The cable news network MSNBC will become MS NOW later this year as part of a wider rebranding as it spins off from NBCUniversal and becomes part of a new media company named Versant.

The name change came as a surprise to many, even those within the network who had previously been told that the MSNBC name would continue. Versant’s CEO Mark Lazarus told The Wall Street Journal that the rebranding, which will also erase NBC’s peacock from the properties being spun off, would help prevent “brand confusion.”

MS NOW is an abbreviated version of the full new name, “My Source News Opinion World.”

On social media, critics of the change noted that “MS NOW” could be perceived as a website about the disease multiple sclerosis, which is frequently shortened to “ MS .”

In a note to “our communit

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