MESSY SPLIT: MSNBC will lose much more than its name in its corporate separation from NBC

August 19, 2025

FROM FOX NEWS: The decades-long marriage between NBC and MSNBC is steadily headed towards a corporate divorce as parent company Comcast continues its NBCUniversal split, separating the famed Peacock brand from the majority of its cable assets.

Last year, Comcast announced it was spinning off its cable networks into a separate company, now named Versant. Versant will be the new home for MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and the Golf Channel among other assets, while NBCUniversal maintains NBC News, the NBC News Now streaming network, Telemundo and Bravo.

For years, NBC and MSNBC were joined at the hip as the cable network relied on the news-gathering operation and talent of its sister broadcast network. But the separation is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

The divorcing parties are splitting the stuff, and NBC is getting most of it.

The Name – MSNBC had to change its name to remove the “NBC,” standing for National Broadcasting Company. It will become MS NOW, an acronym for “My Source for News, Opinion, and the World.” CNBC retains its name as it is an acronym for “Consumer News and Business Channel.”

The Decor – NBC retains the mascot, keeping the Peacock in the family. The bird has been removed from the MSNBC logo.

The House – 30 Rockefeller Plaza has been the home of MSNBC since 1996, but in the split, NBC gets the keys while MSNBC gets the boot. They haven’t found a permanent home, but they’re temporarily relocating to a place on 43rd Street.

The Family and Friends – While NBC-MSNBC were together, various hosts and correspondents would appear on both the broadcast and cable networks. But NBC will maintain the news apparatus post-divorce, leaving MSNBC scrambling to find new people to hang with. For example, Steve Kornacki stuck with NBC as the network’s data and polling expert. He had been an important part of MSNBC’s election night coverage. Andrea Mitchell ended her MSNBC program “Andrea Mitchell Reports” but will gig with NBC as its chief Washington and foreign affairs correspondent.