News Munchies
Pricey Pixels Put Newscasters in Premium Sets
Originally Posted
Updated
For just $40,000 up to $250,000, news stations are airing their broadcasts in posh studio settings that would cost them millions of dollars to build or lease. Around 40 stations, including Equity Broadcasting of Little Rock, have gone virtual with computer-generated constructions that blend newscasters with unbelievable backdrops like a great sci-fi movie.
While newscasters sit in cramped quarters with taped parameters marking do-not-move-a-body-part-across-this-line boundaries, viewers see their favorite anchors sitting in a huge multilevel studio, surrounded by pillars and glass elevators or whatever the set of the day is deemed to be.
Instantly achieving the illusion of big has been glorious for smaller stations, except for WNCF-TV in Alabama. The station dumped the technology after a few months. It became frustrated that the stomach of one of its well-rounded, on-air personnel kept protruding into the virtual desk during broadcasts.
I guess virtual reality will never totally mask real reality.