MSNBC has a new name and flag-waving rebrand

When MSNBC spins off from NBCUniversal (NBCU) by the end of its year to become an independent company, it will have a new name and logo. MSNBC will become My Source News Opinion World (MS NOW), and the multicolored Peacock logo MSNBC now borrows from its outgoing parent company will be replaced with a new red, white, and blue mark.

“It looks very sporty,” Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough said announcing the rebrand on air Monday.

The new name speaks to the network’s ambitions to stand on its own once it no longer has the global news gathering operation of NBCU to rely on. At the same time, the name is intended to sound similar enough to the old one to evoke a sense of brand continuity and signal to longtime viewers that the tone of the network’s coverage isn’t expected to change.

Launched in 1996, MSNBC’s name was a nod to the two companies that partnered on to create it: Microsoft and NBC. Microsoft divested its stake in the company in 2005, and by 2007, the network had become known as a liberal cable news alternative to Fox News with the added bonus of having a network news operation to lean on for reporting and talent, care of NBC News.

From the beginning, MSNBC borrowed the NBC “bird” for its own logo. Originally designed as an 11-feather peacock by graphic designer John J. Graham to promote NBC’s color television programming, the mark made its on-air appearance in 1956. The current six-feather version of the mark, first introduced in 1986 and designed by Chermayeff & Geismar, reduced the number of feathers down to just the primary and secondary colors. Over the years, it’s been refined even further.

With the brand value that comes from decades of Olympics coverage, hit shows like Saturday Night Live, and local affiliates plus channels like MSNBC and CNBC that extended the brand’s reach to 24-hour cable news and financial news, the NBC logo has become one of the most recognizable in television.

With the break-up of the NBCU from its cable holdings, NBCU is keeping the Peacock logo and “NBC” suffix for itself. That means NBCU’s outgoing cable networks, which will live under the new parent company Versant, all have to rebrand without the Peacock, including MSNBC, CNBC, Golf Channel, GolfNow, and SportsEngine. (CNBC, which was originally named the “Consumer News and Business Channel,” gets to keep the “NBC” in its name).

In an internal memo, MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler said “the future of our success is not tied to remaining within the NBC family and using the peacock as part of our identity,” and the company is planning a significant national marketing campaign for the rebrand.

Even so, the symbolism of replacing a rainbow-colored peacock with a corporate-looking red and white flag on blue backdrop has not been lost on some observers, who have wondered if it signals a move away from the network’s progressive coverage.

In a “message to our community,” published online, MSNBC said that although its name was changing, its promise to viewers wasn’t. “For our viewers who have watched us for decades, it may be hard to imagine this network by any other name. We understand. But our promise to you remains as it always has. You know who we are, and what we do,” the network said.

The network is clearly hoping that its new flag-waving brand will be received like a home with a “In This House We Believe…” yard sign in the front yard changing its flag from Pride to American when June turns to July. The new MS NOW name and logo is meant to mark a change in seasons but not of liberal values, the company contends.

MS NOW represents a new era for the No. 2 most-watched channel in all of cable, which is on the verge of turning 30 and striking out on its own for the first time. But the true meaning of the rebrand will ultimately depend on what it delivers for its viewers.