Earlier this summer Warner Bros. Discovery announced it was splitting into two companies, one focused on streaming and new content, the other on TV networks they’re probably looking to sell. The division was modeled off the split Comcast revealed last November, in which they were keeping NBC Universal, NBC News, Peacock, and Bravo together, but moving other networks to a new company called Versant. The reassigned networks included USA, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and the Golf Channel, as well as CNBC and MSNBC who were assured they would keep their 30-odd-year brand names. I mean, after we all went through the inane merry-go-round of HBO to HBO Max to Max then back to HBO Max, it’d just be bone stupid for another network to do the same— Wait, what’s this now? MSNBC is changing its name after all? Indeed, they are. But don’t worry, the new brand name rolls right off the tongue: My Source News Opinion World, aka MS NOW. SOS.
The name change was ordered by NBC Universal, which last November spun off cable networks USA, CNBC, MSNBC, E! Entertainment, Oxygen and the Golf Channel into its own company, called Versant. None of the other networks are changing their name.
MSNBC got its name upon its formation in 1996, as a partnership then between Microsoft and NBC. Even back then, it was a puzzling moniker to many. But it stuck, even after the NBC partnership with Microsoft that produced it ended, and Versant CEO Mark Lazarus said in the initial days of the spinoff that it would stay, making Monday’s announcement an unexpected about-face.
Name changes always carry an inherent risk, and MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler said that for employees, it is hard to imagine the network under a different name. “This was not a decision that was made quickly or without significant debate,” she said in a memo to staff.
“During this time of transition, NBC Universal decided that our brand requires a new, separate identity,” she said. “This decision now allows us to set our own course and assert our independence as we continue to build our own modern newsgathering organization.”
Kutler said the network’s editorial direction will remain the same. “While our name will be changing, who we are and what we do will not,” she said.
Still, it’s noteworthy that the business channel CNBC is leaving “NBC” in its name. MSNBC argues that CNBC has always maintained a greater separation and, with its business focus, is less likely to cover many of the same topics.
The affiliation between a news division that stresses objectivity and one that doesn’t hide its liberal bent has long caused tension. President Donald Trump refers to the cable network as “MSDNC,” for Democratic National Committee. Even before the corporate change, NBC News has been reducing the use of its personalities on MSNBC.
…MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough revealed the network’s new logo on his show Monday morning. “It looks very sporty,” he said.
“It looks very sporty.” Thanks, Joe, but pray tell, what sport is the new logo giving? Cause I’m not seeing it! I find the new look rather dull, more like a deliberately oblique presentation designed to mask the sinister organization underneath. Which is not what I think of MSNBC at all! And I guess they were really hell bent on keeping the ‘MS’ beginning the same (despite both original ties to Microsoft and NBC now being severed), but breaking it up to ‘MS’ – space – the next three letters? I just hope they’re ready for all the outreach they’re gonna get from people who think they’re contacting a Multiple Sclerosis research organization.
But I suppose I should stop ragging on the (uninspired) rebranding choices made, given that the article clearly states OG NBC mandated the change. Which is where this all gets political, much like the CBS/Paramount+ merger with Skydance that offered up Stephen Colbert and The Late Show to the altar of Trump’s overtanned yet under-nourished thin skin. Why was this directive to rebrand only issued to MSNBC, and not their business sister CNBC? And for that matter, why not keep all the NBCs together? Or maybe I’m just being cynical and everyone sincerely wanted to give MSNBC a “sporty” rebirth.
PS — As of this writing, there has been no known custody arrangement/ruling made regarding Steve Kornacki. I think it’s only fair for him to walk us through the odds of where he’ll go through a demonstration at the big board.
I remember when the MS stood for Microsoft.
The logo looks like they let an intern loose on Canva.
It 100% sounds like a new Microsoft application that will get bundled into Microsoft 365 and no one uses.
Will know one stand up for Democracy?
Lipstick, meet Miss Piggy.
The inclusion of opinion in the news will maybe prove the downfall of humanity.
I think the GOP owners steering all coverage to be obsequious towards the GOP will probably be the downfall of our country. And if they’d appropriately tagged opinion – as Rachel Maddow does when she says she has a theory but doesn’t have the facts to fully prove it – we’d be fine. It’s when people’s editorializing masquerades as “news” as at fox that we go awry.
Call me crazy, but I think journalists have no real business offering opinions on, say, politics and economics. They’re journalists. They’re not experts. Their opinions just aren’t that valuable compared to those of experts. I’ll take Paul Krugman’s opinion on the economy, not Anderson Cooper’s.
And I do think this trend has devalued expert opinion. So now we swim in a sea of propaganda, with many listeners unable to differentiate between opinion and fact, or informed opinion shaped by years of study vs. one delivered via the propaganda machine.
Journalists have always offered their opinions though–editorial boards literally shape the viewpoints expressed in any given publication. A lot of folks don’t realize how much influence these people have on what does/doesn’t get published and that’s everything from opinion pieces to war coverage.
That lack of transparency is what’s bothersome to me–not the fact that they have opinions like the rest of us.
That was my first thought! “Opinion” has no place in there. If I wanted opinions instead of facts I’d watch Fox.
Even an AI prompt could generate multiple suggestions for a name that would be better than this word salad. What demographic do they think would want to tune in?
Yeah but the lack of opinion will kill us as well. The NYT, WaPo, CNN and major media outlets all tip-toeing around Trump, terrified to end up on his bad side and subject to years of litigation isn’t great either.
Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Edward R Murrow etc were never scared to call a spade a spade. Now we have to endure endless MSM sane-washing of this administration in addition to the Both Sides madness. This pathological obsession with objectivity has morphed into cowardly self-censorship which hurts Americans just as much as the propaganda outlets IMO.
For now, I’ll continue to support independent media outlets. They are proving to be sane space where journalists aren’t so scared of being labeled “bias” that they can’t say the unvarnished truth.
MSNBC gave their opinions all throughout the election. Thats why so many of their viewers ended up totally shocked by Trump’s win in the first place. Kamala literally lost every single swing state.
MSNBC also provided cover for Biden that is why when he had that awful debate performance everyone freaked out . They were like and arm of the DNC just like fox is just another wing of the Republican party
?? But I didn’t name MSNBC as an example of main stream media that’s scared to say the truth? I was pretty specific in naming MSM publications and media sources that claim to be unbiased but always couch their language when describing the atrocities being committed by the Trump administration.
I don’t think MSNBC ever fell into that category–they were always pretty explicitly left-leaning. It does appear that they’ll be falling in line with the others and capitulating to Trump now. Make no mistake: the corporations that own these news sources have only ever cared about their bottom line. If litigation from Trump costs them more than losing viewership, they’ll make a financially strategic decision every time.
Is MS (multiple sclerosis) not called MS in the US? That’s how I read it.
I know motor neurone disease is referred to as ASL.
It’s called MS here too.
It’s ALS–amyotrophic lateral sclerosis–or Lou Gehrig’s disease, in the States. And yes, re MS.
Yes. I too would choose a new name that could quickly be shortened to MS NO.
This is their gambit to pivot hard, stupid right.
I saw a 30 Rock meme wherein Jack Donaghy renamed it to “Ms. NOW.” “Lemon, I’m sick of MSNBC.”
I thought Oxygen became OWN.
Nah, Oxygen is still around and not OWN. Source: I got laid off in June and I’ve been watching a lot of true crime. And Oxygen is all true crime. 24/7 of Dateline, Buried in the Backyard, Cold Justice, etc. Is this healthy? Probably not. But again. see the ‘layoff’ part of that sentence.
I don’t have cable and to show you how long its been, Oxygen was ‘the women’s channel’. But then I vaguely recall Bravo and A&E being highbrow channels.
Aw, @schmootc, take care! May I suggest baby elephant videos? They’re addictive!
Since the election, and my boycott of MSNBC* (Joe and Mika are DEAD TO ME), I have watched Oxygen hours a day, every day. I sprinkle HGTV and Hallmark in as palate cleansers. Also, rescue dog and cooking videos on IG.
True crime, I find, gives me a reason to rage that doesn’t reflect our current reality, so I think it’s a LITTLE healthy for that reason.
*I boycotted CNN looooong ago, and started watching MCNBC instead. Then, they too totally let us down.
Not good!!
Way to shoot yourself in the foot
Support your local NPR station folks , they need it and we need them
After DECADES of BS 🤬 “bothsiderism” while low-key caping for fascists…MS whateva deserve WHATEVA they get😡
Yeah, I’m with you on that!
The way this rebrand went through 534535 rounds of revisions, had to be signed off on by dozens of high-powered people, and cost MILLIONS of dollars, and this is what they came up with…
Steve Kornacki has moved to NBC.
I can’t help but think this is the beginning of the end for this network. Can’t those of us who lean forward have something we can watch to be informed?? One thing?
Some More News on YouTube. It’s like The Daily Show, but with more furious honesty.
@Diane L
Try Heather Cox Richardson on FB and YouTube.
She’s a historian, documenting what’s going on in this mess since the first Felon47 term. She’s increasingly moving into video.
Blindingly smart, careful with her facts, and patriotic in the good old fashioned way — she loves this country but is never blind to our flaws, and will always hold America to account.
Thanks, I hate it.
Ms. Now???? 🤦♀️
Christ.That is not appealing.