Politicus USA: MSNBC May Soon Be Gone

[Dennis Donovan]

Politicus USA - MSNBC May Soon Be Gone



Jason Easley MSNBC, Top News Wed, Nov 20th, 2024

The decision to spin off MSNBC as part of a new company will result in the loss of NBC News as a partner, potentially a new network name, and maybe even new owners plus a different direction.

Variety reported:

The cable-news outlet could have to consider changing its name and familiar markings under a spin-off of the bulk of the cable assets of parent company Comcast, one of the nascent company’s new top executives suggested to an assemblage of MSNBC staffers Wednesday morning, according to two people familiar with the gathering.

Lazarus told an audience that included Rachel Maddow, Chris Jansing and Katy Tur that he was not sure whether MSNBC would have to change its identity as part of the transaction, which will split the cable network and its business-news sibling CNBC from NBC News and NBCUniversal. If the two networks are no longer part of the NBC corporate entity, attendees wanted to know, will they still be able to carry marks that are part of their former home?

MSNBC was using NBC’s news gathering operation, which means that a lot of the reporters that viewers saw on MSNBC actually work for NBC News. Without those reporters or a newsgathering operation, MSNBC would nothing more than televised talk radio that would consist of roughly 18 hours of talking heads talking to each other.

The reality is that MSNBC and the other networks Comcast is spinning off will be ripe to be sold. It is easy to imagine a right wing billionaire or company like Sinclair buying MSNBC, rebranding it, and converting it into a Fox News competitor.

/snip

[Irish_Dem]

1. The liberal media must be destroyed.

[bdamomma]

2. Irish_Dem so

are we looking at state run government propaganda.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Yes we can assume the model is Russia and China.

All media is state run.

Or like in the US, media is run by the oligarchs, the billionaires, who have aligned
with the Putin/Trump/GOP.

The US media has been the GOP propaganda machine.

[bdamomma]

11. I will be

supporting independent sites. I have listed them many times on DU.

[Irish_Dem]

12. Good. Hopefully they will stay independent.

And not be bought up by the GOP or journalists falling out of windows.

[jimfields33]

6. You can't destroy something that only 2 million watch

at its high peek. Most don’t even watch it so it really won’t be much of a loss. Even on DU, most say they haven’t watched in years.

[Irish_Dem]

7. It's symbolic and a strong message to liberals.

"We will destroy you."

[jimfields33]

8. Or liberals could change their minds and start watching

it everyday. Get those numbers up to 40 million eyeballs everyday and it will not go anywhere. Really it’s in our hands and control.

[Irish_Dem]

10. That's a good idea.

But since the election many people have stopped watching the news or reading news.

One of the goals of stealing an election, to humiliate the other party.

[bdamomma]

22. Are we

playing into their hands and this is what they wanted us to do. Are we " Cutting off one's nose to spite one's face ".

[Irish_Dem]

28. People are coping the best they can.

Some people are in shock and denial and cannot bear facing our new reality.
Others no longer trust any of the media.

Others are busy with a survival plan, get vaccines, surgery, medication while they still can.
Checking finances, earning more revenue, cutting expenses.

We cannot force people to do what they cannot bring themselves to do.
Or who are trying to survive the next four years.

I also think we do not yet know the best course of action.
We are still stunned and the Dem leaders seem to be modeling calm and low profile for the time being.

Sometimes the best thing is to do nothing, gather information, and get advice on a good plan.

[LisaM]

57. We could. But for four years they failed to tout Biden's achievements.

Which are actually pretty impressive. He's still out there getting shit done and they won't cover it.

Trump is and has been crack to them and they won't cover anything else. It's exhausting.

[jimfields33]

9. Or liberals could change their minds and start watching

it everyday. Get those numbers up to 40 million eyeballs everyday and it will not go anywhere. Really it’s in our hands and control.

[womanofthehills]

60. People are into getting news on their phones

Fewer and fewer from tv.

[TheKentuckian]

17. Not to me. M$NBC isn't liberal. It is the same corporate media as everywhere else

With a few hours of center right to centrist to occasionally center/left punditry.

Let the dinosaur go, it is already dead anyway.

[Irish_Dem]

18. I agree, Nicole and Rachel are the only ones to watch.

[bdamomma]

23. Lawrence too

Last edited Wed Nov 20, 2024, 07:13 PM - Edit history (1)

Joy Reid, I would like to add.

[spooky3]

27. I like Stephanie too. Nt

[Irish_Dem]

30. Yes Stephanie Miller is very good.

[spooky3]

32. Yes; I meant Stephanie Ruhle on MSNBC. Nt

[Irish_Dem]

33. Sorry!

I don't watch her much so I cannot comment.

[Irish_Dem]

29. Oh yes. He is actually the best of the lot.

Thanks for pointing that out.

[brush]

15. I don't know about that. Many of us here on DU watch the afternoon block...

of center-left to probressive shows and their guests beginning with Nicole Wallace's show and on thru to Lawrence O'Donnell.

It'll be a big lost of the only liberal/progressive block of shows on TV.

[mzmolly]

40. I watch regularly.

eom

[mzmolly]

38. I watch daily. Where are you getting your numbers?

https://www.newsweek.com/chart-shows-network-ratings-2024-elections-1981910

[jimfields33]

41. Ok. Check the ratings now.

Election night is the Super Bowl of elections. They get many eyeballs that night and then not again until maybe a debate three years later. Election night ratings are not an accurate look at ratings.

[StarryNite]

4. If there ever is another election we will be hamstrung by this.

They are taking complete control of the MSM.

[bdamomma]

24. Yes

more propaganda will be injected into people's heads, not good at all. People will be like zombies, if we go down this road.

[Freethinker65]

5. Meh

[WarGamer]

13. Musk will buy it and it will be... X NEWS TV

[jalan48]

14. Democracy Now is a great alternative if it stays on the air.

[emulatorloo]

21. Unfortunately "Democracy Now" constantly trashes Democrats. n/t

[jalan48]

31. Yes, they are further to the left than where we are as a party.

But after the 2024 election we will need to change. Either move to the left or appease the Fascists. I'm just not sure how much interest and energy our party will be able to generate if we choose the latter.

[wnylib]

51. Amy Goodman is a sensationalist and not a very

reliable source of accurate news.

[jalan48]

55. I didn't get this impression when I watched her.

[TheKentuckian]

35. I guess barely warmed over Putin propaganda is better than the freahest dogshit

I'd say that piece of shit outlet actually did more damage than faux and Rogan combined by getting dumbfucks to stay home or vote Puti...err...Stein.

I find it offensive that bullshit be promoted.

I certainly hope it fails but Putin will keep it going.

[jalan48]

36. Democracy Now supported Stein?

[LPBBEAR]

46. Democracy Now

has morphed into the "Putin Apology Hour" or "All Gaza All The Time".

Its been a useless program for several years.

I used to support the program but its gotten steadily worse. I won't watch it anymore.

[jalan48]

47. I know they cover the Gaza situation more than the corporate news but I hadn't seen much pro Putin news there.

[LPBBEAR]

48. I did.

Its been a bit since I tuned in regularly but there have been several guests spouting the Putin is uncomfortable with NATO's increasing proximity to Russia's borders so that's why they are invading Ukraine line of bullshit.

[jalan48]

50. Thanks for the info. I hadn't seen this.

[JoseBalow]

63. Basura

It's basically RT meets Al Jazeera, wholly unwatchable.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

16. I will be getting more of my news from.....

Meidas Touch Network, Jack Cocchiarella, Luke Beasley, David Packman, and Tennessee Brando on You Tube.

I subscribe to all of them.

[Johonny]

19. To be fair, all of cable is dying

Most of it is zombie TV already.

[TheKentuckian]

37. If it wasn't for sports the dried out husk would have already blown away.

[mzmolly]

20. F*ckers.

[milestogo]

25. There's no liberal talk radio around me.

I listen to music or nothing at all when I'm in the car.

[Blue Owl]

26. ABCNNBCBS has dug its own grave as far as I'm concerned

[Midnight Writer]

39. In unrelated news, another billionaire has proposed buying Bluesky and shutting it down.

We have ceded too much power to the billionaires. They can simply buy any opposition to their oligarchy and shut it down. They are above the law, they are above investigation, they are above any moral or ethical restraint. They own their own political party. They control the House, the Senate, the Presidency, and the courts.

I foresee a return to a medieval-style society in which a relative few are treated as royalty and the rest of us as serfs.

[jimfields33]

42. They cannot buy it unless there is a seller

If Bluesky is sold, it’s on the current owner.

[onenote]

43. If it was going to be sold to a third party, why spin it off to the same shareholders who own it now?

As Comcast has clearly stated, and how these kinds of corporate spin-off transactions work, the assets in question are not being sold to a third party. Rather, to quote Comcast, “The transaction will be structured as a tax-free spin to existing shareholders."

[Dennis Donovan]

44. What if those shareholders wanted to sell?

Is there anything that stops them?

[onenote]

45. There would probably be some adverse tax consequences if they immediately turned around and sold.

By way of an example: Time Warner Inc spun off its cable system properties to its existing shareholder in a tax-free transaction in 2009. The spun off company continued to use the Time Warner name under an agreement with Time Warner Inc. but was a separate company. Seven years later, in 2016, the shareholders of the spun off Time Warner Cable entered into an agreement to merge with Charter Communications. So, at some point, it might make sense for the shareholders of the spun off entity to sell to or merge with another company, but it's unlikely to happen any time soon.

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

49. Cable is a dying medium.

Comcast/Infinity/NBC Universal may be the largest cable provider in the country, but they see where the market is headed - to streaming. Much more flexible for the consumer, probably cheaper for the company to produce and their Xfinity division can take over the "provider" role to wire people's homes for Wifi to enable the service; and probably charge more than cable for doing so, eventually. Some of your favorite stars will probably migrate to Peacock, which currently offers limited original programming, some movies, a lot of trash and a few big events (big sporting events in particular, like the Olympics) at a rather high price for what it is. You can see reruns of some MSNBC shows there now after a day or so, which of course makes them "not news" because they aren't new. You just can't see MSNBC in real time or even same-day because the company is protecting its cable revenue stream for as long as it can. What they do with their over-the-air broadcasting services is anyone's guess.

[bucolic_frolic]

52. What part does Microsoft play in MSNBC?

[RunnoDeMille]

56. The letters MS...

...they divested totally 30 years ago. By then the name was established. If we could organize a foundation to buy and run it ..that would be a nice counter to the cyber/social media mob that just crushed us.

[oldmanlynn]

53. This is an opportunity

for some Democrat sided billionaire to come in and scoop it up and keep pushing our truth propaganda. If we let all of the media outlets get scooped up by right wing crazy then we’ve capitulated.

[onecaliberal]

54. I don't watch a nano second of any of it.

It’s a total fail. Not going to spend a second of my time. There are plenty of legit news sources online.

[NoMoreRepugs]

58. I thought I read somewhere 10% of voters under 30 get their news from TV.

If that demographic isn’t supporting you you die.

[kacekwl]

59. Who cares.

Comcast will just reintroduce it as fox 2.0. All will be as they want it anyway.

[mr715]

61. I'll need some other background noise

to not pay attention to.

They do a piss poor job.



MR

[bigtree]

62. NBC's 'news gathering' wasn't doing much with it outside of MSNBC

...centainly not in the network news broadcasts.

It's the 'talking heads' that this article denigrates who do more than parrot what they're handed.