Comcast Archives - celebpeek

MSNBC transformed into the newly named MS NOW on Saturday morning, as the network splits from parent company Comcast.

“Don’t adjust your settings,” Jonathan Capehart, co-host of The Weekend, told viewers shortly after 7 a.m. ET, from studios in Washington. “We are formerly MSNBC. As of this moment, we have a new name, MS NOW, which stands for My Source for News Opinion and the World. But other than that, and these snazzy new graphics, not much is changing. Bottom line: Same mission, new name.”

Moments earlier, viewers saw Morning Joe Weekend host Willie Geist sign off for the final time under the MSNBC name, with a shot of the NBC Peacock logo.

MS NOW has been preparing for this moment since last year, when Comcast announced that it would be spinning off MSNBC along with other cable networks into a new company, later named Versant. MS NOW has built up its own newsroom, as NBC News no longer is a sister network.

MS NOW will not stream episodes of its shows after they air on Peacock, the Comcast service, although past MSNBC shows like Morning Joe and Deadline White House with Nicolle Wallace were still available as of Saturday morning. MSNBC ended its original programming on Peacock several years ago, but some MSNBC shows were available the next day. MS NOW will be available to pay TV subscribers on its mobile app and Roku, tvOS, Fire TV, Android TV and Comcast Xumo connected apps.

The website has changed as well, to MS.NOW, with MSNBC.com redirecting to that page.

MSNBC was launched in 1996 as a partnership between NBC News and Microsoft. With an initial focus on internet connectivity, the network eventually transformed into a channel offering a mix of news and opinion, and Microsoft eventually sold its stake but the name remained.

Comcast leaders hedged their words carefully when pressed by Wall Street analysts about the company’s appetite for M&A activity amid the swirl of interest around Warner Bros. Discovery.

Mike Cavanagh, Comcast co-CEO, told analysts during Comcast’s third quarter earnings call Thursday morning that “the bar is high” for the company to consider a major merger of acquisition. But he didn’t rule anything out. He also indicated that Comcast’s ability to secure federal approval for any transaction would improve once the spinoff of its linear cable channels (other than Bravo) is completed later this year.

“The bar is very high for us to pursue any M&A transactions given how strongly we feel about the businesses we have, the strategies we’re pursuing and the opportunities we have ahead of us, so that continues to be an important anchor point for how we think about things,” Cavanagh said. “You should expect us to look at things that are trading in our in the space around our industry. It’s our job to try to figure out if there’s ways to add value.”

Cavanagh was pressed on how much the political situation in Washington, D.C. with President Donald Trump and his open hostility to Comcast is hampering the company in a significant way.

“The strategies we have are really sound and durable without M&A. That said the question about what’s feasible to get any deals through, obviously the fact that we’ve been taking the path of setting up as our cable network business to pursue strategies that didn’t fit inside the sort of the new NBC media business with great strength and assets and the cash flows there have with light leverage, and that is on track to happen,” Cavanagh said. “In light of that, what we’d be looking for and what we’re going to look like post-Versant spin, I think more things are viable than maybe some of the public commentary that’s out there.”

More to come

Comcast

MSNBC Makes The Shift To MS NOW As Part Of Split From Comcast

Comcast Says ‘The Bar is Very High’ for M&A Activity