MSNBC To Change Name To MS NOW Under Versant

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MSNBC will change its name to My Source News Opinion World (MS NOW) and unveil a new logo later this year as part of the cable news channel’s spinoff from the Comcast-owned media company NBCUniversal.

Comcast announced last year that it would spin off most of its cable television networks into a separate publicly traded company called Versant. The new company will include MSNBC and the financial news channel CNBC as well as the USA Network, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and the Golf Channel.

The branding changes represent Versant’s emphasis on “building our individual identity and vision for the future while laying a foundation for the continued growth and success of our businesses,” Versant CEO Mark Lazarus said in a memo to staff Monday morning.

“The peacock is synonymous with NBCUniversal, and it is a symbol they have decided to keep within the NBCU family,” Lazarus said. “This gives us the opportunity to charge our own path forward, create distinct brand identities, and establish an independent news organization following the spin.”

MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler said the network will not change editorial direction as it builds out its own newsgathering operation entirely separate from NBC News. (MSNBC launched in 1996 as a joint venture between NBC News and Microsoft.)

“While our name will be changing, who we are and what we do will not,” Kutler said in an internal memo. “Our commitment to our work and our audiences will not waiver from what the brand promise has been for three decades.”

The rebrand will be accompanied by a national marketing campaign “unlike anything we have done in recent memory,” Kutler said.

CNBC, for its part, will keep the acronym “Consumer News and Business Channel” but will debut a new logo without the peacock.

Comcast will retain NBCUniversal assets such as the NBC broadcast network, NBC News, NBC Sports, the streaming platform Peacock and the cable brand Bravo.

MSNBC Will Not Undergo A Name Change Once It Is Spun Off From Comcast

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 MSNBC will retain its name after it is spun off from Comcast along with other cable assets.

Mark Lazarus, who is leading the new company, told network staffers of the plans at a meeting today to announce the departure of Rashida Jones as the network’s president and the naming of Rebecca Kutler as interim leader, according to a network source.

“I know there was some discussion with the MSNBC name, so you can take that off of your worry list on things,” Lazarus said at the meeting.

Kutler also will be hiring a head of newsgathering and head of talent, Lazarus said. Throughout its history, MSNBC has drawn on correspondents and anchors from sister network NBC News, which will remain part of Comcast.

Lazarus said, “The only thing I’ll say is the worst thing any leader can do is change something that’s working just because they can. So, if this is working, then there’s no reason to change it.”

The spinoff, announced in November, is expected to take about a year to complete. It also will include USA Network, CNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel.

MSNBC launched in 1996 as a venture between NBC News and Microsoft. It had a heavy emphasis on the then-emerging internet, but its primetime eventually evolved into a progressive alternative to right-leaning Fox News.