MSNBC

MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts rolling news coverage and liberal-leaning political commentary. The channel operates as part of the NBCUniversal News Group, alongside sister channel CNBC and the NBC News division. After August 2025, the channel rebranded as MS NOW, following major restructuring and new ownership.

MSNBC was established as part of a joint venture between NBC News and Microsoft (its name is a portmanteau of MSN and NBC), encompassing the channel and the news portal MSNBC.com. Microsoft divested its stake in the channel in 2005, followed by the website in 2012; the website was subsequently rebranded as NBCNews.com, and MSNBC.com was later taken over by the cable channel's editorial staff.

MSNBC initially focused on rolling news coverage, including long-form reports, interactive programs, and stories contributed by the local news departments of NBC's affiliates. By the late 2000s, MSNBC shifted to primarily airing opinion-based programming featuring liberal commentators such as Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, David Gregory, Ed Schultz, and Rachel Maddow; in 2010, MSNBC surpassed CNN in primetime and overall viewership for the first time since 2001. In the mid-2010s, amid a decline in viewership, MSNBC concentrated on hard news coverage, and added programs incorporating NBC News personalities. Under new leadership in the 2020s, and ahead of a planned spin-off of NBCUniversal's cable networks to a new Comcast-controlled company, MSNBC began in early 2025 to gradually decrease its reliance on NBC News personalities and resources, as a part of preparing for the spin-off.

In the second quarter of 2025, MSNBC was the second most-watched cable news network, averaging 596,000 total day viewers, behind rival Fox News, which averaged 1.632 million viewers, and ahead of CNN, which averaged 406,000 viewers. In the key Adult 24-54 demographic, MSNBC averaged 57,000 total day viewers, behind rival networks Fox News, which averaged 202,000 viewers, and CNN, which averaged 71,000 viewers. In that same quarter, MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show was the only non-Fox News show to appear in the quarter's top 15 cable news programs, both by total viewers and the A24-54 demo.^[1]