On March 1, 2017, KSBI began to rebrand itself under the "News 9 Plus" moniker, serving as a branding extension of KWTV, while continuing to focus largely on entertainment programming. Griffin Communications CEO David Griffin said that the rebranding of channel 52 was designed to "help create a more inclusive and consistent identity for all of our programming". The change mirrored similar rebrandings made by Fox Television Stations around this timeframe for that group's MyNetworkTV O&Os and independent stations in markets where Fox operates a duopoly.