Former LA MyNetworkTV station rebrands as “Fox Plus”

KCOP in Los Angeles, which was branded as a MyNetworkTV station, was rebranded beneath a wide range of Fox affiliate stations.

KCOP is now recognized on the air as “Fox 11 Plus”, a reference to the branding utilized by KTTV, the market’s Fox-owned station.

The station’s up to date emblem consists of the acquainted Fox wordmark with an arrow-like container tucked into an “X” that features a smaller model of the “11” in a circle mirrored outwards and the phrase “Plus” spelled out. The proper aspect of this merchandise incorporates a spherical cap; KCOP and metropolis of license calls will be positioned beneath it (the quantity 13 nonetheless additionally seems within the FCC’s station identification).

The design considerably drops any reference to the station’s default channel 13, as a substitute opting to make use of the extra acquainted “11” on KTTV.

In some methods, the transfer is much like one other LA TV model change — KCBS carries the KCAL identify on its newscasts — in that it appears to remove from the normal considering that channel numbers or name letters utilized in on-air branding ought to match.

It additionally ran counter to the notion that stations ought to be branded beneath the identify of the community they belong to.

KCOP will not be the primary Fox-owned station to make use of this “plus” branding. It’s utilized in WFTC’s Twin Cities market, branded “Fox 9+” (utilizing the plus signal as a substitute of spelling the phrase) after KMSP, and Washington, D.C.’s WDCA, generally known as “Fox 5 Plus” after WTTG.

There may be additionally a slate of small market stations branded “The CW Plus” that carry a featured feed from The CW’s core community.

The “plus” branding scheme is commonly extensively related to streaming providers, with a number of providers, together with Apple TV+, Discovery+, and Paramount+ utilizing the scheme.

Whereas utilizing the “plus” branding, there’s a threat that customers might consider Fox 11 Plus as one other streaming service, it additionally serves as a approach to point out that the channel is affiliated with KTTV, doubtlessly as an “add-on” to that station’s programming .

Bringing the station beneath the native model of the Fox model additionally opens up alternatives for KCOP to start smoother programming beneath the Fox identify.

For instance, it already carries a digital Fox Climate simulcast for an hour on weekdays and two hours on Sundays. It may additionally make it cleaner for the station to hold Fox 11-branded newscasts—both simulcasts or authentic productions—sooner or later, although the station has not introduced any such plans as of January 2023.

KCOP was beforehand recognized by numerous names, together with “Channel 13” in 2006. After changing into a MyNetworkTV affiliate later in 2006, it grew to become generally known as “MyNetworkTV Channel 13” for a few 12 months.

At this level, it switched to “My13 Los Angeles”, following the trademark format of many MyNetworkTV affiliate stations on the time.

With MyNetworkTV faltering and finally transitioning to easily a programming service, KCOP rebranded as “KCOP 13” in 2021.

Whereas MyNetworkTV failed to attain its objective of changing into a totally fledged community, its future as a model stays unclear.

In markets the place Fox doesn’t personal stations, for instance, it may be awkward to model a MyNetworkTV station as “Fox Plus” as a result of two separate firms can personal every station.

Nevertheless, it’s attainable for Fox to maintain the “MyNetworkTV” identify (or some variation of it) for these circumstances, however encourage switching to the “plus” banner the place attainable.