is going after the FOX5 audience, the cold open banner reeks of GrayONE.

And here is that Falcon's transition. And here is the new OTS shot. And the new teaser graphics without L3's (they only use the L3's before each newscast, like in the last package. Also this is the first time, at least in my memory, that the time and temp bug has been on the left side, as it, every package since the launch of HD, has been on the right.

Yeah, I'm watching right now and it's still a hodgepodge. This definitely looks to be further piecemealing of any sort of new look. At least it's a step in the right direction. Looks like the weather graphics are still the same as before. I'm also seeing some Fox O&O influences here too...

Looks like WSB and/or Coxpollo hired the same company that did the ABC O&O package and WINK's new graphics. The similarities are all there.

Indeed, and linear viewership numbers for premium networks are not meaningful. Even their prestige shows get heavy use on streaming/video-on-demand, and it's not an ad model. Apples to cucumbers. It's not so much that NFL games getting the biggest audiences means audiences are not watching other shows, it's that the NFL shows the value of live event programming with mass appeal. It doesn't exist, meaningfully, anywhere else. But you can find just about any flavor of cop show, including international ones, at any hour day or night. CBS makes money on the procedurals in first-run and syndication because they do work. Not like in 1990 because the world is dramatically different. You're never going to get "Must See TV" back when you give the audience that many choices, no matter what you put on. Some will watch in real time, many will DVR/on-demand/stream. The whole ecosystem is part of the calculus, not just one component.

Don't forget though this is counting all 168 hours of programming a week for HBO; they might get great ratings during those two-three nights of primetime, but otherwise it's the 478th replay of "88 Minutes" or "Now You See Me 2". Most of those customers use HBO's VOD service or Max outside those hours. Same with Showtime or Starz; by design those ratings are low because the need to follow a schedule has long been negated and is just there more for DVR scheduling a movie you want to see and FF/rewind without cable VOD restrictions, than actual organic tune-in.

Disappointing that a quality independent such as this is leasing out to Perry.

I didn't think HBO had that few. This is why I'm waiting for the inevitable mass-culling of cable channels. There are so many channels that aren't pulling their own weight and are still around only because they're bundled with their more popular siblings. At some point, one of the parent companies -- Disney, Comcast/NBCU, WBD, Paramount, etc. -- needs to say, "Yeah, this isn't working out anymore." and start winding channels down. But which company is going to blink first?

Right now it's two episodes of Daily Blast Live at 3pm. Pretty easy to get rid of at least half of that.

People who work nights? I know if I was working nights, I'd prefer early morning news over infomercials any day.

IMO it's better they don't start the newscast at 4 AM, at least from the talent's point of view. I like that they rerun the 11pm broadcast at that hour. If this pushes Sherri Shepherd down one hour hopefully it knocks Byron Allen's fake Justice with Judge Mablean off the schedule---(even though I love her). It's strange that a market with such leisure and culture as Miami/Ft Lauderdale doesn't have a lightweight morning newscast. Even the 9am hour on WPLG and WFOR are straight news. (Not counting Deco Drive or 6 in the Mix). Looking at the quieter overlapping market West Palm, Fox 29 is straight news from 7-9. WPEC and WPBF are also strictly news at nine. Thats five hard newscasts at 9am in South Florida.

Getting off-track a bit, I would not be surprised if more stations diverted 4:00 a.m. resources to middle-of-the-day newscasts instead. Sunbeam has much more flexibility, of course, with one station independent and one station only giving up two hours a day to FOX.

That's what I figured. Heck, Sunbeam probably doesn't have much of a corporate office beyond an office for Andrew Ansin.

That has to be a typo or something. Magnes is WSVN’s GM. 12 hours a day is certainly overkill, but if any stations are going to follow the KVVU model of filling up more than half the day’s schedule with news, it’s these two.

Just my opinion but I'm expecting these sets to be similar to the NBC Boston and Telemundo Boston sets, small but versatile, heavy use of video walls/big tech. If either of them need a bigger set (debates, special events, whatever) they can use one of the other sets at 30 Rock or even CNBC if needed, my guess is they'll have a permanent newsroom flash cam & desk similar to set up NBC Boston and NBC Philadelphia use. Anyone else thinking Nightly News to Studio 3K? It would be a good use of soon to be empty space, plus 1A's recent update feels temporary and it could really use full redo again, 3C is being used by MSNBC but is thrown together, 4E is used by News Now which is working but won't as they expand coverage. Seems NBC is in the same situation it was in 2017 when they switched studios around.