MSNBC is rebranding to MS NOW, which stands for My Source News Opinion World, as the cable news channel prepares for a corporate split from NBCUniversal.
According to an internal memo sent to company employees on Monday obtained by Marketing Brew, the rebrand is designed to “accelerate the distinction between the MSNBC and NBC News organizations” as part of NBCUniversal’s move to spin off its cable brands including the channel soon to be formerly known as MSNBC, CNBC, E!, and USA, into a new company called Versant. As part of the shift, MS NOW’s logo will not incorporate a peacock, a symbol that has long been associated with NBC properties (and has been the centerpiece of the MSNBC logo for years) and is a prominent part of Peacock’s branding.
“The peacock is synonymous with NBCUniversal, and it is a symbol they have decided to keep within the NBCU family,” Versant CEO Mark Lazarus wrote in the memo. “This gives us the opportunity to chart our own path forward, create distinct brand identities, and establish an independent news organization following the spin.”
In a separate memo, Rebecca Kutler, president of MSNBC, noted that the rebrand “now allows us to set our own course and assert our independence as we continue to build our own modern newsgathering operation.” To support the new branding, Kutler said there would be a “broad-based marketing campaign unlike anything we have done in recent memory.”
MSNBC’s rebrand to MS NOW marks a reversal from earlier this year, when Lazarus told employees that the name would not change, and it’s just one of several branding changes set to take place ahead of the spinoff, which is expected to be complete by the end of this year.
While sister brand CNBC will retain its name, it is prepping a new logo, according to Lazarus’s memo. Other brands will also get new logos and some structural changes: USA Network’s sports programming will merge with that of the Golf Channel under a new moniker, USA Sports. (Both entities are also getting new logos.) SportsEngine, a sports management platform, is also dropping the peacock in a new logo.
Despite the branding changes, Lazarus stressed in the memo that it would be business as usual.
“Regardless of the iconography, each of our businesses will remain true to their charge,” he wrote.
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