EastCoast

Interesting that it’s a temporary arrangement. Hopefully the permanent setup flows better! Back to Studio D, it looks like circular column has been replaced with a square one: It also looks like they rebuilt the area usually behind the magic wall: Previous setup: Based on the lighting, I’d guess the white glossy panels are temporary while they wait for new LED panels.

Kasie Hunt is back in Studio D, and it looks like 2 months of work was to...repaint the floor black. Will see if there's more to it with Inside Politics and CNN This Morning later in the week. Switching to CNN International, they really seem to have made a mess out of the overnight hours. Monday to Thursday Rosemary now only does 2-3am, with Polo from 3-5am. But Friday its a 2-4am shift with Kim handling 4-5am. That leaves 10 hours between Ben Hunte and someone else that I have no idea how they're going to split. And significantly more flash cams than actual studios.

Brad Smith anchored the 5am edition of CNN Headlines Express live from Studio H. No tweaks to the format, which is a plus. The fast pace and quantity of stories feels like CNN of a bygone era. The show maintained the simpler graphics package, even saying “CNN Headlines” in the bug, despite not airing on the FAST channel. Switching back to CNN’s normal graphics at 6am is a reminder of how clunky they are. CHE still aired live on the FAST channel at 7am. Wonder if they’ll announce a new permanent anchor for the afternoon editions soon or if it will continue as a revolving door.

A bit strange that CNN haven't published a release for this yet. Adding live news back at 4am is a positive change, and bringing Headline Express to the main network (hopefully from Studio H) is an upgrade to the 5am flash set we've see for a year. My hope is that 2-5am becomes a double-headed CNN Newsroom, strengthening the EMEA morning block. Curious what the impact is to the FAST Channel, if they scrap the 7am broadcast, and what that means for the CNN Stream.

World Sport has some snazzy new virtual sets. Nice to see some more dynamic presentation after the move to Techwood two years ago. Still prefer a real studio (not like Techwood doesn't have an abundance of Sports studios), hopefully this gets the weekend editions out of the broom cupboard.

Rahel Solomon announced she’s leaving CNN at the end of her show. She’s be on air through Friday. Wonder if she’s been tapped for the unnamed MSNOW dayside show?

Now Jake Tapper is broadcasting from his office!

The DC newsroom set looks so much better when people are actually working in the background! Inside Politics and The Arena are using the newsroom set this week and CNN This Morning is in Studio B, presumably because work is being done on Studio D. Wish more shows used a live newsroom background (especially the namesake show).

Elex is broadcasting from Atlanta this week. Wonder if it’s to be in a bigger studio or to be closer to the Atlanta team during news-heavy hours given the events unfolding. As for the potential Paramount merger, I do feel for the long-time CNN staffers. CNN seems to change hands quite often, which brings more and more instability. That said, if the Netflix deal went through CNN would’ve been spun off with the Discovery cable channels. We’ll all be watching to see how Mark Thompson navigates the pre-merger market.

CNN's weekend schedule shows 12 hours of CNN Newsroom on Saturday and 16 hours on Sunday, with the 4 hours Monday morning also airing on CNN Domestic. Is there something notable happening in the overnight hours this weekend? Times below in Eastern, with additional hours (for Domestic) in bold: Saturday: 4-6am (ET), 9-10am, 1-8pm, 10pm-12am, Sunday: 12-4am, 4-6am, 1-2pm, 2-8pm, 8-9pm, 10pm-12am, Monday: 12-4am I'm all for more CNN Newsroom, especially on CNNI. Although I'm sure we'll see CNN's finest broom cupboards on TV.

Rahel Solomon is back! She anchored Early Start yesterday and today.

Brianna Keilar covered The Source last night. The show broadcast from Studio D instead of the normal newsroom set.

I’m not sure where the fanfare was, this barely felt promoted on Domestic. Does the article account for International audiences as well? Wonder if his show is doing better or worse that John Vause’s newsroom.

Initial caps from The Story Is. The show has a long intro and nice upbeat theme. So far it feels like a CNNI production, which is good. The set is simple with large vertical monitors on 3 sides showing the LA skyline and colorful tiles as a backdrop. The desk appears to be one of the old CNN+ desks from New York. The show uses a bespoke version of the “developing”, “exclusive”, and “weather” stings often seen on CNNI. Overall a strong start. Will see if Elex features Headlines at the bottom of the hour and if he mentions the CNNI opt out for World Sport at 1:45am ET.

Welcome over ginnyfan! Looking forward to seeing your high quality caps in the future. CNNI haven't had consistent morning blocks for a while. John Vause anchored Tuesday-Friday morning when they launced Newsroom LA 10 years ago and continued until his unannounced disappearance from his show. Rosemary Church is Monday-Thursday. Your World Today was a Tuesday-Friday Asian Breakfast show and First Move was a Tuesday-Saturday Asian Breakfast show. Elex's show would make much more sense Sunday-Thursday nights. This would make it a consistent M-F breakfast show in Europe and a consistent midday show in Asia. Then again, I'd like Connect The World to go back to Sunday-Thursday, but that's not going to happen. CNN released the press release for The Story Is today. Nothing we didn't already know. What's interesting is the EPG appears to have World Sport pushed back an hour (1:45am and 3:45am ET) which makes a lot more sense. We'll see if this correct or a bug due to the European clocks changing this weekend. https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2025/10/24/cnn-announces-premiere-date-for-the-story-is-with-elex-michaelson/

Looks like we have a title for Elex's show, "The Story Is: With Elex Michaelson", which takes a page from his former Fox LA show "The Issue Is". Clip from CNN's EPG for Monday 10/27. Times are Pacific.

CNN sets October 28th as the launch date for their All Access streaming product: https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2025/10/16/cnn-to-launch-new-all-access-subscription-tier-october-28/ I’m not certain if this is a 1:1 of the domestic and international feeds or if there will be nuances to the schedule à la CNN Max. The press release mentions “a selection of CNN’s live US and International programming” and that “the full schedule and content offering will be available at launch”. Maybe I’m just reading it wrong.

Just received an email from HBO Max that CNN Max will be discontinued on November 17th. Had a hunch this would happen since CNN Max is just CNNi and CNNi will be available on CNN’s new standalone streamer, scheduled to launch this fall. I guess that means CNN’s new all access app will launch on or before November 17th.

Erica Hill has anchored some impressive shifts these past couple of weeks. She covered CNN This Morning from DC all week (including today) and now she's anchoring The Lead from New York! Similar story last week, she anchored CTM and The Lead Monday, The Lead Tuesday, then overnight coverage from 3-6am Wednesday! For such a solid anchor, it's a shame she hasn't had a permanent show since "On The Story".

Excuse the double post. Elex Michaelson posted on Twitter that they’re building a new set for his show at the LA bureau with a target launch in late October: While I’m here: Polo Sandoval anchored his shift from Atlanta over the weekend, hopefully this is a permanent relocation. Much better than an NY shoebox. Finally, a cap from Eleni anchoring One World from Abu Dhabi:

I think dayside has always been produced from Atlanta, even when the anchors moved to New York 10 or so years ago. Every now and then the dayside anchors pop up in Atlanta, happy to see them use the studio instead of a flash set. Agreed that the lighting in Studio H looks much nicer than when the show is in DC. The yellow flares in the background are a nice touch to blend into the set. On a separate note, for the past couple of weeks Zain Asher has only anchored the first hour of One World, either with Bianna solo-anchoring the second hour or with a separate anchor (Eleni or Christina).

History repeats itself. It was 10 years ago this month that CNN launched "CNN Newsroom live from Los Angeles" with John Vause and Isha Sesay. With a new bureau in Burbank hopefully they'll invest in something that resembles a studio, rather than a broom cupboard. Wonder what this means for John Vause. Polo Sandoval officially took over the 12-2am ET weekend slot in July (Michael Holmes' former timeslot) with Ben Hunte taking 2-4am. Maybe he can team up with Rosemary for a true morning show for Europe. Also curious if they'll continue to air World Sport at 12:45am on CNN International.

Brad Smith debuted as the “CNN Headline Express” anchor this morning on the CNN Headlines FAST channel (not to be confused with HLN/Headlines News) Brad uses Studio H in Atlanta with a background that mimics an extension of the studio. Coy Wire joined Brad in studio for a sports update. Smerconish also debuted a new studio this weekend, which was a flash set inside his new Philly office.

I had a similar thought this morning that Morning Express would have been perfect for the 7-9/10 show on CNN Max and HLN. It was already an Atlanta based morning show and would have brought more consistency to Max over of the Walker/Whitfield/Acosta shared block. The schedule changes aren’t that dramatic. In the early 2000s Daybreak ran 5-7 and American Morning ran 7-10. It’s only an hour later than the 4-6 and 6-9 schedule from the mid-late 2010s. While it feels weird to get rid of Early Start and have News Central at 7, I can see the logic. 5-7 is for the workers who are getting ready to be in the office by 8. 7-10 is for the late starters, families, and folks already at work. You aren’t going to win the family crowd watching Today or GMA or win back the partisan politics crowd watching Morning Joe or F&F. That leaves you with doing just the news. The only thing I don’t like is that the News Central graphics are a bit cold for 7am.

Going through the archives, News Central had typical intros and standup segments the week of December 11th. The weeks of December 18th and December 25th have all had desk shots. While the PM edition has gravitated towards the desk more often recently, I’d reason that most of this is due to the holidays. CNN News Central is a very graphics intensive program, which means increased staff to program all of the graphics for each segment. Switching to a Newsroom style format for a couple of weeks allows more staff time off around the holidays.