What’s in the name? MSNBC will soon find out on November 15th.
The cable news station will be spun off from NBCUniversal in the coming months and become part of a new publicly traded company called Versant, which will change its name to MS NOW in mid-November. This strategy was done because NBCUniversal believed that a potential rival should not bear the “NBC” mark. MSNBC has shared reporting resources with NBC News for years, but will no longer do so.
Rebecca Kutler, the network’s president, said in a memo to staff that the name change “comes after many months of careful planning and thoughtful collaboration from all corners of the organization.” “We are tackling this issue head-on and our success in the months and years ahead will depend on our innovation and entrepreneurial approach.”
To ensure viewers understand, the network is launching a marketing campaign to remind viewers that the news brand and overall channel remain the same. “Same mission. New name” would serve as a kind of slogan for the switch. It’s probably more practical than other slogans MSNBC has used over the years, like “This Is Who We Are,” “Lean Forward,” or “The Place for Politics.” In one of the promos released for preview, Rachel Maddow tells viewers that the network may change the title, but doesn’t say what they will do to viewers.
Sure, MS NOW may look a little different than MSNBC. The network built its own reporting staff, hiring reporters and producers from the Washington Post, NBC News, Politico, Bloomberg and others. Viewers over the past few weeks may have noticed the focus on luring newsmakers into interviews early in the story’s news cycle. MSNBC has also been working to cultivate Republican guests, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Sen. John Thune, the majority leader.
In addition to staffing its own Washington bureau, MSNBC struck an agreement with Sky News to make Sky News’ international affairs coverage available to MSNBC viewers in the United States.
Changing the name of a long-standing media institution can be risky. Warner Bros. Discovery recently discovered that dubbing its streaming service, which has had a long association with HBO, under the name “Max” is at a disadvantage in terms of brand recognition, especially since many of Max’s most popular services are HBO shows. Over the years, Paramount changed the name and mission of the cable station now known as Paramount Network, then Nashville Network, National Network and Spike TV, but each overhaul hurt the company’s brand across the media market.
Executives hope viewers will embrace the new MS NOW nomenclature and remember that the letters stand for “News, Opinion, and the World’s Source.”
