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To stream a newscast? Ha! No, it is not that costly at this point, especially considering how much stations are paying for affiliation and syndication fees. If you run it with ads, you can significantly offset the costs. I'd argue that this move by Nexstar is a shortsighted plan because they're effectively laying their own demise. As station groups ask for more money from retransmission fees, the cable subscription costs increase to compensate, decreasing the demand and driving up the retransmission fees, creating a no-win game for groups like this. In the attempt to drive dividends, they are not paying down debt (only the low interests rate) which will come due soon and force Nexstar into administration. Even once the Nexstars of the world are gone, the cable industry won't recover. It's a downward spiral and Nexstar is harming their viewership by not providing up to the minute information, especially as viewers have less access to local news.

So their strategy is let’s go all in on the KCAL branding only to change it a short time later? Sorry, doesn’t make sense.

This...

KCAL is a brand. WJZ, WBZ, WCCO and KDKA are also brands, but the latter three are brands now confused openly with radio stations which also still use those brands for their own purposes. (KCAL doesn’t have that problem because virtually no one confuses them with KCAL-FM in Redlands.) Call letters are not “meaningless” but they are increasingly unreliable in order to make your station stand out in a digital world. Same with “CBS 2” or “Fox 5” or “ABC 7” or “NBC 4”. KCAL AGAIN doesn’t have that problem BUT they have to reconcile their brand legacy with what has become a streamlined branding convention among CBS as a whole. That’s all there is to it. We aren’t talking about rocket surgery.

I'm pretty sure it has been like that since they've moved into 1A

I'm sure that the transition to "KCAL News", even if temporary, was thoroughly researched and discussed by people with a lot more information regarding the possible outcomes than we do. Things in this industry generally don't just happen without some kind of research or thought being put into it. We knew when the "white box" logos started showing up on the websites, that they were likely there to help transition stations who are well known by their callsigns to the new branding. I don't know why it's surprising that KCBS/KCAL chose to transition using the brand that's better liked/known instead of just ripping off the band-aid on "CBS News Los Angeles". (Also, WITI used the transitional "FOX is SIX/SIX is NEWS" branding for less than 6 months)

So call letters are meaningless, except in this instance where they are the stronger brand, but then maybe they’ll eventually drop the stronger brand anyway because that makes sense.

Because it’d be solving a problem that doesn’t exist. Rebranding KCBS as “CBS Los Angeles” makes the station easy to identify and distinguish. KCAL has been a news-heavy indie since Disney signed it on in 1989 and the brand was never de-emphasized under CBS ownership. KCAL’s news department (despite being one and the same as KCBS) has a better reputation and standing as Bill Applegate, quite frankly, dragged KCBS into the mud with a tabloid format that would put WSVN to shame, and they’ve never recovered from it. My hunch is that you’ll see the KCAL brand get slowly phased out over the next few months, if not a full year. It’s capitalizing on their existing brand equity while associating it with the “CBS Los Angeles” branding.

Ads for digital don’t even come close to regular broadcast, even if you can sell it many stations and groups can’t sell all slots and just put up slide saying that the newscast is in a commercial break. It’s kind of a lost cost at that point if the only way someone can watch you channel is by the website stream, at least with OTA they can watch your full network and syndicated programming and more importantly ads that you’re getting full price on. The reason I asked how many people that are streaming newscast, I know a station about 5 years ago, top-25 market dominant number 1 in all newscast, number 1 website beating the local newspaper and the web stream count was in the hundreds, the only time it would get in the thousands if there was breaking news or severe weather. Things have change from 5 years ago but I can’t imagine many advertisers rushing to get on a streaming product that can only average a couple hundred people.

With all the talk about NBC's late night future and Seth Meyers becoming Lorne's heir apparent at SNL, Studio 8G could open up, or they could redo 6A and eradicate the last traces of Megyn Kelly. New York would happily offer tax subsidies to support Kelly because there's no way she tapes at Stamford without making her and any guests extraordinary offers to deal with the drive up I-95 in a way Steve Wikos guests tolerate. I'm surprised it was Kelly who was open to it, though, probably because California's COL situation is overall painful, which is why she's in Montana when she can be.

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.

NBC continues to roll out it’s new on air branding centered around the new peacock, and we’ve got a new vanity card, which the network calls a “curtain raiser”, complete with the new logo, update chimes and animation. After seeing what they plan to do with the peacock animation and color variations, I really like the route they’ve gone with it, the new vanity card has some of that “in living color” vibe to it in my opinion and comes off less corporate-ish than the last one. Full article here: https://www.The Other Site.com/2022/12/30/nbc-rebranding-vanity-bug-snipe/ New vanity card:

KCAL has a strong news brand and KCBS has been a market laggard since the early 1990s (and again, they were an embarrassment under Applegate before that). It’s a net positive to have the stronger brand used over both stations. KCBS has nothing to lose by ceding their brand over this. Yet again, this is not complicated. I’m an armchair quarterback and I’ll never work in the industry. If I operated a television station it would fail in a matter of days, and I know it.

Extenuating circumstances as they were going through an ownership change. It definitely sounds like indecision and a rebrand, not brand evolution.

For this debate about how long a brand should last, WJW used the “ei8ht IS NEWS” name for 10 months, then hastily renamed themselves “Fox 8” after the network bought New World. (The newscasts went from “ei8ht IS NEWS” to “Fox 8 Is News” to “Fox 8 News” in less than a month.”) No one ever accused WJW of indecision. ei8ht IS NEWS lasted through three sweeps periods and a ton of promos incessantly intoning the brand.

The big problem overall is that "KCBS" has just become a jumbled mess ever since whichever guy at KNX-TV decided 'KCBS should be on our flagship station and we don't care that they've been on that San Fran station for decades'. It was the beginning of the end for channel 2's branding because for whatever reason, KCBS in SFO kept their call letters and come 2002, you had a brand manager's nightmare in LA where KCBS-TV, KCAL-TV, KNX, KFWB, and KCBS-FM all had different brands that never were united very well at all. KFWB eventually got shafted and KNX and KCBS-FM became Audacy properties (along with KCBS-FM), but it still left open that it's only in 2023 that CBSNS is getting around to finally one-branding their local news operation, a thing that should have been done either in 1984 when KNXT-TV became KCBS-TV, or in 2002 when KCAL because CBS-owned. At this point, stick with KCAL. CBS in LA=entertainment, sports or national news (the only thing that cares about KCBS-FM's calls is the FCC and PPM as it's 'Jack FM' to a normal person). KCBS may have been there longer, but KCAL has established themselves as a news brand.

My mom loves her show and would be sorry to see her go. But honestly, I hear she is so rude and nasty towards guests, staff, and fans - that I don't care either way.

what about copying their station in Atlanta do CNF Cleveland News First

Stations haven't invested in digital-first infrastructure to take advantage of streaming. And the fact that they only push linear content, not developing a microtargeted news platform is part of the overall trajectory issue of this industry.

Two adult coworkers began a relationship after separating from their spouses. It became publicized after a tabloid sent a photographer to spy on them. What lack of judgement? That they wanted their private life to remain private for the time being? Yes, let’s punish them for that.

I’m not defending what nextstar is doing but How many viewers do watch live streaming? And how much money do tv stations make off it? It’s very costly to stream, whatever the viewership was when a station was live streaming its going to drop now there’s a delay.

KCOP is now billing themselves as FOX 11 Plus.

6A would be the best bet. Lease out 8G to another production when Seth is wrapped. Clark's show really doesn't need the excess square footage that it's taking up at Universal right now. The plan to move the show to New York sounds like an economic plan to free up some soundstage space at Universal for movie/tv productions that are willing to pay more $$$ to use it. Also keep in mind that the summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028... that Universal space will be needed badly. If NBC doesn't use it in 2028, they'll gladly charge a pretty penny if a foreign broadcaster needs the space.

I had my doubts given past celebrity talk show failures but these two shows much like Kelly Clarkson have proven to be solid.

The ABC deal was what they needed to go down the line with the rest of their stations to know it's going on; depends on if Stegna General negotiates for KHOU, or if it's Coxpollo that'll have to do it and if they don't bite, there's still the possibility of Fox and Graham trying to make a better deal for their stations before ABC can try there. Now that we know things are a go in the biggest markets, it'll be interesting to see if some of the carriage aberrations like WSYT do have a renewal shot or if Imagicomm doesn't bother and shoves it off to Sinclair or Nexstar to replace it with The Bible Game or something. And if this new deal includes a much more streaming-friendly window for same-week or same-month replays while respecting existing station rights.

I wonder if they've been considering getting Robin Meade?

Most viewers probably don't care, they're turning on one channel or the other and see the same faces they usually do. Folks were complaining about "CBS News (city)" not being "unique" enough and whatever, and then when given "KCAL News" are upset about that. It's a good brand. It translates well cross-platform, and there's no other "KCAL News" out there. KCAL was seen as the stronger brand and there's nothing wrong with that.

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.

They have their own promotions producers in each market.

One thing I like that CBS started as the trend is not just minimalist deconstruction in their rebrand, but harkening back to previous eras in their rebrand. CBS had the most success in their rebrand, so much so that ABC copied them, and now NBC is following suit. If FOX didn't sell out to Disney, I would have totally seen the searchlights come back at some point.

I didn't mean like a refresh. Those are acceptable, especially when they're done right. I was talking about complete overhauls that just don't look good. You brought up WKYC, and while their current logo still doesn't look great, it looks better with the current graphics package.

For the 2013-2014 season, the peacock was slightly modified. The feathers were separated a little further apart, the peacock's beak was made a little bigger, and the NBC wordmark has a different font. But again, a fairly subtle change. They're not going to do something radical like the godawful trapezoid logo from the mid 70s.

It's a black circle with three letters in it. It isn't really that special of a logo, but I guess of course they're going to try and sell the change as new! fresh! and innovative!. There, I said it. Get back to me when NBC or CBS tries to change up the peacock or eye.

And to think some marketing firm made millions of dollars off of this.