[sky303]

New details on the KCBS/KCAL relaunch coming Monday… According to rumblings at TVNewsTalk.net, the CBS 2 and KCAL 9 brands are being dropped in favor of CBS Los Angeles and KCAL (sic). The CBS Los Angeles new brand apes how recently WWJ rebranded as CBS Detroit in the run-up to their news launch. Additionally, the CBS 2 News and KCAL 9 News brand are being replaced by CBS News Los Angeles, as expected with the new O&O plans to integrate the local stations with the rest of CBS News. Other than the new KCAL morning news and possibly the new look, KCBS’s set will remain the same, but will be adapted to the new look. Additionally, their weather and traffic department is taking the Next Weather/Traffic brand.

Additionally, there is some confusion on how the newscasts will be handled from Monday: local cable guides have changed their names of the KCBS and KCAL names to “KCAL News at 11p on CBS Los Angeles” and “KCAL News at 10p”, and the new morning newscast being billed as “KCAL Mornings” and “KCAL Mornings at 6a on CBS Los Angeles”. Although technically KCBS and KCAL retain their existing separate offerings, this means the relaunch will mean increased cooperation between both stations, akin to the failed NewsCentral operation in 2009, in which both stations’ reporters began filing stories without any distinction for both stations.

That would be interesting twist where the network affiliate station would be branding its news under its sister station. It usually the opposite like WBZ News on TV 38. But KCAL is the stronger station of the two. I think it would make sense to brand the whole morning show as KCAL mornings since all of it will be on KCAL and only 1 hour on CBS 2, it'd make sense to have the KCAL brand on both. The 11pm news on KCBS, along with 5 and 6 being called KCAL News on CBS LA would be strange, but either way it shows the management notices that KCAL is a strong station.