MSNBC will rebrand as MS NOW as part of its split from NBC News.
MSNBC is rebranding as MS NOW following its split from NBC News, parent company Comcast announced. The change, expected later this year, comes as Comcast spins off its cable channels into a new company called Versant.
“This new branding underscores our mission: to serve as a destination for breaking news and best-in-class opinion journalism,” MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler said in a memo.
Launched in 1996 as a partnership between Microsoft and NBC, the channel retained its name even after Microsoft exited. But decades of brand confusion between MSNBC and NBC News intensified as MSNBC’s primetime programming shifted left while NBC News maintained a more traditional tone.
Versant CEO Mark Lazarus confirmed that NBCUniversal will retain the iconic peacock logo, meaning MS NOW will debut with new branding.
Kutler said the move gives the network “a new, separate identity” while assuring staff that “our commitment to our audiences will not waiver from what the brand promise has been for three decades.”