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CNBC will separate from MSNBC.
For three decades, news and progressive opinion on the cable dial has been defined by five capital letters: MSNBC. By the end of this year, a couple of those letters are changing.
As part of a corporate spinoff from Comcast, MSNBC is changing its name to My Source News Opinion World, or MS NOW for short. The name is meant to reflect the channel’s mission to provide “breaking news and best-in-class opinion journalism,” Rebecca Kutler, MSNBC’s president, said in a memo to employees on Monday.
“I want to acknowledge that for many of you who have spent years or decades here, it is hard to imagine the network by any other name,” Ms. Kutler said. “This was not a decision that was made quickly or without significant debate.”
Most of the cable channels that were part of Comcast’s NBCUniversal TV empire are being spun out this year into a new company called Versant. The spinoff will require the new company to stop using the NBC brand and its signature Peacock, which are both staying with Comcast, said Mark Lazarus, chief executive of Versant.
