I had no idea MSNBC and NBC News broke up!
In November, Comcast announced it would create a publicly traded company with NBCUniversal networks: USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and Golf Channel.
Versant will become the parent stand-alone home of those cable networks.
MSNBC will be known as MS NOW: My Source for News, Opinion, and the World.
When the spinoff was first announced last winter, executives signaled that MSNBC would be keeping its name. But “during this time of transition, NBCUniversal decided that our brand requires a new, separate identity,” Kutler wrote in her memo. “This decision now allows us to set our own course and assert our independence as we continue to build our own modern newsgathering operation.”“While our name will be changing, who we are and what we do will not,” she added. “Our commitment to our work and our audiences will not waiver from what the brand promise has been for three decades.”
The split also means MS Now won’t rely on any NBC News resources or remain at Rockefeller Center.
That explains why the network has been hiring many people lately.
Versant will not change CNBC’s name because it stands for “Consumer News and Business Channel.”
However, all of the companies will stop using NBC and its peacock.
Variety mentioned “that Wall Street thinks linear cable channels can’t be revived, given that the subscriber base for cable is shrinking every year as more households cut the cord and younger families never sign up.”
I do not know if that is true. I’m getting fed up with having to pay for different subscription services. Granted, many have been merging. It’s harder to flip between sporting events, too.
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