When asked what viewers could anticipate erstwhile the MSNBC tv station officially announces this weekend Divorce from NBC News, network president Rebecca Kutler pointed to a poster on the conference area wall in the fresh station offices at Times Square. The news says: “The same mission. fresh name’.
“For me it perfectly reflects what we should say,” Kutler said. "Our task in the next fewer weeks is to flood the full zone... and make certain they know that what they love will be precisely the same on November 15." On Saturday MSNBC officially changes name to MS NOW, which means My origin of News, Opinions and the World. This is the most visible manifestation of Comcast's parent company's decision to separate most of its cable networks from a fresh company called Versant.
It's hard adequate erstwhile 1 partner tells another he's leaving for individual new. In this case, he simply leaves his partner; the cable tv network is considered to be specified a weakening asset in today's media planet that giant companies would alternatively be free of it.
“Many of us didn’t truly know what it meant,” said Jen Psaki, who ran the show at the top of the audience, “and we didn’t feel good at first.”
Adoption of the startup ethos
Left to himself, MS NOW takes the ethos of the startup, suggesting that it will be better prepared to experimentation without any connection to the more corporate NBC News. “Morning Joe” launches its own newsletter. Podcast ideas are welcome. The network expands the scope of live events, allowing tv stars to interact with the audience; Rachel Maddow hosts an event in Chicago at the end of the month.
“I didn’t see it as a divorce,” said Michael Steele. “I see it as increasing up a kid and leaving home. We all know how it is.”
As Kutler says, the station's emphasis on news and comments with a liberal position remains unchanged. Like her stars – Maddow, Nicolle Wallace, Ari Melber and others. MS NOW has created its own squad of reporters and support staff and is moving to a fresh office west of Broadway in Manhattan, which, which is not accidental, is the erstwhile multi-year office of The fresh York Times.
The fresh office, equipped with state-of-the-art electronic equipment, solves a geographical singularity: MSNBC and Fox News Channel stations, located other each another on the another side of Sixth Avenue, are no longer 2 political poles.
The MS NOW editorial squad employs about 30 reporters including erstwhile Washington Post reporters, Jackie Alemany and Carol Leonnig. The Agency has signed partnership agreements with Sky News on global relations and AccuWeather on forecasts.
"The break-up with NBC News gives the station the chance to make independent contracts to keep it on the cable market," said Kate O'Brian, long-term broadcasting manager and cable tv who spent respective years in ABC. She added that the station had a strong identity and built-in audience, composed of people opposed to president Donald Trump. "They are thin, nimble and niche, which gives them a better position to adapt to any emerging platforms," O’Brian said.
MS NOW has a smaller audience than MSNBC a year ago. The average station ratings at highest weekdays of 1.17 million viewers decreased by 29% this year compared to 2024, which is mostly related to Disillusioned viewers with presidential election results. Popular among Trump supporters, the Fox News Channel saw an increase of 14% to 3.11 million viewers.
Despite this, MSNBC has about twice as much ratings as CNN, which recorded an identical drop of 29% during the first 9 months of 2025. MSNBC besides gained good results on election night, erstwhile the station went head-to-head with Fox, despite missing Steve Kornacki, a khaki numbers fan who decided to stay on NBC News.
The freedom of MS NOW station appealed to reporters Jacob Soboroff, who chose it alternatively of NBC News, and Rosie Flores, who said that she joined the fresh station from CNN mainly due to the fact that she sees the anticipation of dealing with a greater variety of topics beyond the current issue of immigration.
"All conventional media organizations are trying to break through," Flores said. "I felt that being part of a media organization that created solutions from scratch was so unique that I wanted to be a part of it." Being part of an information organization with a clear political identity was not a barrier to Soboroff. “For me, people are always important, not politics,” he said. "I feel that I am doing what I always do – I study the facts from the scene, I present them to our recipients and I let them to make their own opinion."
Cleaning of offices at Rockefeller Center
The company plans to earmark $20 million for a marketing run to publicize a change that will include billboards in Times Square, Grove in Los Angeles and South Capitol Digital Experience Wall in Washington DC.
Much cheaper is simply a cup with MSNBC overwritten and replaced by MS NOW on the "Morning Joe" programme plan. Accompanying Mika Brzezinski late cleaned her office at Rockefeller Center and recalled the times erstwhile Richard Engel and Keir Simmons of NBC appeared on their show. "We will miss any reporters," she said, "and they will miss us."
