MSNBC Officially Changing Name As Viewership Declines
MSNBC is rebranding itself amid an ongoing cable news war that has seen declining viewership for the left-wing network.
The 24-hour cable news network, originally launched in 1996 as a joint venture between NBC and Microsoft, announced Monday that it is rebranding following its spinoff from NBCUniversal.
The new name: My Source News Opinion World — abbreviated as MS NOW, Mediaite reported.
A press release announcing the rebrand noted that NBCU had initially allowed MSNBC to retain its name following the Comcast spin-off, which also owns NBC News. However, executives later concluded it would be awkward for a competitor to carry branding so closely resembling that of its flagship broadcast network.
Mark Lazarus, CEO of Versant — the new parent company of MSNBC and CNBC — explained the decision in a memo.
“During this time of transition, NBCUniversal decided that our brands require a new, separate identity. This decision now allows us to set our own course and assert our independence as we continue to build our own modern newsgathering operation,” he wrote.
He also said that the famed NBC Peacock trademark would not be following MS NOW.
“The future of our success is not tied to remaining within the NBC family and using the peacock as part of our identity,” he added. “As we all know, the peacock is synonymous with NBCUniversal, and it is a symbol they have decided to keep within the NBCU family.”
“This gives us the opportunity to chart our own path forward, create distinct brand identities, and establish an independent news organization following the spin,” Lazarus said.
The company confirmed that CNBC will retain its name, reportedly due to contractual obligations — a detail that may be seen as either inconvenient or fortunate, depending on perspective. However, like MSNBC, it will adopt a new logo without the iconic peacock, to be revealed at a later date.
In a separate memo, MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler hinted at an upcoming promotional campaign for the rebrand, describing it as “unlike anything we have done in recent memory.”
She also offered some reassurances about the direction of the company following the spin-off.
“While our name will be changing, who we are and what we do will not,” she wrote, indicating that the network will remain far-left. “Our commitment to our work and our audiences will not waiver from what the brand promise has been for three decades.”
Earlier this summer, host Rachel Maddow got some more bad news after she criticized her network following the firing of race-baiting host Joy Reid, the demotion of fill-in host Alex Wagner, and the promotion of former President Joe Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
Her criticism comes on the heels of the network revealing that Reid’s and Wagner’s shows would be canceled as part of a broader effort to revamp its programming, with weekend shows hosted by Katie Phang, Jonathan Capehart, and Ayman Mohyeldin also being scrapped.
“She is leaving the network altogether and that is very, very, very hard to take. I am 51 years old,” Maddow said during a show segment in February regarding Reid. “I have been gainfully employed since I was 12 and I have had so many different kinds of jobs, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“But in all of the jobs I have had in all of the years I have been alive, there is no colleague for whom I have had more affection and more respect than Joy Reid,” Maddow said.
“I love everything about her. I have learned so much from her. I have so much more to learn from her,” Maddow continued. “I do not want to lose her as a colleague here at MSNBC, and personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let her walk out the door. It is not my call and I understand that. But that’s what I think.”
