News Lessons: Yes, Sometimes "They" Change the Packaging

CBS News launched a new morning program yesterday. It's aptly called CBS This Morning and the new format came with veteran Erica Hill, longtime PBS anchor Charlie Rose, and Oprah's best friend Gayle King.

[Observation: It's interesting they sit around a round table instead of an anchor desk. I keep expecting David Brooks to make an appearance.]

I bring this up because many businesses make changes to their "public" product in order to attract new customers (with the hopes of keeping the regulars, too). You'll notice it on the packaging of Coca-Cola over the years and other daily products people consume. However, with television, the changes are almost always aesthetic. Sometimes, they are deeper than that.

In television news, these changes are often driven by two things: ratings and consultants.

The people who end up being impacted by the necessary changes sometimes, at least under their breath, call these consultants "insultants." Then, the adage of "don't fix it if it ain't broke" is muttered.

Point is, CBS made these changes to their morning show and it has yet to be seen if the viewership will improve. That is, will people buy the product even though the packaging is different? Might you be surprised and find that the formula is slightly different too?

So far, I like this CBS This Morning.  Then again, I'll watch Erica Hill on anything because I think she's decent awesome at what she does. She has that Anderson Cooper 360 experience that helps. Like Gayle King, people know that Hill has personality. We all know, if you watched 360, that she's a person first. I think that's important if you're inviting someone into your living room.

Seriously, though, there seems to be working people in the studio, and second, they're talking about news! They're talking about things that are intellectually important. In my opinion, that's the right move.