[DTV]

Also considering that the studios were to be opposite each other. One does wonder how they would have worked, especially when both channels were to have broadcasted at the same time over the newsroom atrium.

I'm not sure it would have been as big deal as might be imagined - if you look at the old News at Five Studio C backdrop or the newsroom trundle cam shots (which is where the studios would have been), you can't actually see much on the other side of the newsroom (largely due to the hoop). Plus, it's rare for studio shots to be exactly straight on - with the newsroom being so wide that even a small angle would give you a shot with a backdrop of the weather/OS balcony. So, overall, the not great shot of the rear of another studio probably wouldn't have been a major issue.

That said, a mezzanine level shot doesn't actually give that good a shot of newsroom action (as they should have learnt from the first N8 set) and those large pillars would have been particularly obstructive view-wise, so it's no wonder they modified plans eventually to get the far greater view from Studio E. Though, of course, they could have got a similar view by just moving the two proposed studios down a level.