Bay News 9 on Monday unveiled a new, state-of-the-art studio set designed to be versatile and in tune with the way viewers consume news.

"Our vision for this set was to create a multifunctional studio environment that would be flexible, versatile and contemporary," said Alan Mason, vice president of News and Local Programming.

The modular-designed studio is comprised of LED tiles, colorful lighting and the centerpiece: a large array of nine separate monitors.

See inside the new Bay News 9 set

“We worked with the designers to craft a venue that gives us options for daily news anchoring, special programs such as 'Political Connections,' capacity to do debates or town hall meetings in the studio and quickly change branding on the set to accommodate both our English-language Bay News 9 and Spanish-language InfoMás news channels,” Mason said.

The new studio will allow the station to respond to new trends for years to come.

"Sets are long-term investments," Mason said. "So the new digitized backdrops will allow us to not only change the look for various programs or news channels but will give us the opportunity to evolve the look and functionality of our newscasts to meet the needs of our audience."

Park Place Studio, a Pittsburgh-based company, created the new set. Some of the firm's other clients include other local television stations across the U.S., plus major sports franchises including the Baltimore Ravens and Disney-ABC.

The new studio is the latest in the evolution of Bay News 9. The station launched on Sept. 24, 1997, from a building on 66th Street N. in Pinellas Park. That building is now home to Bright House Sports Network. In summer 2005, Bay News 9 relocated to the Carillon office park in St. Petersburg. Then, in May 2013, the station unveiled a one-of-a-kind weather studio.

Bay News 9 is an exclusive product of Bright House Networks.