by Sandeep Vasudevan
The corporate zombies have struck again, killing a billion-dollar cable news brand name for a pathetic, forced acronym. This isn’t strategy. It’s corporate suicide.
Let’s be clear: The MSNBC rebrand to MS NOW (My Source News Opinion World, seriously, try saying that out loud without laughing) is a masterclass in destroying value. It’s the Tropicana Box Disaster meets the Twitter-to-X Trainwreck, all rolled into one.
The Financial & Brand Carnage
- NBC Equity, Gone: For decades, the NBC Peacock was the bedrock of trust, journalistic tradition, and institutional weight. Now, it’s ripped away, leaving behind a name that sounds like a discount PC brand from 1998 and a new red, white, and blue logo that looks like a generic political campaign reject. They just forfeited decades of earned trust and recognition for nothing.
- The “NOW” Problem: In an era defined by hundreds of 24/7 digital news streams, the suffix “NOW” is meaningless white noise. It’s utterly undifferentiated and screams “low-effort streaming clip service,” not a premium network commanding high carriage fees.
- The Real Antagonist: Comcast. This move wasn’t about the audience or the cable news brand; it was about Comcast’s spin-off logistics. They chose corporate cleanliness over brand health, sacrificing an enduring asset on the altar of a balance sheet entry.
The Campaign that Misses the Mark
And the fix? A $20 million national campaign called “We The People,” featuring Rachel Maddow reading the U.S. Constitution and using patriotic imagery.
This is the definition of a brand misfire. They are using the most solemn, unifying language in the country to paper over the fact that their product is Prime-Time Opinion for a specific political segment. They are selling the antithesis of what the audience is actually buying.
My take? Versant, the new corporate entity that owns MS NOW, needs to immediately pivot their messaging. Stop selling “My Source News Opinion World” and the patriotic smoke screen. Start selling “The Only Place to Get Your Prime-Time Opinion,” and spend a fortune on marketing the talent, not the terrible new logo or the ridiculous acronym.
The new cable news brand name is dead. Now we see if the product is strong enough to survive the self-inflicted wound.
What do you think? Is MS NOW cable news brand the worst rebrand of the year, or is it just another casualty of corporate indifference?
Do you want another bad media branding example? Check out what HBO Max has done.