It's worth mentioning that AJAM has some graphic updates. I was underwhelmed with their creative direction when the channel first launched, and they had been tinkering with their on-air look so much in the last few months that I stopped paying too much attention to it, but these graphics that debuted sometime in the last few weeks seem to have stuck, and I really like them. They've replaced the plain, bright teal on the morning and dayside blocks with patterns similar to the satellite, clouds, and vertical stripes look that the primetime block adopted over the summer. The morning and dayside blocks still use the main desk though, unlike the primetime shows. The yellow and black L3s also seem to be gone and replaced with a more neutral white.
I really like this. It flows a lot better with everything else and is visually more interesting while being very sophisticated and unobtrusive. I don't know what AJE's plans are, but I would love to see them adopt the daytime iteration. I think it would be a great update to their going on 8 years old look and poorly done refresh from last year. I wouldn't mind them taking their bug and lower thirds either, partly because it would finally make simulcasts look normal.
Before:
Now (Daytime look):
Morning look:
They also updated the transitions to be more than just simple flying gradients, and they tie in really well with this whole vertical look that they have going. It's somewhat hard to show without actually seeing them animate, but you get the idea.
Also, Comcast now carries the 4:3 feed in 16:9 letterboxed. I'm not sure whether it's the same for other providers, but it's a change that I like too.
)