KCAL, the independent arm of the CBS-owned duopoly in Los Angeles, aired its 10 a.m. newscast on August 11, 2025, entirely from its extended reality studio. Morning anchor Chris Holmstrom promoted this as the first newscast in the market produced using a virtual set, leveraging a studio debuted in June 2025. “It’s bold. It’s fresh. It’s never been done here before,” Holmstrom said.
CBS-owned stations nationwide are installing large virtual studio facilities, typically including a chroma key volume and specialized camera/tracking systems. In Los Angeles, the same news department produces news for KCBS and KCAL, branded as “KCAL News” since early 2023, also using the CBS News Los Angeles name. Before the 10 a.m. newscast shift, the studio primarily handled weather and sports, mirroring many sister stations.
CBS News 24/7 uses a virtual studio, shared with New York’s WCBS, for its “CBS News 24/7 Primetime” whip-around newscast and also appears on “CBS Evening News.” “Evening News” originates from an LED volume in Studio 47 at the network’s New York headquarters, utilizing virtual set extensions. CBS News has long used chroma key for “60 Minutes,” and “CBS News Sunday Morning” uses a key wall with 3D renderings and photos. KTVT in Dallas–Ft. Worth uses its green screen space for most news, retaining a small hard set. Whether KCAL News will expand virtual studio use remains unclear.
CBS News and Stations are rapidly building a network of AR and VR studios, exceeding other station groups’ efforts, though others have similar setups.