MSNBC Exiled Network Forced to Drop ‘NBC’ and Cherished Peacock
he opportunity to chart our own path forward, create distinct brand identities, and establish an independent news organization following the spin,” he said.
Mr. Lazarus had previously reassured MSNBC’s rattled staff that they would get to keep the MSNBC name. That has suddenly changed. Mr. Lazarus now tells the Wall Street Journal that NBCUniversal decided against keeping the name to avoid “brand confusion” after it learned MSNBC would be covering both news and opinion. The spun-off MSNBC was always going to cover news as well as opinion.
MSNBC was founded in 1996 as a joint venture of NBC News and Microsoft. At the time, MSNBC was supposed to be a youth-friendly cable news network fully integrated with the nascent world wide web. It was not the liberal opinion network it has since become. In 2005, Microsoft divested itself from the cable network, but MSNBC retained the “MS” in its name.
Versant will be its own company, independent of Comcast. But the stripping of the NBC name is being announced before MSNBC becomes independent, and it could fight in the courts to keep its name.
MSNBC’s stars are putting a brave face on the name change. The top-rated MSNBC host, Rachel Maddow, told Variety she supports the decision and name change because “we’re not just separating from NBC News in corporate terms, we’re competing with them now. So I think the distinction is going to be good for us.”
Ms. Maddow, who is paid $25 million a year to work one day a week, added that some may like the new title because it is easier to remember than MSNBC.
A morning show co-host, Joe Scarborough, said he is “excited” about the name change.
However, the name change was widely mocked on social media.
A conservative commentator, Greg Price, wrote on X, “‘MS Now’ sounds like a Microsoft product that’s been discontinued since 1996.”
Journalist Yashar Ali shared the name change and, recognizing the ridicule it had inspired, informed his audience that it was “not a joke.”
MSNBC has largely relied on NBC News’s reporters to cover the White House, Congress, and breaking news events, while its hosts produced anti-Trump commentary. With the spin-off from NBC, the struggling network is building its own, separate newsgathering operation, hiring anti-Trump journalists such as Eugene Daniels from Politico and Carole Leonnig and Jackie Alemany from the Washington Post to be reporters and hosts.
Other far-left NBC News reporters, such as “immigration reporter” Jacob Soboroff, “justice and intelligence” reporter Ken Dilanian, and “disinformation reporter” Brandy Zadrosny, are moving to MSNBC full-time. Behind the scenes, some NBC News executives are also moving over in what are widely considered to be degrading demotions.
The loss of the NBC name and logo, which to a sizeable portion of the viewing audience still represents a certain level of credibility, serves as an indicator that the future of Versant could be as a vessel for cost-cutting and premortem maximalization of revenue.
