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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.

It turns out your idea is being the one planned for the relaunch. KCAL becomes the originating station for news, with KCBS simulcasting when network timeslots allow. This’ll mean an attempt to challenge KTLA, which has lots of hours of news, particularly in the morning and early daytime block (non-stop news from 4am to 2pm). KCAL will also reportedly add KCBS’ newscasts at 11am, noon, the prime 4-7pm block and 11pm to its schedule, with KCBS simulcasting it.

Radio and Television Business Report (Adam Jacobson, July 12th, 2022):
And, in a major move, local newscasts will no longer originate from KCBS-2. Instead, that station will simulcast KCAL-9 newscasts as part of a bigger plan to make KCAL, once the home of the legendary Jerry Dunphy and Pat Harvey, a player in the L.A. news race for the first time in more than two decades.

A good, no-brainer move. KCAL hasn’t been and isn’t as dominant as KTLA and KTTV, but it is still competitive in the ratings, and has better viewer figures than its network-affiliated counterpart, so it is a great starting point; additionally, the need to challenge KTLA is related to Wendy McMahon’s plans to increase local production of news mainly to fit their local streaming networks (a move already planned by CBS News Detroit) and leverage the CBS News resources.