MSNBC is being renamed after parent company Comcast spins the cable news channel off into a separate corporate entity later this year.
MSNBC 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.
In a memo obtained by the Times, Versant Chief Executive Mark Lazarus indicated it was Comcast’s decision to remove NBC and its famous peacock logo from the MSNBC name.
“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.”
One person familiar with the name change discussions said the re-branding will be backed by a significant marketing campaign.
The MS NOW acronym will convey that the channel has a point of view, as the acronym stands for “my source,” news, opinion and world.
MSNBC will no longer share the resources of NBC News. The network is building its own news organization from scratch, with some NBC News journalists such as Jacob Soboroff choosing to join the cable operation.
MSNBC will also be leaving NBC’s Rockefeller Plaza 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.
Versant is the new stand-alone home for nearly all of the current parent company Comcast’s cable networks, which includes 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 moniker that had become entrenched in the media culture.