MSNBC has long branded itself as the progressive counterweight to Fox News, but soon it will trade in its familiar name and even the peacock logo for something new: MS NOW — short for My Source for News, Opinion and the World.
The rebrand, unveiled in a memo by Versant CEO Mark Lazarus, marks a decisive step in the network’s separation from NBC News as part of Comcast’s plan to spin off a bundle of cable properties into a standalone company by year’s end.
For decades, MSNBC relied on its ties to the NBC mothership to project credibility, even as its programming leaned heavily into opinion journalism. But those days are over. The peacock — a symbol nearly as old as television itself — will remain with NBCUniversal, leaving MSNBC and other cable siblings like CNBC and the Golf Channel to forge their own identities under the Versant umbrella.
Lazarus cast the change as both practical and liberating: “This gives us the opportunity to chart our own path forward, create distinct brand identities, and establish an independent news organization following the spin.”
MSNBC — excuse me, MS NOW! — has been on a hiring spree of late, out of necessity, scooping up dozens of journalists for a new newsroom that will compete with NBC News, along with countless other outlets. (And I hear there are even more new hires that have yet to be announced.)
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 18, 2025
That independence may prove more than symbolic. In recent months, MSNBC has been quietly building its own newsroom, hiring reporters and analysts outside NBC’s orbit, a move that underscores its intent to operate not as a sidecar to NBC News but as a fully self-contained media operation.
The new moniker — MS NOW — doubles down on what the network has really been for years: a blend of breaking news and progressive commentary, with the emphasis often on the latter.
Still, the risks are evident. Cable rebrands can flounder, as Warner Bros. Discovery discovered with its ill-fated attempt to strip “HBO” from its streaming service. MSNBC has three decades of brand recognition behind its name; asking audiences to adjust to MS NOW could dilute that familiarity.
On the other hand, Rachel Maddow and the network’s roster of opinion anchors have cultivated one of the most loyal audiences in television news — an audience likely to follow wherever the brand leads.
Comcast’s decision to spin off Versant, placing MSNBC, CNBC, and others under a new roof, signals a belief that cable outlets must now stand on their own in a fragmented media landscape. By decoupling from NBC News, MS NOW will be free to lean into its strengths without constantly negotiating its position within a larger, more traditional newsroom.
