MSNBC is being renamed after parent company Comcast spins the cable news channel off into a separate corporate entity later this year.
The left-leaning channel will be known as MS NOW once it becomes part of Versant, a new company, and is no longer associated with NBC News, staffers were told Monday.
“Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough informed viewers of the pending change on his program.
“This shows we’re independent,” Scarborough said. “I’m excited.”
In a memo obtained by The Times, Versant Chief Executive Mark Lazarus indicated it was NBCUniversal’s decision to remove NBC and its famous peacock logo from the MSNBC name.
The MS NOW acronym — standing for “my source, news, opinion and world” — is intended to convey that the channel has a point of view.
“The peacock is synonymous with NBCUniversal, and it is a symbol they have decided to keep within the NBCU family,” Lazarus wrote. “This gives us the opportunity to chart our own path forward, create distinct brand identities, and establish an independent news organization following the spin.”
The rebranding will be backed by a significant marketing campaign, said one person familiar with the name change discussions who was not authorized to comment.
MSNBC will no longer share the resources of NBC News. The network is building its own news organization, with some NBC News journalists such as Jacob Soboroff choosing to join the cable operation.
MSNBC will also be leaving NBC’s Rockefeller Center headquarters for another Manhattan location.
Key MSNBC personalities such as Scarborough, Rachel Maddow, Ari Melber and Lawrence O’Donnell will remain a part of the channel after the spinoff. The network will retain a politically progressive slant in its commentary.
Initially, Versant executives told employees that the MSNBC name would be retained at the new company. But a memo from NBCUniversal Chief Operating Officer Adam Miller said that the change is necessary to avoid any confusion between NBC News and MSNBC as they operate separately.
“This will be especially important as NBC News and MS NOW continue to cover the same news events, but without the joint operations they have shared for so many years,” Miller said.
The relationship between NBC News and MSNBC has been fraught since the cable network moved deeper into progressive political commentary 20 years ago, when Keith Olbermann emerged as its signature prime-time on-air talent.
MSNBC has long been the electronic hearth for viewers opposed to the policies and behavior of President Trump.
Over time, even-handed Washington NBC News journalists, such as Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell, who appeared on MSNBC were subjected to online scorn from the network’s left-leaning fans.
When NBC News tried to hire former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel as a contributor, MSNBC hosts publicly led the revolt over the hiring. The MSNBC hosts blasted the hiring because of McDaniel’s defense of Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election, and the NBC News job offer was rescinded.
Versant is the new stand-alone home for most of Comcast’s cable networks, including USA Network, the Golf Channel, CNBC and MSNBC. Comcast is spinning off the cable networks because it believes the mature outlets face a bleak future due to pay TV cord-cutting and are an albatross weighing down its stock price.
MSNBC, the second most watched cable news channel behind leader Fox News, has seen its reach into pay TV homes decline by 33% over the last 10 years.
MSNBC was founded in 1996 as a joint venture between NBC News and Microsoft. A name change was considered when Microsoft divested its stake in 2005, but NBC stuck with the “MS” moniker that had become entrenched in the media culture.
