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Microsoft to pull out of MSNBC.com

whit979

whit979

Under the plan, officials will rebrand MSNBC.com, which consistently ranks among the top three in online news sites, as NBCNews.com. The announcement of the corporate divorce is expected within days.
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The report says NBC execs are frustrated with not having complete control over the website, which as part of the MSN family is one of the most-visited sites in America, according to comScore.

Link goodness: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/11/nbc-microsoft-getting-online-divorce.html
 
I think the divorce happening makes sense. Microsoft gets no benefit from the MSNBC cable side, even though they claim the first 2- 2.5 letters of that branding. MSNBC is commentary driven with shows with a politically liberal bias apparently, but msnbc.com is just supposed to be news website, so there's that disconnect too.

What will Comcast do with the channel after a divorce: don't know. Maybe it just becomes NBC News Channel, but maybe not since Comcast isn't that into news. Maybe they'd try to sell it to Disney who'd convert it to an ABC News channel. Comcast anyways wants more cash to buy the remaining part of NBCUniversal owned by GE.

For Comcast, I'm sure they value CNBC a lot more, which has been around longer and has international versions.
 
ding12 said:
Maybe they'd try to sell it to Disney who'd convert it to an ABC News channel.
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ABC already has a news channel called "ABC News Now" available on Verizon FiOS (108) on select packages.
 
This had been talked/rumored for years, now it is coming true!

I hope when Microsoft pulls out, they at least wipe off before leaving!
 
Lkeller said:
According to The Daily Beast, it is NBC that will retain ownership of MSN, re-branded as NBCNews.com. Apparently it is the third most popular internet news website - a surprise to me. MSNBC and Microsoft parted ways a couple of years ago, yet the "MS" still preceeds the "NBC" in the brand, so that is not likely to change.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/11/nbc-microsoft-getting-online-divorce.html
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Status quo is likely the safest approach even though for Comcast, the channel wont be its favorite asset. Actually maybe Oxygen would be more disposable.

How about a slight name change to MCNBC. It would remove the MS and the trace to Microsoft although not so apparent anymore and the C would link it either to the more succesful sister station for CNBC or C for Comcast.
 
Microsoft pulled out of MSNBC (the channel) in 2005. I'm sure its name will remain MSNBC, as the article implies.
 
The next thing they should do is separate NBC Sports from the msnbc.com site. Perhaps there could be three sites that would emerge, at least: NBCNews.com; NBCSports.com; MSNBC.com.

News domestic and foreign go to NBCNews.com. "Politics" would obviously stick with MSNBC.com. "Business" should go to CNBC.com (I have no idea why there's a "Business" tab when there's already CNBC). "Entertainment" ought to go to E! or Access Hollywood. "Travel," "Local" and "Weather" go back to their local station or affiliate sites. I have no idea what I would do with "Health" or "Tech & science."

As for channels they could sell, along with Oxygen I would sell the following: G4, Cloo, Universal HD, The Weather Channel and Chiller. Then get out of the venture with ValueVision and decide whether to keep Universal Sports or get out of that partnership to concentrate on the NBC Sports Network.
 
Can't see Comcast selling any cable channels. If anything, it would buy more as they come available. The more cash cows, the better.
 
recto101 said:
What will the cable channel be in 2013? NBC News/Talk is it a better name?
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They'd be better off bringing back the "America's Talking" branding. ::)
 
I am surprised that Microsoft hasn’t disassociated itself from NBC before this.
MSNBC, in my opinion, isn’t worth watching when it comes to news coverage or anything else. Just for the record the other two cable news outlets are not much better either.

Personally I give MSNBC another five years before NBC executives decides to pull the plug on that operation.
 
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