MSNBC is officially getting a new name.
The cable network announced on Monday (August 18) that it will be rebranded as My Source News Opinion World, shortened to MS today, later this year. The change comes as the channel prepares for its spinoff from Comcast and drops the iconic Peacock logo.
MSNBC will become part of a new company called Versant, led by Mark Lazarus, which will also oversee other Comcast cable networks.
The rebrand marks the end of MSNBC’s longtime connection to NBC News, which had been its sister outlet since the channel’s 1996 launch.
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In a memo to employees, MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler explained, “During this time of transition, NBCUniversal decided that our brand requires a new, separate identity. This decision today allows us to set our own course and assert our independence as we continue to build our own modern newsgathering operation.”
She continued, “The future of our success is not tied to remaining within the NBC family and using the peacock as part of our identity. While our name will be changing, who we are and what we do will not. Our commitment to our work and our audiences will not waiver from what the brand promise has been for three decades.”
The network plans a major marketing push around the switch, which executives say is designed to avoid confusion with NBC News while still retaining a familiar identity.
Rachel Maddow, the network’s best anchor, recently weighed in on the shift during an appearance on the Pivot podcast, noting, “We’re spinning off with a huge standalone, newly built news gathering organization that is designed specifically for our purposes and nothing else. We have an incredibly loyal, very large audience, and we’re universally platformed on a device called the television, which Americans use, despite media reports to the contrary.”
Versant chief Mark Lazarus also confirmed that CNBC will keep its name, while USA Network’s sports programming will be rebranded as USA Sports alongside a refreshed Golf Channel logo.
MSNBC first launched as a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC in 1996, before Microsoft left the partnership in 2005.
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