MS NOW

MS NOW, originally launched as MSNBC in 1996, is an American cable news channel owned by Versant. It provides rolling news coverage and political commentary from its studios at Versant's world headquarters at 229 West 43rd Street in New York City, with a Washington, D.C. bureau co-located with NBC News and technical operations handled from CNBC's studios in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The channel was founded as a joint venture between NBC News and Microsoft, combining the MSN portal with NBC's news brand. Microsoft sold its stake in the TV channel in 2005 and the website in 2012, leading to NBCNews.com and a revamped MSNBC.com focused on personality-driven content.

In its early years, MSNBC emphasized long-form reports and interactive programming, often drawing from NBC affiliates. By the late 2000s, it shifted to opinion-based shows featuring liberal hosts like Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, and Rachel Maddow. This strategy paid off in 2010 when it surpassed CNN in primetime and total viewership for the first time since 2001. A mid-2010s ratings slump prompted a return to hard news, incorporating NBC News personalities.

Under new leadership in the 2020s, MSNBC expanded its own newsgathering and reduced reliance on NBC News. As Comcast prepared to spin off most NBCUniversal cable networks into Versant in 2026, MSNBC left the NBCUniversal News Group and rebranded as MS NOW on November 15, 2025. The name is a backronym for "My Source for News, Opinion, and the World." The rebrand replaced the multicolored NBC peacock logo with bold red, white, and blue imagery inspired by patriotic themes, and launched a "We The People" ad campaign. In the twelve months prior, MSNBC aired 1,200 promotional announcements resulting in 777 million impressions, triple the previous period. Critics have noted that "MS" also stands for Multiple Sclerosis, causing potential confusion, and that the name sounds like a Microsoft product. Marketing experts have described the new name as "undifferentiated, corporate, bland."

As of November 2025, MS NOW ranked second among cable news networks, averaging 599,000 total day viewers, behind Fox News (1.376 million) but ahead of CNN (429,000). Among adults 24-54, it averaged 55,000 viewers, behind Fox (123,000) and CNN (70,000). The Rachel Maddow Show was the only non-Fox News program in the top fifteen cable news shows for both total viewers and the demo. Since the rebrand, the network has seen double-digit growth in total viewers. Versant CEO Mark Lazarus stated in March 2026 that MS NOW's most passionate viewers watch between eight and nine hours per week, "the second highest engagement across the entire media TV landscape." For 2026, Versant plans to launch a direct-to-consumer MS NOW streaming service. [edit]