Tribune's WSFL Rebrands in Miami

Playing up entertainment fare, including CW and vintage subchannel

By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/10/2012 3:43:30 PM

WSFL, Tribune's CW affiliate in Miami, has kicked off a rebranding designed to trumpet the station as a home for entertainment programming. With the station no longer offering local newscasts, WSFL is downplaying, to a degree, its affiliation with Tribune sibling newspaper Sun Sentinel in the new branding.

"It's a new logo, a new look, a new brand," Howard Greenberg, WSFL general manager and president/publisher/CEO of the Sun Sentinel, told B&C. "It's a different marketing image to our marketing collateral."

The station is promoting itself as a place for viewers to "escape, kick back and enjoy", while also reminding them  that multicast channels This TV and Antenna TV are part of WSFL's offerings in DMA No. 16. The previous branding had the station, along with the Sun Sentinel and their websites, as part of a joint "SFL" entity.

"We want the look and the brand to match what we are," said Greenberg. "We tried to tie together print, online and broadcast before. In retrospect, print is a little too serious for 'kick back and enjoy.'"

WSFL debuted the splashy morning program South Florida.com/Live in the spring of 2009, but pulled the plug on it last year. Prior to that, it ran a 10 p.m. news produced by WTVJ, but discontinued that. The station adds local inserts to its Eye Opener morning program, and does news updates from its Sentinel sibling throughout the day.

The new website is at  SFLTV.net. Tribune is touting the rebranding with outdoor and print ads, as well as online and on air.

"We decided we need our own brand and own identity again," said Greenberg.