In my opinion, this is a broadly welcome refresh. The titles are a bit uninspiring, and that box on the right hand side of the straps (which Europe seems to use permanently as a promotion for CNBC.com) is too big. But on the whole, it's a nice package - simple but modern. And I really like the bumpers going out to the break - 'you're watching X on CNBC - first in business worldwide'. I like as well that Europe and the US are consistent again - now we just have to wait for Asia to play catch up.
Oh dear God. US CNBC Squawk Box playing up the "Oirishness" for all its worth today, Quick, Quintianalla, and Kernan all dressed in green and cheesey music replacing the usual theme! The title sequence was also tinted green. I don't think any Irish news programme has upped the St Patrick's Day cheeseness to that level in years (in fact I think it is the early 1990s since RTÉ did a special opening for St Patrick's Day to Six One).
Also I see Strictly Money has managed to exempt itself from the change to the US theme music and has kept the previous theme.
Overall on the new package - it seems an uneasy compromise between CNBC US' desire for massively over-the-top animated graphics and CNBC Europe's more conservative approach. I wonder how long it will last for...
To answer my own question, they've just adopted them this week.
Also...on a trip to Rome, noticed that Class, CNBC's Italian partners, provide news updates to ATAC's screens on the Rome Metro. They use CNBC's 2000 theme music (which still sounds good today and indeed CNBC Asia were still using for Asia Market Week until very recently).