Goodbye MSBNC, and hi there “MS NOW.”
In an announcement that has triggered widespread befuddlement and mockery, the progressive cable information community is getting rebranded.
The brand new identify isn’t meant to recall to mind Microsoft or the honorific “Ms.” As an alternative, within the fashion of congressional bill-naming, MS NOW is purportedly an acronym for the next mouthful: “My Supply for Information, Opinion, and the World.”
Beneath this seemingly foolish story, although, are currents of main change — and worry — within the mainstream media.
As a result of each MSNBC and its fellow political information community CNN are assembly the identical destiny; they’re being jettisoned by the large company behemoths that at the moment personal them.
These company behemoths — Comcast owns MSNBC, whereas Warner Bros. owns CNN — have reputable enterprise causes for making this variation. Every is offloading these political information channels, in addition to varied different cable networks, to a brand new separate firm, referred to as by some a “SpinCo” (spin-off firm) and by others a “ShitCo” (no clarification wanted). It’s because cable information is considered as a declining enterprise.
But there’s one other clear implication. President Donald Trump loathes each MSNBC and CNN, and his administration has been prepared and desperate to wage private and political vendettas in opposition to their company homeowners.
Take, as an illustration, how Paramount needed to grovel earlier than Trump as a result of he was irritated at Paramount-owned CBS. The Federal Communications Fee held up Paramount’s merger deal till the corporate agreed to pay a $16 million settlement in a bogus lawsuit Trump had introduced in opposition to 60 Minutes.
So now, with these spinoffs, Comcast and Warner Bros. will now not have to fret about being punished by the federal authorities for MSNBC and CNN’s protection.
To be clear: Comcast’s spin-off of MSNBC and different cable properties was already within the works earlier than Trump gained his second time period. And there’s clearly no political motivation behind Comcast ditching its different cable properties, just like the USA Community, SYFY, Oxygen, the Golf Channel, CNBC, and E! (Comcast is conserving NBC Information and Common Studios.)
However since Trump started his second time period, the corporate’s considering has apparently developed on one level: whether or not MSNBC can maintain its identify.
Again in January, the brand new CEO of MSNBC’s SpinCo, Mark Lazarus, stated that MSNBC would maintain its identify after the spin-off. So the announcement Monday of the brand new MS NOW identify was a change of plan.
This may, in fact, create extra apparent distance between no matter “MS NOW” is as much as and the prevailing NBC media empire.
CNBC, in distinction, will get to maintain its identify regardless of being spun off. We don’t know whether or not that’s as a result of they’re much less more likely to displease Trump, much less more likely to trigger issues for NBC’s model, or another cause.
What we do know is that, this yr, Trump has normalized the weaponization of the federal government in opposition to firms who’ve displeased him with surprising velocity. For now, a minimum of, this must be a part of firms’ strategic calculations. Placating the president is the brand new price of doing enterprise in the US of America.
