NBC News’ new D.C. bureau newsroom appears behind MSNBC live shot

Another view of the NBC News Washington, D.C. production hub has emerged — this time on-air rather than in just an internal memo.

NBCUniversal’s MSNBC used a live shot featuring correspondent Pete Williams seated in a new camera position on the seventh floor in front of a working newsroom with a large array of screens displaying video feeds.

The segment was during “MSNBC Live” around 3:13 p.m. eastern Oct. 27, 2020, though it’s not immediately clear if this was the first time the new space had been on-air.

NBC moved operations out of its longtime home on Nebraska Avenue, also home to its owned station WRC, earlier this fall in favor of space inside a building closer to the Capitol. The network had leased smaller spaces in the upper floor of the building but they were heavily damaged by fire in January 2019.

After that the network announced it would take over a ground floor space that was previously a restaurant and turn it into a “production hub” for its network-level D.C.-based resources while also retaining space on the seventh and eighth floors as well. 

The newsroom appeared mostly empty, perhaps due to coronavirus concerns, and the placement of monitors also resulted in a lot of the backs of screens showing up behind him, creating sort of “black holes” in the background, though it’s also not clear if the workstation arrangements are permanent.  

The old primary Washington bureau live shot flash cam position in the network’s former bureau newsroom on Nebraska Avenue.

A longtime staple of the NBC bureau was the header reading “NBC News (peacock) Washington” — and this same design is also used at numerous other bureaus around the world by multiple networks.

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The new take on that header is a glass and LED circular ring that allows for near-instant branding changes. 

For example, in a wider view of the area obtained by NewscastStudio shows the header with rings and outlined NBC peacocks, but in William’s live shot the segments were more vertical and had “Washington, D.C.” featured more prominently. 

The wider view also gives a glimpse at a red square carpet and red pillars with reveal lines and darker, oversized peacock “feathers” on the side. 

Much of that look ties into the design image obtained by NewscastStudio in September, though this area has a more “federal” style design while the area Williams appeared on is more of a traditional newsroom look. 

NBC News has multiple floors in the building with studios on three separate floors. 

Meanwhile, the network previously confirmed to NewscastStudio it expects to move “Meet the Press” to the new space, but no set date has been announced.

The project has been significantly delayed, quite understandably, by the coronavirus pandemic.