Geoffrey

If the original announcement is to be believed and they are still on schedule, the new/updated studio should debut this week. They tend to like doing things Wednesdays at noon.

CNN+ wasn't canceled due to it not working. They had invested $100 million and something like a year of preparation, only to announce its cancellation about three weeks into its existence. They shut it down because it did not align with Warner Bros Discovery's streaming plans. Sure, if more than a handful of people had signed up in the first three weeks, perhaps the calculation would have been different, but it was never even given a chance to succeed. Anyway, no change to the graphics this morning. Maybe it takes 2-3 weeks for them to load them back into the control rooms and we'll see the change after that.

That's pretty embarrassing. I wonder why the process will take 2-3 weeks, unless Byers means they're going to start working on reloading the graphics into the systems on Monday and it'll be 2-3 weeks before we see the change. And I was still waiting to see whatever this special breaking news version of the graphics would look like. (Was it just the red ticker?) Maybe they can keep the flipper vs. the ticker?

CBS 2 News made it clear that Legoland sponsored the segment. And with John appearing at least four times an hour, they got a lot of coverage. Legoland purchased the presence of a member of the CBS 2 News team during a CBS 2 News broadcast.

It may not be a big deal, but it is very different from a small logo on one of the weather slides. This sponsorship dictated programming during a news program.

I was flipping around to sample the cable news coverage of this big moment happening in Russia right now. The other cable networks are wall to wall on this. "News" Nation is airing Blue Bloods, of course. And when I turned them on for a second, they had a banner promoting anti-vax conspiracy theorist RFK, Jr. This is not a real news channel.

CBS 2 News has John Elliott doing his Saturday morning weather reports from inside Legoland. After at least some of the segments, the commercial break began with a 5-sec spot saying "This portion of CBS 2 News was sponsored by Legoland New York Resort." I know other stations often sell off portions of their "lifestyle" shows but it seems poor for a news broadcast to send its talent to spend a considerable chunk of its airtime promoting whoever pays them. What's an on-location weather report doing inside anyway?

Is Paramount in trouble? Deadline: Before this news broke today, this came out yesterday: Paramount as We Know It Has 2 Years Left, at Most — Analyst It felt like we were in a golden age of television with all of the new shows and streaming options not too long ago... but it seems like the entire industry is really struggling to survive.

There has been talk of a CBS/CNN merger for a long time. I'm not sure if she's been there every night but she's been anchoring CNN Primetime this week and in recent weeks. Wonder if this is just how it'll be or if they'll actually rebrand the show around her.

I was wondering if any channels would have a countdown, though it does seem to be questionable in taste. Additionally, using minutes and especially seconds makes it seem like they know the exact time. It's just estimates and could change based on factors. I noticed CNN occasionally had a studio graphic saying something like "16-17 hours", making it clear that it's not exact.

Good point, but the rest of the graphics would not fit a vertical phone orientation, so I think it's more a result of the centered alignment and not a vertical strategy.

My dislike for this lower-third is strong.

I'm surprised the lower-thirds go to the edges and bottom of the screen. I thought that style was long gone.

Incredible what they were able to accomplish with such short notice, and that they were already planning this contingency earlier in the year. What might have seemed like wasted redundancy then surely paid off.

I agree with you on not definitely taking what he said at face value, but I have heard some instances recently where people who were about to start a job were suddenly told it was no longer happening. Someone I know was given a start date a few months in advance, only for all the incoming hires to be told their project was canceled due to economic reasons. I believe at least one of the big tech companies also let go a group of incoming hires a earlier this year amid all those tech layoffs. So it is possible and Disney has been undergoing cuts.

Open definitely seems busy! Not at all what I was expecting when I saw the lower-thirds.

Jim Rosenfield being considered is something I did not expect but he would be a great hire. I'm used to seeing him as an afternoon/evening anchor so it would be interesting to see him doing mornings. However, as this station just let a newly hired reporter go before he could even appear on air due to apparent budget issues, I'm not sure that they have the money available to hire someone with Jim's experience. (Unless they feel that this would be more of a necessary "power move" to fill in their anchor slots compared to a new reporter.) Rosenfield first came to New York joining CBS 2 as noon and 6:00 co-anchor. I remember the promos hyping his arrival and being disappointed that he seemed very stiff. Then he left for NBC 4, and eventually came back to CBS 2 and seemed much more comfortable. While we're thinking of former CBS 2 anchors, my mind also considered Don Dahler, who was an ABC News correspondent before essentially filling Jim's role at 2. I wonder if he is also under consideration at all. (Not to turn into too much speculation here.)

I like how the time and "Headlines" boxes very nearly line up with KPIX and CBS News Bay Area boxes. Seriously, why is CBS so sloppy with this look? I thought they delayed it to get it right.

How does CNN decide which font to use?

They're always good with breaking news.

Very bold look, at least judging from that one image. This is interesting: Wonder if it'll feel more like NBC News Now with the design.

I'm not sure they're necessarily hiring a bunch of people to replace the ones apparently just let go. I would imagine this is mostly reducing and consolidating staff to cut costs, having most daily graphics come from a central hub.

Anderson Cooper in NY and Kaitlan Collins in DC anchored the 8-10 p.m. hours. Then Erin Burnett and Dana Bash took over, presumably until at least midnight.

CNN's ticker turns red.

Sounds like they're expecting the new studio to be ready in about three weeks, which seems pretty fast compared to their past new studios. I'm wondering if it's only a partial upgrade -- perhaps replacing the background monitor array so that the graphics aren't covered by the distracting bezel lines. The current set is also the first one since they returned to Studio 46 in 2003 that didn't take advantage of the full 360 degrees. Would be nice to see them make better use of the space with more usable areas the way they used to.