Jack Morton updates Studio 57 as home for CBS News’ streamer

As part of an overall rebranding that saw CBSN become just “CBS News” on Jan. 24, 2022, the network also unveiled an updated studio for the national feed of the streaming service.

Studio 57 at the historic CBS Broadcast Center became available after “CBS This Morning” moved to Times Square and changed its name to “CBS Mornings” in Sept. 2021. 

The network opted to update the space with nods to the old look, some of which were also carried over to the design of Studio 1515 in Times Square. 

Jack Morton Worldwide, which also designed the Times Square set, created the updated design for Studio 57 that retains the familiar brick walls with new, unifying elements added in.

A key motif is the use of lines — mainly verticals created with alternating wood slats and backlit panels — a look that is also included on the “CBS Mornings” set.

The foundation of the Times Square “CBS Mornings” set was originally designed for the network’s 2020 election coverage, but the set got some key updates for when it switched to the home of the network’s morning broadcast. This included gaining faux brick walls, wood elements and a glassed-in green room that doubles as a sort of mini studio.

The updated Studio 57 set features a curved anchor desk with a strong horizontal line pattern that’s been used for debate coverage, “CBS Evening News” in Washington and election coverage.

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The desk is placed in front of an updated seamless video wall from Planar with a lit header element featuring vertical edge-lit fins.

A sculptural metallic and internally lit outline version of the CBS eye logo is suspended above the main anchor area.

The studio includes multiple structural support columns that the network opted to keep in place after the “CBS This Morning” set installation and those have been updated with LED display technology and backlit borders.

The main anchor area of Studio 57. Photos courtesy of Mary Kouw/CBS and Jack Morton Worldwide.

Previously, the columns looked more like traditional support posts and, for a time, had video panels attached to them that could be used for remote interviews, anchor shots and in-studio standups.

Now, the seamless vertical canvases give the columns a more prominent role from floor to ceiling, with two of them appearing regularly in anchor one shots and the other two visible in wide shots and push-ins. 

Together, the four pillars help define the anchor area of the space, which also features a gray faux wood floor with metallic border and large CBS eye element. 

The primary video wall is also flanked with two alcoves with super-sized CBS eye elements formed by swapping wood and backlit segments. Circular accent lighting stands in as a scaled-down interpretation of the larger CBS eye ceiling fixture in the center of the studio. 

These alcoves wrap around two of the LED columns, giving the space a sense of depth and texture, including glimpses of the faux brick wall beyond, which sport oversized CBS eye elements.

An example of one of the freestanding video walls with a monitor cart to the right.

Jack Morton also added two freestanding video walls on either side of the studio, angled inward and strategically placed to make them useful in a variety of ways, including anchor and reporter standups, tosses to remote reporters and in “video on video” arrangements for teases or story summaries.

The strategic placement of video walls and color-changing LED in the design also allows the space to instantly take on a unique look for whatever show is being produced in the space.

Throughout the studio, 1.5mm Planar TVF Series and 1.6mm TVH Series LED display technology is utilized. 

Currently, the network produces “CBS News Mornings,” “Red & Blue” and rolling CBS News coverage for the streaming service in the space. The broadcast network also uses it for “CBS Morning News” which airs in the early mornings on affiliates.

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The CBS News graphics team strategically developed a variety of looks that can be used on the video walls, many of which use circle elements inspired by the CBS eye shape as “frames” for topical imagery and on screen headlines behind anchors, showcasing how powerful on set graphics can be when carefully coordinated with the set’s layout and blocking.

During the updates, CBS opted to remove the glass box green rooms that “CBS This Morning” used, so guests now wait in off camera spaces, as “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Gayle King and talk show host Drew Barrymore noted during an appearance on the network.

Prior to getting the dedicated space in Studio 57, CBSN had broadcast from a variety of makeshift spaces throughout the network’s studios, including a primary anchor location in the former newsroom of “CBS Evening News.”

By handing over Studio 57 to the streamer, CBS is reinforcing its commitment to streaming in the coming years.

Set Design

CBS News Studio 57

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Motion Graphics

CBS News Streaming Network

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Project Credits

CBS News 
EVP News Operations and Transformation – Ross Dagan
SVP News Operations – Rick Jefferson
Creative Director – Renee Cullen 
VP Technical Operations – Phil Selby
Art Director – Gabriel Almanzar
Graphics Development – Tim Hunter and Anthony King

Design – Jack Morton Worldwide
Production Designer – Jim Fenhagen
Production Designer – Larry Hartman
Project Manager – Meredith Sonnen
Art Director – Alison Zullo
Illustration – Jennilee Aromando and Chris Maroney
Graphic Design – Raeford Dwyer

Fabrication – Showman Fabricators 
Lighting Design – Lonnie Juli of CBS News
AV – Video Visions
LED – Planar