Hat’s off to Alex McCown (@alexm247) for his latest piece over at AVClub.com, looking at the business of set design and lighting, specifically national election coverage.

Expending such effort to make a bar look like a TV studio would seem to defeat the purpose of leaving the studio in the first place, but MSNBC is loath to diverge from the familiar template.

High Definition Television has had a huge impact on modern set design and studio spaces in recent years. From the wide, rectangular 16:9 aspect ratio, to the sharp image detail, to the improved color rendition…expectations are high.

“They all use the same two designers to build the sets, who make all the stuff at the national level,” Dillon says. “The same designers, the same materials, styling.”

But why do many of the sets look similar across networks and what’s behind the prevalence of the color blue and red in their design. Check out this article!
Source: Why every cable news set uses the same two colors · For Our Consideration · The A.V. Club