Daily Voice
By Chris Spiker From Daily Voice
MSNBC will undergo its biggest identity shift in decades, as the cable TV network splits from NBC News.
The channel will be known as "MS Now" by the end of 2025, CNBC reported. MS Now's name will be an abbreviation for "My Source News Opinion World."
MSNBC and CNBC are expected to be spun off into a new media company called Versant as Comcast sheds NBCUniversal's cable channels. The separation means MS Now and CNBC will be run as completely separate news operations from NBC News.
Versant CEO Mark Lazarus told MSNBC staffers in January that the left-leaning network would keep its name. That has changed, however, with Lazarus saying NBCUniversal leaders decided on the new name "to accelerate the distinction between the MSNBC and NBC News organizations," according to a memo to employees on Monday, Aug. 18.
MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler said the network's mission will remain the same.
"While our name will be changing, who we are and what we do will not," Kutler wrote. "Our commitment to our work and our audiences will not waiver from what the brand promise has been for three decades."
MSNBC is expected to be renamed "MS Now" by the end of 2025.
MSNBC has been building up its own newsroom, adding about 40 journalists from outlets like Bloomberg, CNN, and Politico, with plans to fill 100 new positions. For the first time, MSNBC will also have a Washington, DC, bureau.
Longtime MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow showed her support for the rebrand, Variety reported.
"If there was ever a time for us to change our name, this is it — because we're not just separating from NBC News in corporate terms, we're competing with them now," Maddow said in an email to Variety. "I think the distinction is going to be good for us. What NBC is doing in its legacy timeslots — the Today Show, Nightly, Meet the Press — is just a world away from the 24/7 totally independent news operation that we're able to stand up now, thanks to the spin-off."
MSNBC's Nicole Wallace interviews then-President Joe Biden on "Deadline: White House" on June 29, 2023.
MSNBC isn't the only channel that will look different under Versant.
Just like MSNBC, networks like CNBC and the Golf Channel will drop NBC's iconic peacock from their logos. Versant's sports coverage will be under the name "USA Sports," while GolfNow and SportsEngine will also change their branding.
Recent name tweaks for other networks haven't gone smoothly.
Warner Bros. Discovery created confusion when it rebranded "HBO Max" as "Max," and that change was reversed earlier in 2025. The Paramount Network has also used several names in the past, like The Nashville Network (TNN), The National Network, and Spike TV.
MS Now's name even resembles another NBC-backed property. NBC News Now is an ad-supported streaming service that has expanded in recent years, featuring shows hosted by prominent reporters such as Tom Llamas, Hallie Jackson, and Gadi Schwartz.
Despite some initial confusion, Maddow said she's optimistic the MS Now name will catch on with viewers.
"While I will admit to having no idea how to pronounce 'MS Now' (and I'm still not all that sure about pronouncing 'Versant,' either), we're at least dropping our syllable count from five to three," she told Variety. "An efficiency gain!"
MSNBC remains the second-most watched cable news channel in the US, averaging 1.2 million primetime viewers so far in 2025.
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