Sports coverage
Channel 13 served as the broadcast home of the Los Angeles Marathon from its inception in 1986 until 2001, the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers from 1991 to 1996,[23] MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers from 2002 to 2005, MLB's Los Angeles Angels from 2006 to 2019 and since 2021, MLS's Los Angeles FC from 2021 to 2022 and the NHL's Anaheim Ducks since 2024.
Like many local stations in the earlier years of television, KCOP hosted its own weekly Studio Wrestling show for many years during the 1970s. Stars such as Freddie Blassie, John Tolos, Rocky Johnson, André the Giant and The Sheik headlined the shows, with longtime local announcer Dick Lane behind the microphone calling the action.[24] In later years, pro wrestling returned to KCOP by way of WWE's secondary flagship television program Smackdown!, which aired on the station from 1999 to 2006 (as a UPN affiliate) and again from 2008 to 2010 (as a MyNetworkTV O&O). In the past, Channel 13 also aired other wrestling programs, including World Class Championship Wrestling and the NWA. Channel 13 also televised live boxing matches, originating from the Grand Olympic Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles, on and off from the late 1960s until as recently as the mid-1990s, with legendary Los Angeles sportscaster Jim Healy calling the action in the early years.[25]
From 2005 to 2007, KCOP carried St. Louis Rams preseason games produced by now-former corporate siblings Fox Sports Midwest and KTVI. Back in the 1950s during the team's early years in Los Angeles, the station broadcast many Rams regular season games before NFL games became more exclusive to the major broadcast networks (such as CBS, NBC and DuMont). However, in July 2008, the NFL's broadcast committee decided to no longer allow teams to broadcast preseason games beyond even their secondary markets. This was done more so to protect the league's broadcast partners, including KCBS-TV and KTLA, the respective local broadcasters of San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders preseason games.[26]
From 2006 to 2011, KCOP held the broadcast television rights to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball; the team and Fox Sports West (now FanDuel Sports Network West) signed a 20-year broadcast deal beginning with the 2012 season, making 150 annual Angels telecasts exclusive to Fox Sports West, with select games airing on Prime Ticket (now FanDuel Sports Network SoCal), although KCOP still serves as an occasional overflow outlet. In the 2021 MLB season, KCOP was scheduled to air at least four Angels games due to delays in the NBA and NHL seasons caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[27] In 2022, 2023 and 2024, KCOP carried one spring training game between the Angels and the Dodgers featuring the Angels broadcasters.[28][29][30] In 2025, KCOP and the Angels announced that 12 Sunday games would be simulcast on KCOP and FanDuel Sports Network West. That package would be the largest amount of Angels games to air on the station since 2011.[31]
Due to its previous common ownership with Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket, KCOP served as an overflow channel for Bally Sports West and Bally Sports SoCal.[33][34] During the 2011–12 season, KCOP aired Game 6 of the Clippers playoff series versus the Memphis Grizzlies on May 11.[35] Over-the-air coverage of the Clippers moved to KTLA prior to the 2022–23 season;[36] Kings over-the-air coverage moved to KCAL-TV prior to the 2023–24 season.[37]
During the 2017 NFL season, KCOP aired two Los Angeles Chargers home games as an overflow for the NFL on Fox during weeks when CBS had the doubleheader, but the Los Angeles Rams were on KTTV.[38]
In 2021, KCOP announced an agreement with Los Angeles FC of Major League Soccer to broadcast select matches alongside Bally Sports SoCal.[39] In 2022, KCOP expanded its agreement to air games previously aired by Bally Sports.[40] LAFC games moved exclusively to MLS Season Pass prior to the 2023 season. However, in February 2025, KCOP aired LAFC, LA Galaxy and Angel City FC matches from the Coachella Valley Invitational preseason tournament.[41] In April 2025, KCOP announced a new agreement with LAFC to air encore matches on Tuesday nights.[42]
On August 27, 2024, the Ducks announced that they would not renew their contract with Bally Sports, and would partner with both KCOP-TV and the Dallas Stars' free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) platform Victory+ to air all of its regional games, beginning in the 2024–25 NHL season. Selected games will air on KTTV.[43][44][45]
News operation
For many years, KCOP aired a prime time newscast at 10 p.m., as well as a weekday afternoon newscast at 2 p.m. during the late 1970s and early 1980s. During the 1980s, the station paired its local 10 p.m. program with the syndicated Independent Network News (which was produced by New York City's WPIX). Channel 13's news programs generally were the lowest-rated evening newscasts of the seven VHF television stations in the Los Angeles market. The newscast's length varied from 30 minutes to an hour depending on the station's budget. An ambitious attempt to relaunch KCOP's news operation came in January 1993, when the 10 p.m. newscast was renamed Real News and introduced a new format that featured anchors moving around the station's newsroom (similar to the format pioneered by CITY-TV in Toronto), in-depth reports, and newsmagazine elements.[46][47] However, the new format, which accompanied technological improvements and an expansion of the news staff,[46][47] did not pay off in the ratings, and Real News was scaled back to a half-hour on weeknights in May 1994, with the anchors now seated at a desk, with weekend newscasts being cut entirely.
