SAN JOSE, Calif.—NBC Bay Area / KNTV has unveiled a new state-of-the-art news studio that features a number of cutting edge technologies, including 3-D news presentation technologies that are a first for local news.

The studio, which is integrated into the station’s content center, spans 2,600 square feet and features a sleek and open design, cutting-edge technology that augments storytelling, a modern anchor desk and interview area, and multiple standup locations designed for movement and flexibility, the broadcaster reported.

“Elevating our connection to our viewers has been the driving force of this project," said Stacy Owen, president and general manager of NBC Bay Area and Telemundo 48. "It’s about moving the idea of a news studio forward, bringing the audience into our home and conveying news and information with clarity and impact.”

The new studio, located in the heart of Silicon Valley at the station’s headquarters in San Jose, was designed by Jack Morton Worldwide.

Eight newscasts will broadcast from the new KNTV studio: Today in the Bay, NBC Bay Area News at 11, NBC Bay Area News at 5, NBC Bay Area News at 5:30, NBC Bay Area News at 6, NBC Bay Area News Tonight, NBC Bay Area News at 11 and The Fast Forward. Public affairs programming and other news shows will also originate from NBC Bay Area’s studio. 

“We are excited to take our on-air and digital news presentation to the next level with a new, modern and transparent look,” added Stephanie Adrouny, vice president of news at NBC Bay Area. “Like our storytelling, our new storytelling space is unique, sophisticated, and mission-focused, delivering the best viewing experience for our audiences.”

The new studio, located in the heart of Silicon Valley at the station’s headquarters in San Jose, is designed by Jack Morton Worldwide.

Some of the new features include: 

• The new 2,600-square-foot studio extends into the joint NBC Bay Area and Telemundo 48 newsroom, bringing viewers into the center of the station's multi-platform content engine. Opening the studio to the newsroom also enables immediate communication from the anchors to the news desk and fellow content creators, the broadcaster said.
• 3-D news presentation technologies that are a first for local news. Built by blackwalnut, an Emmy Award-winning fabricator of scenic environments for television, the sleek minimalist style of the studio makes storytelling the focus for audiences through cutting edge tools that include a video wall, an interactive touch screen, and an above-and-below display area that makes storytelling in three dimensions possible, a first in local news. 
• The studio is designed for multi-platform flexibility. The studio area gives anchors and reporters the opportunity to reach out to audiences in ways that are specific to mobile and OTT platforms. The station's OTT newscast, The Fast Forward, will be presented from the new dual-screen area and the touchscreen wall will enable interaction with viewers across the station's social platforms.
• New studio equipment was selected to be more efficient and sustainable. The studio offers reduced power consumption with LED monitor walls in each area and 5600K LED lighting throughout. A new overhead tracking ceiling camera allows for more open floor space allowing presenters to move more freely.

SAN FRANCISCO—CNBC’s new Steuart Tower studio in San Francisco may not be the biggest or most expensive studio revamp the network has ever taken on, but what it may lack in scale the 1 Market Studio makes up for in technical innovation, especially when it comes to minimizing latency, and appealing design.

“We launched a show a couple of months ago called ‘Tech Check,’ and being a tech show we felt we really had to have a real, legitimate presence out there [in San Francisco],” says Steve Fastook, senior vice president of operations and engineering at CNBC. 

The business-news cable network chose to expand its existing San Francisco bureau, originally built about a decade ago, transforming a rather simple Flash Studio into an attractive space taking full advantage of its seventh-floor view of the Bay Bridge and an appealing set design by John Casey Production Design. 

Lowering Latency
It’s the exception rather than the rule for a full production crew to run shows from 1 Market Studio. Rather, most of the network’s production assets and production control technology reside in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., at CNBC headquarters, says Fastook. So, reducing latency between the 1 Market Studio location and New Jersey was essential.

CNBC upgraded its bandwidth between the locations from 1Gb/s to 10Gb/s and installed Cisco IP video gateways supporting Hitless Merge and Evertz JPEG 2000 encoders and decoders. “We went from a roundtrip before we did the project of about a second and a half to now a roundtrip of a quarter of a second,” he says.

From a production point of view, the nearly non-existent latency brings a natural feel to the on-camera give and take between contributors. “[With] cross talks, you don’t even know they’re not in the same room. That’s huge for us because it’s natural conversation,” says Fastook. “What we wanted to be able to have was cross talks between anchors in New York, New Jersey and San Francisco.”

However, what happens on screen is only a part of the story. Off camera, the ultra-low latency means operators in Englewood Cliffs can control the three Vinten robotic heads supporting the new 4K-upgradeable Sony box cameras with Canon lenses at 1 Market Studio as if they were in the studio.  

“That’s sort of the theme we’ve been taking. If you’re doing a show and it’s coming from a particular location, you grab the cameras at that location and you can control them like you are there,” he explains. “With the connectivity being so upgraded, that control is fluid.”  

In a similar fashion, the low latency helps to enable CNBC to run audio remotely from Englewood Cliffs. CNBC installed Calrec audio boards and the Calrec RP1 remote-controlled processing engine. 

“If you acquire a microphone in Englewood Cliffs that’s out in the studio, it’s the same as acquiring a microphone in San Francisco. All of the mix-minus and everything else can be assigned and followed,” says Fastook, who notes the approach made it unnecessary to add another audio operator.

“Everything comes back homerun through this RP1. You could look at your board and see four inputs from the studio mics in New Jersey, two from the stock exchange, two from the NASDAQ and three from San Francisco, and it really makes no difference. That really enabled three- and four-party conversations to really be as real as possible.” 

The new studio’s lighting system, like the lighting systems in all CNBC remote locations, is controllable from Englewood Cliffs. Fastook relied on CNBC ENG crew members to design and install the setup, which consists of LED fixtures, including Rosco studio lighting and large Litepanels LED studio lights.

Using LED fixtures was important because Steuart Tower is an office building. “Our ceiling height is a little bit higher than normal office space, but there’s no great height, and the air conditioning is really designed for office space, so the LED lighting was critical,” says Fastook.

While remote operation is integral to the 1 Market Studio workflow, local robotic camera, lighting and audio control are also available when needed, he adds. 

The redesigned space also relies on an electronic shade system on every window. Used throughout the day and prominently featured during “TechCheck,” which premiered in April, the space is subjected to the sun as it traverses the sky. 

“The sun comes up in the corner of the building, and it sets on the other side of the building,” says Fastook, “and we’re on through the whole horizon of the day.” 

Working with Broadcast Blinds, CNBC installed electronic shades on every window—whether they’re fully behind scenery or partially blocked by scenery. As the sun moves, the ND filters used as shades can be dialed in and out depending on the time of day.

COVID And The Studio
Like so many other things in broadcasting and society at large, expanding 1 Market Studio was not immune to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the case of the studio, however, its impact was both positive and negative. 

Typically renovating the small bureau to a 2,500-square-foot remote studio complete with a custom set would have required Fastook and crew to restrict their work to overnights and long weekends, making sure the space was ready to use when the broadcast schedule resumed every day. That start-and-stop approach would have required two months to complete this studio upgrade. However, COVID changed the equation, he says.

“Because of COVID, the bureau had been closed. We were able to go in and do everything we needed to do, and the whole project was completed in over a little less than three weeks, including the set, which took at least a week,” he says.

However, the new studio was not exempt from supply chain problems—particularly chip shortages—that are plaguing the economy during this stage of the pandemic. While Fastook made his completion deadline for the project, the job was “pushed to the limit,” he says.

“It really was a little bit less about the broadcast equipment, and a little a little bit more about the traditional switch gear—mostly Cisco-type stuff—that really got hit by the chip shortage,” says Fastook, who attributes getting the job done on time to being in the queue for equipment “pretty early in the process,” ensuring a place near the front of the line when the crunch began to ease.

Engineering for the studio renovation, which Fastook estimates cost between $150,000 and $200,000, was done by CNBC engineers, and the actual work was completed by an implementation team from NBCU.

While production from the renovated space supports CNBC’s 1080i HD needs today, the three Sony box cameras selected for the studio are 4K-capable, preparing 1 Market Studio for the future.

“We’re getting to the point where the amortization of those cameras may fall into our 4K transition—although I don’t know what that is, we haven’t really decided,” says Fastook. “It’s really more driven by the desire for it to be 4K than the content. This isn’t sports—that’s a whole different thing.”

But as the rest of world adopts 4K, there will come a point where transitioning to 4K may be unavoidable. When that day comes, 1 Market Studio will be ready.

OMAHA, OKLA.—Omaha’s Burlington Station is a century old train station that once was a key stop in cross country rail trips. Now, it is a center for news for the residents of Omaha as ABC affiliate KETV’s new studio space.

KETV purchased the Burlington Station back in 2013 and commissioned Devlin Design Group to design and construct a modern television station.

Among the set’s new features are nine 55-inch monitors that make up a large storytelling wall, three 65-inch video kiosks, and a 90-inhc monitor for the weather center. The set’s background includes a textured brick wall, columns mimicking the building’s limestone exterior, all of which are incorporated with RGB LED backlit walls for specific color changes. The set is ringed with soffit inspired by the train station platform and features floor graphics that emulate train tracks.

KETV is now broadcasting from its new studio.

SEATTLE—When Team DDG was tasked with designing a new set for Sinclair owned KOMO in Seattle, the designers found their inspiration in views and skylines that help to make up the ‘Emerald City.’

Featured as the backdrop of the set is an RGB LED backlit wall with pictures of the downtown skyline and surrounding water, mountains and forests. Multiple video walls, a 6x3 array and a 4x3 array were also added to give a nod to the area’s tech industry. Even the infamous Seattle rain was able to work its way into the design, with an RGB LED backlit pattern to create ‘digital rain.’

The station’s floor graphics were inspired by Native American Northwest tribal art, and the desk designs are described as a pod of whales. DDG also included a helicopter blade above the main performance area in tribute to KOMO News photographer Bill Strothman and pilot Gary Pfizner, who lost their lives in a crash in 2014.

The set debuted on Sunday, Sept. 27.