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Right or wrong on your assessment of NewsNation (you were defintely the former), you were acting like a self-righteous douche canoe then, too. That high horse might be depriving you of some oxygen. Might want to get off.

Couple folks in this thread acting like they are personally affected by a TV station changing the name of its newscasts. Chill.

I understand that you live in the market, so I won’t pretend I understand LA more than you or anyone else here. That said, they’ve already hit rock bottom in terms of ratings, and they needed to try something different. As far as brand sense goes, there’s more brand sense w/ “KCAL News” than there was when they were using two names for the same news operation. I think there’s room for criticizing how they went about it (I pointed out the lack of promotion), but most of the things you mentioned (like the name of the damn helicopter) are things most people don’t care about. And if you’re criticizing them for not telling people where to watch *CBS* Mornings... I can’t help you there. I’m happy to criticize when warranted, and this thing may end up not working out, but saying it’s DOA after one day is a bit much IMO.

Well 2 things: 1. KTLA didn't change graphics 2. They did have issues with navigating that weather wall without chroma. It looked uncomfortable and they had to do some tweaking. Overall, as others have said, hiccups are expected when new things are introduced. This isn't the first new set/graphics/branding we've been through...

Wait until the ABC O&O graphics launch.

Did they ever really need two sets? I get the feeling they only had them to emphasize two different brands for the same news operation. Now that they’re unifying everything together, it seems logical to unify studio presentation as well. Besides, the last few months showed that the two stations were able to operate out of one studio just fine.

Look, it's just the first day. Not everything goes as planned. Yes, it will take some take some getting used to but after awhile things will settle. No matter how many times you rehearse, there will always be hiccups. 1) KCAL is still the same without the "9" and is getting a lot more attention as the main brand. 2) CBS 2 is now CBS Los Angeles. 3) CBS News Los Angeles is their streaming service.

The meltdown of this forum over this whole thing is just absolutely sad.

I'm going to guess that KCBS hasn't had a problem attracting viewers to network fare in primetime, daytime, late night, etc., but viewers have seemingly gone out of their way to change the channel when CBS2 News comes on. No need to move affiliations, as CBS programming surely does just fine. KCAL has been the more successful news brand, so they're leaning into it.

Yes, that's what they're doing, titled "KCAL News on CBS Los Angeles." The primetime news on KCAL remains: KCAL and KCBS have always been one news operation since 2003, but with separate on-air brands (visual identities were basically the same). So nothing has changed with who "produces" the news, but now it's just all unified under the KCAL News brand.

Yes. All newscasts (regardless of what channel they air on) are labeled KCAL News. When the newscast airs on channel 2, CBS Los Angeles is ‘added’ to the title. It’s my understanding that ‘KCAL News’ is synonymous with breaking news coverage in the region, the decision was made to go with the strongest and recognizable brand/moniker, if you will. That’s what I read from a couple of articles I found online.

Dude no offense, but one rando on Facebook isn’t evidence that the whole thing is a disaster. It’s day 1. Look, they had a rough start this morning, but these things don’t always start smoothly (look at KOTV a few months back.) The assignment desk isn’t perfect, but as I said elsewhere, at least they’re peeling back the curtain on news gathering and trying something no other station is doing. That’s how you stand out. Keep in mind that the alternative was a morning newscast that got 0.0 in the ratings and a network that was airing morning infomercials instead of live programming. I’m happy to point out some flaws, but this is an improvement by every stretch of the imagination, and I think we’re overreacting if we say otherwise.

The graphics look very generic: big, white, flat, and boxy. As someone wrote earlier, it looks like a local cable news operation such as NY 1. The enforcer theme should remain, it's iconic and powerful. I hope more local stations don't go the Tegna route with video game sounding themes in an attemt to seem "hip and digital".

CBS is moving away from Enforcer for exactly that reason. It’s dated and doesn’t fit the direction of the network/O&Os. It’s been around long enough. It’s time for something refreshing and new. The graphics are modern and clean. They look good on mobile and streaming, which is the future. They’re far better than the current iteration of the O&O graphics. Overall, it appears this is a solid upgrade for the CBS O&Os. Despite some stations keeping calls or channel numbers (for now), I think this is a step in the right direction. I for one am happy to see some of the nostalgia go to the wayside.

It won't last that long. DOA. The public sees what a mess it is already. From CBS Los Angeles Facebook tonight. They're going to destroy KCAL 9 as well.

At the end of the day, I have a feeling layman viewers are going to be saying "I saw it on Channel 2 News last night" whether they watch the news on TV or online.

For me, the death knell was when old shows like "Hawaii Five-O" and "Magnum, P.I." were revived. However good they may be, it indicates to me that the Hollywood creative community is woefully dry on ideas. And all the game, reality (including news), and contest programs (such as "America's Got Talent") are ways to fill prime time as cheaply as possible (come on, do we really need two hours of "20/20" and "Dateline" on Friday nights?). One problem, I think, is that there are too many channels and not enough programming to fill them all. Also, I can't think of a lineup today that excites people like CBS's Saturday-night block in the '70s or NBC's "must-see-TV" Thursday block in the '80s and '90s. Further, it's the very fact that we have computers and online streaming that makes it so hard for television as we've always known it to attract an audience. The simple fact is what is happening is the same thing that happened to old-style "30s and '40s radio when television came in.

It was adjusted from the demo we saw a few months ago. The idea is that it is the maximum height, extending from the top of where the LIVE (or whatever they put there) bug would be, on top of the bug, to the bottom of the main line of the package's ticker, which would be gone, at this point. I can't understand why they're still using the old CBSN ticker. THAT is something that shouldn't have last beyond day 1.

These aren't hiccups. They are massive issues showing they are not prepared or don't have a major market quality professional staff. There is no branding sense here. It's a bunch of brands lumped together that only confuse. They had a preview of KCAL News Mornings on 11 pm but made no mention of what channel it is on. I'm sorry but the future may be to eliminate channel mentions but we are NOWHERE near that day. No other station in the market is doing it. Same as this morning on the simulcast, a preview of CBS Mornings coming next. But no mention of where to view it. Just prior, they had a preview of KCAL News Mornings. But again no mention where it would be on when the simulcast split at 7 am. Why is the KCAL News bug so small next to the huge CBS Los Angeles? Why does the Facebook page say KCAL News, CBS Los Angeles, CBSLA.com and CBSNews.com? Mass confusion. Why is the chopper called SKYCAL? The branding is KCAL NEWS. It doesn't reflect it. It should say SKYKCAL to be consistent even though that is just as idiotic as SKYCAL. A number of people on this board do not comment as an average viewer. Read the Facebook comments which get it more than many of you do and start understanding your viewer. I commented on NewsNation from Day 1. I knew it was a disaster ON DAY ONE. I got a lot of flack for it but it wasn't difficult to see what a mess it was. I was 100% correct. This is just as bad, probably worse. I am sorry you can't see it yet. This is Los Angeles. Not some idiotic market in the midwest. There is a certain level of expected professionalism. It starts on day 1 not weeks later.

I still think the programming strategy is smart. But there's no way of getting around it: that branding is clunky. It is most certainly going to confuse viewers, and I wouldn't be surprised if CBS tinkered with it again within the next two years.

KCAL: CBS Los Angeles:

Should've just been CBS News Los Angeles and CBS News Los Angeles on KCAL. But this, this is a clusterf*ck.

I'm sure morale is low so any news of a win can be helpful to the staff. (I love the way the table looks to be that anchor's left shoulder.)

…but KCAL isn’t CBS…

Simple takeaway from this week: - KPIX showed us how to rebrand their newscasts the right way - KCAL showed us how to rebrand it in the most throwback, independent, weirdest way possible I mean, for those who worked with KCAL before moving to KCBS, this is a nostalgic moment for them. For the viewers and some here, it's either bad, or could've been better. For me: Well....good thing I don't live in California.

What % of streaming news viewing time is on small devices vs a normal TV screen? I get the sense people equate streaming with mobile device. But at least in my habits, most of my 'streaming' is on a full sized TV as we don't use traditional cable, but one of the streaming packages like Hulu Live or YouTube TV, or Pluto. And these graphics designed for mobile come off flat and sterile on TV screens. Was relieved to read they are going market by market with local-specific research, rather than a completely top down approach. We'll see if the ABC O&Os extend their leads sticking with a more traditional format, but am surprised CBS was able to get Wendy from the ABC stations. Odd she'd take this job as a co-head at CBS when she was the single head for the ABC group - which is bigger at least in leadership of the markets they play.

THIS! Couldn't have simplified the transition any easier than this.

Could just be a simple mistake someone made (i.e. saying 'king' tides instead of 'high' tides). No one's perfect...

It's a low-rent MTV version of AFV, so it shouldn't be.

But I think they would rarely have anything in that spot above the bug. Most of the time, a "Coming Up" doesn't show live video. Just seems like another weird design choice that makes this package feel rushed and sloppy in many areas.

If you listen carefully, even Pat is confused. She Says welcome to KCAL 9 News at 6 on CBS Los Angeles. The 5pm anchor says KCAL News at 5 on CBS Los Angeles and KCAL News at 6 on CBS Los Angeles. The open says KCAL News Los Angeles. So right there you already have 3 different names.

It would be nice if you could use a channel number online or through streaming though. I don't know why they haven't included that on the streams that use a menu like Pluto. Or maybe you can do this and I just don't know about it since I go through a Roku box? I'll probably get in trouble for posting this, but I was amused by the ad at the top of the screen, so I screen capped it for you all.

That part! They might as well call the 10pm news The Mike Rodgers Show. He kept popping up with the most annoying updates; we don’t need to know every time a tree topples over in LA. At a minimum they should have a breaking news anchor. This guy Mike doesn’t appear to be a trained broadcaster nor educated as a journalist; his grammar was the worst. To someone’s point above, this is LA, not Podunck, Iowa.

SkyCAL isn't a terrible name. It's different. 2/9 and KTLA had "Sky XX." Plus "Chopper XX" or "Air XX" is a little stale. Lest we forget 7 SkyForce down in Miami?! There's mixed emotions as it relates to the new brand. I like it personally, as someone who was raised in SoCal. KCAL was definitely the stronger brand. Anyone remember when KTTV did KCOPs 11pm news with Carlos Amezcua and Christine Devine? The FOX management knew the FOX11 brand was stronger compared to KCOPs historically dead branding. KCBS/KCAL is doing something similar. Although the KCAL to KCOP comparison is apples to oranges as KCAL has historically had the stronger brand recognition.

FYI also aired what turned out to be a very discredited edition of Miss USA in October. Unless you are a pageant superfan, you would've never known it was on because FYI's budget is the same as A+E Network's budget for paper and cleaning supplies. And the only thing Viceland proved is that young people will not pay for content that's on YouTube for free. I just don't understand why AMC consolidates around that sole channel and just cut things down to AMC and BBC World News. All of their networks don't really have a focus; BBC America has pretty much made way for Acorn and Britbox, WEtv just seems to be a CSI outpost, and IFC/Sundance are down to the Independent Spirit Awards and a few rare great shows like Sherman's Showcase. I get more monthly out of my YouTube Premium subscription for $10.50 than I do for $150 of cable programming, which for me is basically sports, local news, a couple of talk shows I like, SNL, and some shows I just prefer to let accumulate on my DVR and watch later without commercials. Most of the time I just watch a local looping weather channel I can stream for free. YouTube allows me to shift from Animal Crossing to football to old commercials to news opens to highway content to product reviews to Strong Bad to MLM takedowns to fun LGBTQ+ content and then odd rabbitholes like 'why is there a big NO SMOKING sign on supertankers' and dopey drivers on drivecams. And there's no bean counter to stop me from mainlining Caillou grounded videos for an entire night (it's trainwreck content), with not a commercial in sight.

Yeah, but Liberty Mutual got to air "Limu Emu...and Doug" another two more times! All thanks to TVLand pitching and speeding up actual television programming! Another one of those crappy channels now is Logo. What used to be a network for the LGBT community is now tons of old sitcom reruns, probably pitched and sped up for commercials. Very few BBC-sourced shows on BBC America nowadays, it wasn't that way 20 years ago. FYI runs The King of Queens and Storage Wars reruns instead of what used to be biographical shows.

Oh CBS what a mess. I understand that the aim is for straightforward easily identifiable branding, but this is too wordy. " KCAL News at 11AM on CBS Los Angeles". When you have a name as a brand its more easily transferable. Example: Atlanta News First, it works on both WANF and WPCH. Then again this was tried already with "News Central". Maybe CBS should abandon standardized O&O branding and let individual stations do their own thing. The L3's look terrible, it screams streaming (which is probably the point). That's better. Local stations are really mix and match all over the place with anchor pairings, that it's confusing to tell what time you can see your preferred anchor.

Who anchored the noon? More equitable would be: A: 4am-7am B: 7am-10am C: 10am-11am, 11am-11:30am, 12Noon-1pm

why not just Team A: 4:30-7 am Team B: 7-9 am Team B: 9-11:30 am Part of scheduling is a predictable team line up.

It's ironic that in the writeup linked earlier, CBS claims that they're being minimalist and not wasting screen real estate, yet the bug is perhaps one of the largest bugs in the industry.

MTV Live also hasn't strayed from MTV's original purpose, except it also shows music-related programming in addition to a constant cycle of music videos, so there's a bit of variety, at least. After all, aside from FAST channels like Vevo Music, a traditional channel devoted to music videos only wouldn't fare too well nowadays, and that's what's causing MTV Classic to perform so poorly. But that's beside the point. What mrschimpf said is right. Nowadays, it's the norm to put on whatever programming you could and call it a day. No care. No variety. Nothing. Diginets are showing cable how it's done, and that should be the wake-up call for television itself. Forget the rerun farms. How about the channels basically running on autopilot? How many people would want to watch Science Channel anymore besides "How It's Made?" Exactly. And how about speeding up any pre-2014 program to the point that they're PAL-pitched? Yes, it's syndication, and yes, you have to attract those advertisers, but at the cost of just trying to watch the show normally? Paramount Global is the only company I know that is a huge offender of such a practice. Ever wondered why the "Everybody Loves Raymond" episodes sound a bit off on TV Land? This is why.

It's only the first day. You're going to see old logos here and there. Just like when the graphics launched this morning, we did not see the time/temp ticker on the bottom of the screen. Let them take the time to change the logos.

Has anyone noticed how channels like IFC, TLC and VH1 have become completely different than what they were 20 or even 30 years ago? They are nothing more than networks with different acronyms.

They put up a SIGN too for this "win"? From everyone's favorite site:

It’s the same music as KPIX. With the new graphics being rolled out, they’re discontinuing use of Enforcer at the CBS O&Os.

TWC is doing extended coverage of the west coast storm tonight, and instead of their own reporters, they are leaning heavily on their relationship with CBS News, featuring live field reports from both KCBS/KCAL (on their final night of the old branding) and from KPIX.

And here is a shining example of that, IMO: this WATE TV-6 Live Eyewitness News evening edition from 1986 (from that ABC station in Knoxville, TN), for Monday, March 31, 1986.

The peacock isn’t the problem there. The rest of the logo is. Local stations need to get with the times and update their logos instead of holding the networks back.

This issue with KCBS/KCAL is one hot mess.

The FCC approves event licenses for stadiums to broadcast radio audio on VHF channel 5, like the Packers do (they say you have to buy a 'special radio' but all you have to do is get a tuner like one that gets the Japanese band or an old Walkman with TV audio to listen to the 'stations' they air over the 6 MHz of channel 5). I don't understand why the FCC just doesn't abandon 5 and 6 for TV and expand the FM band. Outside a few TV stations in limited regions, it's not a good frequency for digital TV, but it would create a new land rush for radio, be it analog or digital-only...and it would please radio manufacturers (or car dealers that would re-program radios to get the expanded band).