Often you hear a new name for a product and immediately feel it doesn’t quite seem right. More likely than not, you adapt to the new name.
I’m really not sure about MSNBC’s rebrand.
The US opinion news network had to rebrand after the split from parent company NBC. Like most NBCUniversal-owned cable channels, it is being spun off into a new company named Versant. This means a new name for MSNBC and a new logo that doesn’t use the iconic NBC Peacock.
Goodbye MSNBC:
Hello MS NOW:
As you can see from the new logo, MS NOW is an acronym. My Source | News | Opinion | World.
I sense that the team spent a few days trying to get to ‘My Source’ - that one really feels like a pretzel effort to make the acronym vision work. It also gives off the vibe that there was a 10 year-old in the room who just learned about acrostic poetry
Broadly, I don’t hate it and suspect it’ll just take hearing it a few times to make it work. But… that doesn’t stop it being a bit dumb.
Did it really need to keep MS in the title for continuity? The origins of MS comes from an initial partnership with Microsoft on what would be a news channel with a website component back in the early dotcom days. Microsoft hasn’t been associated with the MSNBC TV channel now for 20 years.
Keeping the MS in the title is really constrictive when it comes to registering a website domain, as the existing owners of www.msnow.com may advise. Although, looking at the site, I’d suggest they are more than open to a deal.
I also wonder if it will mean a rebrand for NBC News Now, the NBCU-owned streaming TV channel. It’s just-different enough for it to not be a problem, but it is still just a little bit too similar.
My only real question about that MS NOW logo is… what on earth is this supposed to be?
I assume a flag, but those red lines? Is the hope that it is going to be adopted as some sort of secessionist flag icon by loyal viewers? If so, why not fully embrace the idea of succession with this?
It all seems a bit under-cooked. But, a few soft rebrands from now, it’ll all be fine.
In other linear cable TV news today:
CNN has announced new programming for its FAST streaming headlines channel. Read: Deadline
Newsmax will pay Dominion Voting Systems $67 million to settle its defamation case linked to 2020 election coverage. Read: NPR
Sky News in the UK has cancelled its long-running business show Business Live. Read: Deadline
News Desk
Pluto TV in the US has launched a Beyond The Gates FAST channel - that’s the new CBS African American-led daytime soap. Read: TV Newscheck
Bones star David Boreanaz recounts meeting series two-time guest star Betty White who, upon meeting him, immediately explained her desire to mount him. Read: New York Post
Reporter Matt Belloni says the Duffer Brothers move to Paramount is a done deal. The inability for Netflix to do theatrical releases was the main reason. Read: Matt Belloni’s X account
YouTube has reportedly made enquiries about becoming the exclusive home for the Academy Awards. Read: Bloomberg
China Beach is coming to streaming for the first time. New US Roku streaming service Howdy will be the exclusive home for the show. One assumes that the streaming version will use replacement music tracks - it was the expense of music clearances holding the show back from re-release. Read: TV Line
Natalie Dormer has been cast opposite Omar Sy and Boyd Holbrook in the new Netflix Extraction TV spin-off from the widely-watched, largely-forgotten Netflix original film. Read: Deadline
Mandy Moore will join Christopher Meloni and William H. Macy in the new Dan Fogelman NFL drama. It is a This Is Us reunion for Moore and Fogelman. Read: THR
Glenn Close will play the titular Maud in the Channel 4 TV show. Read: Deadline
Trailer Park
The Diplomat returns for season 3 on October 16 - I’m very into this show.
That’s the newsletter for today.
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Clearly they did that redesign using MS Paint. The Windows 3.1 version.