NBC News, MSNBC, ABC News and others from across the pond

I can’t find the sport or Olympic thread but NBC Sports / NBC Olympics released images of their studios for the Pyeongchang Olympics. The main studio is very similar to the one featured during Sochi and is 3,500 sq ft with a 40x16 foot video wall and 18 55 inch monitors. The set features 15 stand up positions, a main anchor desk, a news update desk and an interview set. On top of the International Broadcast Center is a 1,000 sq ft winter lodge set with “windows overlooking the ski jumping venue at Alpensia Ski Resort and the panoramic views of the Taebaek Mountains.” NBCSN will have a set outdoors at Olympic Park which will feature a 30x30 foot ice rink that will be used interviews and demonstrations. Plus there will be five sets stateside at NBC Sports’s headquarters in Stamford.





Images were taken from NBC Sports Group Press Box.

Also keeping with the NBC theme their Telemundo station WZDC was moved in house to the NBC Washington/WRC studios . In September 2017 Telemundo announced they were stripping WZDC’s affiliation in efforts to bring the station in house. WZDC’s owner ZGS sold the stations spectrum and it’s channel sharing (two seperate stations sharing the same multiplex) agreements were up in the air. However in December it was announced that WZDC and 12 other Telemundo stations owned ZGS are currently in the process of being bought by NBC. NBC is currently operating WZDC (and I believe several other stations) under a local marketing agreement until the purchase is completed. WZDC’s LMA started New Year’s Day with newscasts at 6 and 11PM.

Space is at a such a premium at WRC-TV that they actually had to build the studio in a former prop storage room that was used as a make shift employee gym. The set is cramped no frills featuring a 4x3 monitor wall, a standup position and a chroma key.

Here’s a picture that was posted on their Facebook page:



A picture from one of their anchors, Sulema Salazar, on Instagram. This image shows how cramped the studio is:



The shot was taken from the chroma key wall. They likely couldn’t fit a regular box camera with a PTZ Head. However these PTZ camera’s are becoming more and more accepted within the industry. In many cases stations are replacing their original HD cameras with them - probably because of the cost. You could purchase several of those cameras with a CCU and PTZ controller for the price of a Sony HDC series camera, it’s chain and lens.

However just for comparison this was their old studio when the newscast was run by ZGS:



Many of the staff are direct hires from the old stations. The graphics are the same Telemundo package that was used before (most Telemundo affiliates use it) where the only difference is that they probably get the full use out of the package. A lot of the stations don’t have the same graphics system and chances are they using the system that the package was designed for. So they probably can do all the bells and whistles that the package came with.

Additionally they are running promotions touting their sister station and how it will enhance their coverage. Essentially they are saying they have all the resources of the dominant English language station at their fingertips. NBC Washington’s reporters may not speak Spanish but they benefit from all the stories they get, footage and experience.

It's being described as a 'historic' move by many, and it's true that it's the first time the main chunk of Today has been presented by two women.

But Good Morning America was presented by Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts between 2006 and 2009, and the fourth hour of Today itself has had two female presenters since it started. So it's only historic in a very niche way.

What it definitely is, though, is a great move. Hoda has been a bit of a rock for the Today show in recent years and has stepped into the breach in the show's darkest days.

She was in the anchor chair after Ann Curry's messy departure - reportedly to protect Savannah Guthrie, who'd already been lined up as a replacement, from backlash - and was there again after Matt Lauer was fired. She really deserves this.

Has she hosted most weeks since Matt was fired and was she a regular substitute for him before?

Substituted every day after he was fired IIRC. Also regular substitute from around 2013 onwards (she was substiture news anchor long before that).

Also stepped in to go to the Rio Olympics with Matt, Al & Natalie when Savannah was no longer able to.

Isn't CBS This Morning a double female presentation team now after Charlie Rose also found himself marched towards the career exit door of dubious behaviour?

They've had various guest hosts, male and female, fill that third seat.

What presumably secured the role for Hoda is that since Matt was axed and she stood in Today has been beating GMA in the ratings for the first time in over a year.

Yep, ratings did it. If it wasn't the case I assume they would go with Willie Geist.

I'm not so sure that it was solely ratings - Hoda was apparently offered the job after Ann Curry left, but decided to stay with the fourth hour. She's very popular with the audience and, on merit, has earned the role.

Not permanently. They are still rotating the third chair between their CBSN/CBS News correspondents and anchors from New York City's WCBS

Still no word on replacement yet, but CBS has apparently been "begging" Oprah to come on board. It'll be quite a coup for CBS if that happens and Gayle gets to be with her best friend every weekday