MSNBC transformed into the newly named MS NOW on Saturday morning, as the network splits from parent company Comcast.
“Don’t adjust your settings,” Jonathan Capehart, co-host of The Weekend, told viewers shortly after 7 a.m. ET, from studios in Washington. “We are formerly MSNBC. As of this moment, we have a new name, MS NOW, which stands for My Source for News Opinion and the World. But other than that, and these snazzy new graphics, not much is changing. Bottom line: Same mission, new name.”
Moments earlier, viewers saw Morning Joe Weekend host Willie Geist sign off for the final time under the MSNBC name, with a shot of the NBC Peacock logo.
MS NOW has been preparing for this moment since last year, when Comcast announced that it would be spinning off MSNBC along with other cable networks into a new company, later named Versant. MS NOW has built up its own newsroom, as NBC News no longer is a sister network.
MS NOW will not stream episodes of its shows after they air on Peacock, the Comcast service, although past MSNBC shows like Morning Joe and Deadline White House with Nicolle Wallace were still available as of Saturday morning. MSNBC ended its original programming on Peacock several years ago, but some MSNBC shows were available the next day. MS NOW will be available to pay TV subscribers on its mobile app and Roku, tvOS, Fire TV, Android TV and Comcast Xumo connected apps.
The website has changed as well, to MS.NOW, with MSNBC.com redirecting to that page.
MSNBC was launched in 1996 as a partnership between NBC News and Microsoft. With an initial focus on internet connectivity, the network eventually transformed into a channel offering a mix of news and opinion, and Microsoft eventually sold its stake but the name remained.
