[Keith]

I can confirm it certainly is! 

I'm taking a guess that this position may be replacing the one that was by the monitors. 

Allows for the TV screen to be less angled, thereby making it easier to read. It also avoids anyone being seen pratting about in another studio, whose output happens to be on one of the monitors.

Personally I also think this static angle looks better than the BBC Verify balcony. For some reason those pieces couldn't cope with the camera moving, making for poor quality pieces. Though it's been a well done I saw one of those segments.