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Sacramento High-Rise Cuts Cable News From Elevators To Reduce Stress

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — In this capital city, a downtown high-rise is tuning out politics.

The U.S. Bank Tower on Capitol Mall is one of the most prominent buildings downtown.

Its elevators climb 25 stories high, but now the TVs in those elevators are cutting cable news stations from its monitors.

"They've got CNN playing in here all the time, but not anymore," one elevator rider told CBS13.

The 24-hour news is now off. National Geographic is on.

"It does have an impact, believe it or not," says Julie Shinpaugh, an employee in the high rise. "Some of the elevator talk groups would rather see anything but politics at this time, so National Geographic, that's great."

Management at the U.S. Bank Tower in Sacramento confirms the switch, releasing a statement reading, "recently many tenants expressed an interest in watching something that did not provoke stress or anxiety during their work day."

"Yes, it's a little bit less stressful," Sara Lopez, who works in the building, said. "It makes the rise a little more enjoyable."

Doug Elmets is a political consultant and an avid viewer of cable news. He has an office in this building.

"I think what it is, is it's condemning cable TV news, but it's also focused on the political divisions that exist in this country generally, in a small space," Elmets said.

Whether the ride is up or down, cable news, for now, is out. The new policy has been in place for a couple weeks and there's no timeline for how long it'll last.

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