Why do so many different TV stations use the circle with a 7 in the middle as their logo?

March 18, 2009 9:51 AM

Why do so many different TV stations use the circle with a 7 in the middle as their logo? I'm wondering how so many different businesses can use the same logo. Are all the stations that use it ABC affiliates? Does the logo signify some sort of collaboration among the stations that use it?

My hometown ABC affiliate's logo is a circle with a 7 in the middle. The Internet has shown me that many other stations across the country have the exact same logo.

I'm wondering how so many different businesses can use the same logo. Are all the stations that use it ABC affiliates? Does the logo signify some sort of collaboration among the stations that use it?

Or is it just a snappy symbol that lots of stations use and has somehow not been copyrighted? I know a circle with a 7 in the middle is pretty basic, but it seems like all the stations use almost the exact same one.

posted by Bud Dickman to media & arts (10 comments total)

There's a Wikipedia article about the Circle 7 logo. Basically, it was used by ABC owned-and-operated stations as a consistent corporate identity.
posted by zsazsa at 10:03 AM on March 18 [1 favorite]

I can't say for sure, but I'd be willing to bet that is definitely a copyrighted logo in use only by local ABC affiliates.
posted by Venadium at 10:05 AM on March 18

Well, there you go. I guess I would have lost that bet.
posted by Venadium at 10:07 AM on March 18

Yes, they are, where ABC affiliates uses "channel 7." Not all of them do, though: http://abc.go.com/site/localstations.html

They are using it to signify they are part of the "ABC" brand and the circle logo. For example, CBS affiliates would use the "eye" logo, and NBC affiliates might use the "peacock" logo.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:10 AM on March 18

Because they're O&O's (staions that are owned and operated by the network).
posted by Zambrano at 10:59 AM on March 18

stations
posted by Zambrano at 11:00 AM on March 18

Strange, my local channel 7 never has been affiliated with ABC, and they still use that logo.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 11:12 AM on March 18

Strange, my local channel 7 never has been affiliated with ABC, and they still use that logo.

From zsazsa's linked Wikipedia article:

"The Circle 7 logo is one of the most classic and familiar television station logos in the United States. Designed in the early 1960s for the ABC Television Network's five owned and operated stations (O&Os), the logo, or a version of it, is currently being used not only by ABC stations and affiliates, but also by a number of TV broadcasters around the world....List of non-ABC stations using the circle 7 logo."

posted by ericb at 12:25 PM on March 18

It's not just 7's. Channel 13 KTRK here in Houston is ABC-owned, and it has virtually the same logo with a 13.

However, this page indicates that your Amarillo station is owned by Barrington Broadcasting whose HQ is in Illinois. I had thought that Amarillo might be too small a market to have an O&O station, and that appears to be the case.
posted by Robert Angelo at 12:32 PM on March 18

It's not just 7's. Channel 13 KTRK here in Houston is ABC-owned, and it has virtually the same logo with a 13.

Also, from zsazsa's linked Wikipedia article:

"Similarly, some stations that do not broadcast on channel 7 have used a variation of this logo adapted for their channel number (w/list)."

posted by ericb at 1:18 PM on March 18