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Fox O&Os Launch New Look - Pics!


Jess

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Today is the official launch of the long-awaited new look to the Fox O&O stations. ALL of the stations will be switching to these graphics TODAY.

 

KTTV was the first to launch, and their pictures are below. Three or four more key markets, including a certain station in the midwest making a huge branding change today, will be going at noon local time. Everyone else is getting these for their 5 or 10pm newscasts.

 

Those expecting a complete revamp will be disappointed. It's a lot closer to a refinement of the 2008 graphics than anything else. It looks different but it obviously has that same "feel". It is extremely simplified in many aspects, most notably the bug.

 

Here are shots ripped from the KTLA webstream. Note that your Fox station may not look exactly like this. There are a few variations in the design, colorwise, and who knows what stations will ultimately use.

 

Opens are.... not promising:

 

NEWFOXOO-2012-1.jpg

 

Lower thirds are a huge improvement:

 

NEWFOXOO-2012-2.jpg

 

Most of the stingers use this layout and animation, and yes it gets repetitive.

 

NEWFOXOO-2012-3.jpg

 

Weather looks a bit like what WTXF has been using - in fact I can see them using their existing Weather Authority stings with only minor modifications.

 

Note that the bug kind of wipes in and out and the bar flashes. Not as seamless as the old "boxkites" but I do prefer this layout quite a bit. (Now you can see the time AND temp at the same time!!)

 

NEWFOXOO-2012-4.jpg

 

Back to the lowers, and they are even closer to Cable News Style than before. The reporter's name is in the top white bar, and since this is 2012, it fades back and forth between his name and twitter handle.

 

NEWFOXOO-2012-5.jpg

 

I'm pleasantly surprised to say that these are not-horrible, but then I was expecting a graphical trainwreck. There's still parts that are lacking, and that open is a hot mess, but I'm pleased with the way they streamlined things. That said, I can see this aging pretty quickly if they don't keep adding new elements to the look.

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Three or four more key markets, including a certain station in the midwest making a huge branding change today, will be going at noon local time.

 

What about the theme? As for the graphics...I will say that they aren't bad. I actually kinda like them, but I hope WFLD keeps the widescreen presentation for their broadcasts because I think the bug would look better out of the safe zone.

 

All-in-all, a big improvement. Yes, it's a bit flashy, but it is FOX...it's to be expected.

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What about the theme? As for the graphics...I will say that they aren't bad. I actually kinda like them, but I hope WFLD keeps the widescreen presentation for their broadcasts because I think the bug would look better out of the safe zone.

 

All-in-all, a big improvement. Yes, it's a bit flashy, but it is FOX...it's to be expected.

 

Theme is the same. No changes there at least so far. (KTTV is in Good Day LA mode right now, and that still uses its own graphics.) I do agree that this will look better for the stations that aren't 4x3 safe, like WFLD and WTXF, presuming they keep it like that (which I think they will).

 

So far I'd say this is quite a bit less flashy than what they were using, oddly enough. Most of the stings I saw on that KTTV stream used the same format and effects. It's not like the old package where they had a different animation for everything. I'm sure we'll get back to that over time, and I think other stations might have made some adjustments, so your local station may vary. It is an improvement, though, just because I think crucial parts of the design are much better executed.

 

I guess these pictures are the blue/gold package? I hope WNYW gets the red/blue I think it'll look nice.. Also will we see studio updates with the new logo?

 

Yes, this is the blue/gold package. I'm not sure if that's the official overall branding they're going to use, or whether this is just "AM" graphics like the last set.

 

As for the logo, see below:

 

So one thing I notice from KTTV is the logo. Will most of the FOX stations be dropping the FOX News Channel-like logo?

 

Nope. The "boxkites" - what I think is the internal name for the red/blue stacked logos, even though I'm not positive - are still being used, and even feature in the opens. But if you've noticed, a lot more presentation has started to use that simpler, one-line format (at least here), and this is just a natural extension of that.

 

But don't get your hopes up that this is a great or even very good package. Those opens? They are HORRENDOUS. There's a bit of stuff with the bug animation that doesn't look right, and we haven't seen large parts of the look yet. Let's see how this plays out.

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Everyone else is getting these for their 5 or 10pm newscasts.

 

NEWFOXOO-2012-2.jpg

 

 

It might as well just be said everyone else that doesn't roll out the graphics in the morning or midday will do so during evening newscasts, WFXT doesn't have a 5 p.m. show (last I checked) and of course, Fox owns four stations in the Central and Mountain Time Zones, where their late newscasts start at 9. That being said, the graphics look fairly decent, I saw them on the live stream of WTVT's noon newscast (though WTVT's weather graphics, still use Franklin Gothic prominently, rather than Helvetica Condensed (?)). The L3 bug probably should have been sized to account for the layout of the time/temp bug and website promo bar; if you watch a newscast on one of the Fox O&Os at 10 a.m. (like KTTV and WJBK), 11 a.m. (like WHBQ, which hasn't adopted the new look as of this writing), noon or 10 p.m., it'll become more apparent that the station logo isn't aligned properly with the time/temp portion of the bug, as it is already noticable in the screengrab shown above.

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WFLD showed a five-second tease just seconds ago during a repeat of Dr. Oz, and a very familiar news name we have not heard on channel 32 in 21 years is back!!!! The logo on the graphic (the opening graphic seen at the end of the tease) is the same horizontal layout (similar to the opening graphic KTTV is using) We just have to see in just 10 minutes.

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The L3 bug probably should have been sized to account for the layout of the time/temp bug and website promo bar; if you watch a newscast on one of the Fox O&Os at 10 a.m. (like KTTV and WJBK), 11 a.m. (like WHBQ, which hasn't adopted the new look as of this writing), noon or 10 p.m., it'll become more apparent that the station logo isn't aligned properly with the time/temp portion of the bug, as it is already noticable in the screengrab shown above.

 

That's your eyes playing tricks on you. It only looks that way cause the logo is lined up with the degree symbol and not the last digit in the temperature.

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Same as the others on WFLD (blue/gold), but they are still using the today, tonight and tomorrow temp display (now under the logo) that alternates with the current time/temp bug (that show at the same time). The bug is back in the safe zone, but the "tomorrow" forecast does hang off the edge, so to speak. They're still using the old weather graphics, but that could be because Strehl is doing noon weather today...we'll see when Bellis is on later.

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WFLD just made the switch.. I have to say it's a HUGE improvement for WFLD. WFLD is still using their old "FOX Chicago News" mic flags eventhough they've made the switch to "FOX 32 News" and reporters are signing off with "FOX 32 News". I also have to say, I like WFLD's open variation a hell lot better than KTTV's..

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WFLD just made the switch.. I have to say it's a HUGE improvement for WFLD. WFLD is still using their old "FOX Chicago News" mic flags eventhough they've made the switch to "FOX 32 News" and reporters are signing off with "FOX 32 News". I also have to say, I like WFLD's open variation a hell lot better than KTTV's..

Oh yeah, I just saw the transition to the commercial...it looks pretty good.

 

Here's the new "UTS"...

foxuts.png

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That's your eyes playing tricks on you. It only looks that way cause the logo is lined up with the degree symbol and not the last digit in the temperature.

 

No, it's not that, the time/temp bug on most of the stations that have adopted the new graphics thus far use Univers Extended, so the time is aligned farther to the left than the logo above it, so the logo's size as well as the placement in the L3's makes it noticeable. WFLD's time and temperature display is aligned properly with the logo... to a point, since their weather info bug uses Helvetica instead of Univers (the alternating forecast info on the bug is wider than the logo though). BTW, KDFW also has adopted the graphics.

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When it comes down to it, the package may not be better, but it's no more offensive than the old look...and it's not (yet) stale, either.

 

Like all other graphics packages nowadays, it will get stale.. But for a station that has been "blah" for a long time, this is the most visible change in a while and the new color scheme seems to work better than the old.

 

I wonder if WFLD will update the set.. The lightbox above the weather center still has the FOX CHICAGO WEATHER banner, the FOX CHICAGO logo is still to the left of the backdrop, and the FOX CHICAGO banner on the anchor backdrop.

 

 

------------

 

I forgot to add, I hope with the new package they covered ALL bases.. I really don't want to see this new package infected with more WFLD in-house sloppiness:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YXAYZ6wuK0

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For a station which, I presume had ample warning that their name was going to change, WFLD seems like they did absolutely no preparation.

 

Old mic flags, old name on studio, old weather graphics that say Fox Chicago, old pillarboxes... yeah.

 

 

I hope the new logo appears on all stations.. I don't think the current logo would look great with the graphics.. But I guess we'll wait and see.. I'm curious to see the open and why everyone thinks its so bad.

I'm going to say it again - these aren't new logos. The old ones haven't been abandoned either. What they've done is take the text from the logo and put it on one line, unadorned. This same treatment was being used for bugs and a number of promos already.

 

And yes, this treatment will be on all of the O&Os as of today.

 

 

It might as well just be said everyone else that doesn't roll out the graphics in the morning or midday will do so during evening newscasts, WFXT doesn't have a 5 p.m. show (last I checked) and of course, Fox owns four stations in the Central and Mountain Time Zones, where their late newscasts start at 9. That being said, the graphics look fairly decent, I saw them on the live stream of WTVT's noon newscast (though WTVT's weather graphics, still use Franklin Gothic prominently, rather than Helvetica Condensed (?)). The L3 bug probably should have been sized to account for the layout of the time/temp bug and website promo bar; if you watch a newscast on one of the Fox O&Os at 10 a.m. (like KTTV and WJBK), 11 a.m. (like WHBQ, which hasn't adopted the new look as of this writing), noon or 10 p.m., it'll become more apparent that the station logo isn't aligned properly with the time/temp portion of the bug, as it is already noticable in the screengrab shown above.

 

The alignment on KTTV looked perfectly fine to me. It's lined up with the degree symbol, which I admit isn't exactly visible on the screengrabs above.

 

And yeah, I know not all of the Fox stations have evening newscasts - that's why I denoted the 10pm news. And yes, I know that you wacky Central and Mountain time people have 9pm newscasts... it's just easier to say "5 and 10".

 

Oh, and the font is Univers Condensed Bold.

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For a station which, I presume had ample warning that their name was going to change, WFLD seems like they did absolutely no preparation.

 

Old mic flags, old name on studio, old weather graphics that say Fox Chicago, old pillarboxes... yeah.

 

That was pretty noticeable, for every time a "Fox 32" reference was made, there were also references to "Fox Chicago" as well (even one instance, where the latter was said twice in less than 30 seconds). So yeah, they should have rehearsed it more beforehand so that the anchors and reporters got used to referencing the "Fox 32" branding to avoid accidentally calling the station "Fox Chicago", those employed at WFLD are far more used to calling it that than anyone else in Chicagoland (probably) is.

 

The alignment on KTTV looked perfectly fine to me. It's lined up with the degree symbol, which I admit isn't exactly visible on the screengrabs above.

 

I did notice the degree symbol in the screengrabs, it's just the way the logo is aligned at that mark, the logo's size and the font width of the Univers text in the time/temp bug (not just on KTTV, but on KDFW and WTVT also) that makes it them both appear misaligned. As I said, the disparity's more noticable on the midday shows and will be so as well on the late newscasts on the East and West Coasts. It's not apparent on KSAZ, though, the time/temp bug and horizontal "Fox 10" logo align perfectly.

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That was pretty noticeable, for every time a "Fox 32" reference was made, there were also references to "Fox Chicago" as well (even one instance, where the latter was said twice in less than 30 seconds). So yeah, they should have rehearsed it more beforehand so that the anchors and reporters got used to referencing the "Fox 32" branding to avoid accidentally calling the station "Fox Chicago", those employed at WFLD are far more used to calling it that than anyone else in Chicagoland (probably) is.

 

 

I'd give the talent a break on that one.. Much of them have been spending the past couple days and all morning repeating "FOX 32 News" to themselves. I don't know how much more rehearsals they could have needed. It's just something they say out of habit and it becomes second nature like driving. Just like people who answer phones for a living and have to say a specific line everytime they answer the phone will have this same problem the first day or 2 of a new line given to them to say and it's on paper in front of their face. Even if "FOX 32 News" is shown on the prompter, it's bound that some will still say "FOX Chicago News" out of habit. For this switch, talent is doing fine in the transition.. It's actually not turning out as messy as it was when the switch was from "FOX News Chicago" to "FOX Chicago News" for a short time a few years back and then again to "FOX News Chicago" only to switch back to "FOX Chicago News" a couple years ago. Just like I've heard so many radio talent that switch to a new station still catch themselves saying their old station's dial, call letters, name etc right after they go to the new station.

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I should ask, are all the Fox-owned stations on the same graphics system? It's interesting that they would all transition to the new package on the same date, considering that other station groups that use standardized graphics typically switch to a new package over the course of weeks or months (like Hearst and NBC recently).

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