[Ben Shatliff]

Would it have looked better? 

Real newsrooms and production control  have to be practical for working (and health and safety) so layout,  lighting,  colours need to work for the staff in that environment more than onair.

Basically they look rubbish on air.

What? There are, of course, always adjustments that have to be made to newsrooms that go on air, but they are adjustments that have been successfully made multiple times by all the major broadcasters in this country - including ITN. Sure, some have ended up better in execution than others - particularly lighting wise - but it clearly is not some impossible task and to generalise and say they all look rubbish on air is ridiculous. If they had wanted to do it in 2013, which clearly they did not, it would have been eminently achievable.

And I do disagree that it couldn't have looked better. Although I broadly do quite like the 2013 design, the set does suffer from the usual problems of VR attempting to look realistic - the lighting is too flat and makes attempts at highlights (e.g., the orange spotlights on the columns) look unnatural; there are 'metal' and 'gloss' elements that don't act as they should, giving a bit of a plasticky feel; etc. While I'd agree, as I already stated, that the regional sets aren't great, especially the inclusion of large chunks of black glass, I do think that the way that certain aspects of the lighting interacts with the physical sets works far better than it does in the national set's VR world.

The big question then.  Will this new studio be just for ITVX or will we see an overhaul both National and Regional for ITV News?