MSNBC may not have its name for long.
The network, along with its sister business network CNBC, could have to change its name after its parent company Comcast announced on Wednesday it will spin off nearly all of its cable networks, splitting MSNBC from NBC News. The cable channels, which also include USA Network, the Golf Channel and a handful of websites such as Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes, would become part of a new company tentatively named SpinCo.
But newly installed SpinCo CEO Mark Lazarus told MSNBC staffers on Wednesday that he did not know what would happen to the brand’s name, Variety reported.
The meeting included MSNBC talent such as Rachel Maddow, Chris Jansing, and Katy Tur. The Daily Beast first reported on Wednesday that MSNBC president Rashida Jones would show him around its 30 Rockefeller Plaza headquarters.
Lazarus also couldn’t answer specific questions about whether MSNBC’s news-gathering operation would change, according to. MSNBC shares multiple reporters, contributors, and even the most basic technology for putting its show on air with NBC News. Much of the talent that fills MSNBC’s daytime hours also report for NBC News, though not the opinion commentators that anchor its primetime offerings.
MSNBC had no comment to the Daily Beast’s questions.
Comcast announced on Wednesday that it would spin its various cable networks—including MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, and E!—into a newly formed independent company run by Lazarus. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said the move would “set these businesses up for future growth,” while NBCUniversal CEO Mike Cavanagh said the two companies would independently “play offense in a changing media landscape.” The move reflected the network would abandon the cable news business in an era consumed by cord-cutting and pivots to streaming.
Lazarus described the new company as a “well-funded start-up,” according to Variety, that may look to acquire a TV-station group or a sports operation—both facets of the NBCUniversal family it left behind. But whether that start-up remains at 30 Rock was also unclear. Lazarus said the new company would have a presence in Manhattan, though its new headquarters would be determined later, according to Variety.
MSNBC was founded as a partnership between Microsoft and NBC in 1996 as a network dedicated to news, commentary, and analysis, though it has since veered largely into liberal-leaning opinion programming. While still usually No. 2 in cable news ratings after Fox News, it has taken hit after hit in the last month.
MSNBC trounced CNN in election-night ratings for the first time ever with 6 million viewers tuning in, but it later saw its ratings crash later that week to a total of 600,000 average viewers. (Semafor reported on Sunday the ratings had bounced back after President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet appointments.)
Its talent has also rankled feathers. Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski shocked their viewers on Monday by revealing they traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump after years of warning them of his threats to the nation.
A source close to the show told the Daily Beast the move was “f—ing worth it,” as it prompted Trump to tamp down his tone on the press, but the move appeared to alienate their viewers: It lost 38 percent of its audience in the advertiser-focused age 25-54 demographic by its next hour.
