In a seismic shift for the cable news landscape, MSNBC is severing its 29-year editorial and operational ties with NBC News, transitioning to a fully independent newsgathering operation under a new parent company.
The move, part of Comcast's broader strategy to spin off its cable assets into a separate entity called Versant (sometimes referred to as "SpinCo"), allows MSNBC to forge its own path while NBC News remains anchored within the core NBCUniversal portfolio.
MSNBC launched in 1996 as a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC, evolving into a left-leaning cable news and opinion network that heavily relied on NBC News' vast newsgathering infrastructure—think shared correspondents, bureaus, and live feeds for everything from election nights to breaking stories. Over the years, this synergy created efficiencies but also blurred lines between NBC's straight-news broadcast model and MSNBC's more partisan commentary style, drawing criticism for potential bias bleed.
The catalyst was Comcast's November 2024 announcement to divest underperforming cable channels (including MSNBC and CNBC) into Versant, a new publicly traded company focused on cable and streaming.
MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler emphasized in an internal memo that the separation enables the network to "set our own course and assert our independence as we continue to build our own modern newsgathering operation."Comcast retains majority ownership of both Versant and NBCUniversal post-spinoff, expected to finalize by January 2026, but the editorial walls are going up now.