MIAMI—CBS News & Stations continues to expand its use of augmented and virtual reality technologies with the planned launch of an augmented reality/virtual reality set in its CBS Miami station WFOR-TV.
It will be used initially for both March Madness coverage and weather reporting for streaming and broadcast feeds and will eventually expand to the full newscast, explained Kim Voet, president, and general manager, CBS Miami explained.
“We really look at this as an opportunity to present March Madness, but more importantly, present our weather in a way to viewers and users that they've never seen in Florida before,” she said. “It's going to be a tremendous tool for our storytelling.”
Starting this Sunday, March 16, when the teams for the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament are announced, CBS Miami ( WFOR-TV) will be debuting its new AR/VR technology with exclusive March Madness coverage led by sports anchor Mike Cugno in a streaming-only special.
Later that night, at 11 PM, during the regular broadcast newscast, chief meteorologist Ivan Cabrera will deliver live weather from the AR/VR studio, followed by an 11:30 PM March Madness segment from the Sports Desk.
Then, on Monday, March 17, the AR/VR system will start being used Monday through Friday for regular weather reports in the local newscasts.
As previously reported by TV Tech, CBS News & Stations initially developed the AR/VR solution at its San Francisco stations. It has since been deployed at CBS New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Colorado in addition to San Francisco. Those stations will also be using it in their local coverage of March Madness.
CBS Bay Area president and general manager Scott Warren provided an extensive discussion of its development during a panel on news and sports technologies during the March 13, TV Tech Summit.
This work, which involved a lot of inhouse coding at the station group, allowed the system to be deployed relatively quickly in Miami. “We started right after the holidays and will be live with it on March 16,” Voet said.
The transition involved creating a new set for their news and then gutting a space where the old set had been located to create a bare space with green walls.
Looking forward, Voet is particularly excited about the opportunity the set will create for them during Hurricane season to provide potentially life-saving information. “I don’t think anyone has seen anything like this in the state or even the Southeast,” she said. “And its more than just the technology. It’s about how you use the technology. It’s about the consumer, the viewers, and using the technology in a way that will engage them and give them a new look and a more informative look in our storytelling.”
“We’ve been rehearsing for about a month for weather and March Madness,” she added. “But our goal this year is to move the entire newscast to this. It will be a new way of presenting local news.”
