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.
