The network formerly known as MSNBC formally debuted its new name and branding Saturday.
Versant
The network formerly known as MSNBC officially became MS NOW Saturday, as The Weekend co-host Jonathan Capehart opened the show saying “thanks for joining us on MS NOW. Let me say that again, thanks for joining us on MS NOW…don’t adjust your settings we are formerly MSNBC. As of this moment, we have a new name.”
The long-awaited shift was brought about by NBC’s decision to spin off its cable properties into a new company, Versant, which required MSNBC to build out its own independent newsgathering operation, open its own studios, and prepare to separate itself from NBC.
So viewers tuning in Saturday saw no peacocks, but plenty of the new brand’s red, white and blue brand and reminders about the new name, which stands for My Source for News, Opinion and the World.
“It is just such a huge privilege in this moment to invest in journalism, and if I think about what the core tenets of MS NOW are going to be, one of them is going to be to be pro-journalism,” MS NOW President Rebecca Kutler told Deadline. “Which I think says everything about what our audience is looking for in this moment and says everything about what is necessary in a functioning democracy.”
The debut of MS NOW brings an end to the nearly 30-year run for MSNBC, an admittedly awkward name that combined Microsoft and NBC in a cable news venture that ultimately ended in 2005, when Microsoft left but MSNBC kept the name. The new name hangs on to the “MS,” which has long been a shorthand nickname for the network used by journalists and others in television.
NEW YORK, NY – JULY 15: President and CEO of NBC Bob Wright waits for his cue to begin a press conference announcing the launch of the MSNBC television news channel 15 July in New York. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates joined the press conference on a live connection from Washington State. AFP PHOTO Jon LEVY. (Photo credit should read JON LEVY/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
“There is a palpable sense of excitement here as NBC and Microsoft scramble toward Monday’s much-hyped debut,” wrote The Washington Post in a 1996 story about the imminent launch of NBC’s cable news channel, noting that it would be the first all-news channel since Ted Turner created CNN 16 years earlier.
“The cubicles are tiny, the office walls bare, and the 24-hour diner across the street is a far cry from the urbane ambiance of NBC headquarters at 30 Rock,” the paper said of MSNBC’s new facilities in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
As one user noted on X, the date for the launch of MS NOW has history to it–NBC history–as it was on November 15, 1926 that NBC aired its first broadcast. But from here on out, aside from hosts and reporters who may still say MSNBC by habit, NBC and the peacock are officially gone. How MS NOW ultimately becomes different from MSNBC will become clear in the next few months.
One of MS NOW’s new studios at the network’s brand-new headquarters in Times Square.
Versant/MS NOW
The network has been on a hiring spree, and opened new studios in Times Square–nothing like the bare-walled warehouse in New Jersey all those years ago.
“While our name has changed, who we are has not,” the network said in a message to viewers about the rebrand. “You’ll find the same commitment to justice, progress, and the truth. Same mission. New name.”
While the MSNBC studios at 30 Rock will be reworked into something else, MS NOW’s producers are having fun with their new digs, opening Alex Witt Reports with a member of the crew holding open a glass door as a camera took viewers into the new studio:
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2025/11/15/same-news-no-more-peacock-we-are-formerly-msnbc-as-of-this-moment/
