Former L.A. MyNetworkTV station rebrands under ‘Fox Plus’ name

Los Angeles’ KCOP, which was once billed as a MyNetworkTV station, has rebranded under a variation of its Fox-affiliated sister station.

KCOP is now known on air as “Fox 11 Plus,” a reference to the branding used by KTTV, which is the Fox-owned station in the market.

The station’s updated logo includes the familiar Fox wordmark with an arrow-like container tucked into the “X” that includes a smaller version of the “11” mark in a reversed out circle and the word “Plus” spelled out. The right side of this element boasts a rounded cap; the KCOP calls and city of licensure can be placed beneath (the 13 also still appears in the FCC-mandated station identification).

The design notably drops any reference to the station’s virtual channel number 13, instead opting to use the more familiar “11” of KTTV.

In some ways, the move is similar to another L.A. TV branding change — KCBS taking on the KCAL name for its newscasts — in that it appears to throw out conventional thinking that channel numbers or call letters used in on-air branding must match. 

It also flies in the face of the notion that stations must brand under the network name with which they are affiliated.

KCOP isn’t the first Fox-owned station to use this “plus” branding. It’s used in the Twin Cities market for WFTC, which brands as “Fox 9+” (using the plus sign rather than spelling out the word) after KMSP, and Washington, D.C.’s WDCA, which is known as “Fox 5 Plus” after WTTG. 

There are also a slate of small-market stations that brand under “The CW Plus” and carry a distinct feed from the primary CW network.

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The “plus” branding scheme is often more widely associated with streaming services, with numerous ones, including Apple TV+, Discovery+ and Paramount+ using the schema.

While going with the “plus” branding runs the risk that consumers might think that Fox 11 Plus is yet another streaming service, it also serves as a way to note that the channel is linked to KTTV and, potentially, that it is an “add-on” to that station’s programming. 

Bringing the station under the localized version of the Fox brand also opens up opportunities for the KCOP to start more seamlessly feature programming branded under the Fox name.

For example, it already carries a simulcast of digital network Fox Weather for an hour on weekdays and two hours Sundays. It could also make it cleaner for the station to carry Fox 11-branded newscasts — either simulcasts or original productions — in the future, though the station did not announce any such plans as of January 2023.

KCOP was previously known under various names, including simply “Channel 13” in 2006. After becoming a MyNetworkTV affiliate later in 2006 it became known as “MyNetworkTV Channel 13” for about a year.

At this point, it switched to “My13 Los Angeles,” following the branding format of many then-MyNetworkTV affiliated stations at the time. 

As MyNetworkTV faltered and eventually transitioned to simply a programming service, KCOP rebranded as “KCOP 13” in 2021. 

While MyNetworkTV failed to materialize in its goal to become a full-fledged network, its future as a brand remains unclear.

In markets where Fox does not own stations, for example, it could prove awkward to brand the MyNetworkTV station with a “Fox Plus” name because two separate companies could own each station.

It’s possible, however, that Fox could maintain the “MyNetworkTV” name (or some variation of it) for those cases but encourage the switch to the “plus” banner wherever possible. 

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