MSNBC faces major rebrand in new spin-off venture

As social media and alternative news sources continue to make strides into the well-capitalized territory of cable news networks, the legacy media have been forced to make changes to their business models. Well-established left-wing organizations are in some cases facing an existential threat, and now one of the most well-known leftist outlets is trying its hand at a rebrand.

Comcast's NBCUniversal has announced that it will spin off several media assets, including MSNBC, into an independent company called Versant by the end of the year.

'The peacock is synonymous with NBCUniversal, and it is a symbol they have decided to keep within the NBCU family.'

In a surprising move, MSNBC will change its name to MS NOW, short for My Source News Opinion World. Clearly, cutting the "NBC" is part of the major rebrand, but keeping the "MS" is unexpected given that Microsoft began to divest from NBC News in 2005 and completed the sale of its 50% stake in the website in 2012.

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Versant CEO Mark Lazarus (center) on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

MSNBC and several other assets will be losing the iconic peacock logo in addition to the name refresh.

"The peacock is synonymous with NBCUniversal, and it is a symbol they have decided to keep within the NBCU family," Versant CEO Mark Lazarus said in a company memo on Monday.

The new publicly traded company will include assets such as USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, Syfy, and Golf Channel along with complementary digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass, and SportsEngine, according to a Comcast press release.

"As MS NOW continues to grow within Versant, it's critical that it has its own distinct identity, entirely separate from the NBC News brand, in order to avoid any potential confusion between the two organizations," Adam Miller, COO of NBCUniversal, said in a statement.

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