MSNBC is now NBC News.

There’s never a good time to break up one of the online world’s earliest and most successful joint news ventures, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do to expand your brand and make the most of what you’ve started.  For Microsoft and NBC, the time to break up MSNBC is now.  NBC Universal parent company Comcast has purchased the Microsoft half of MSNBC and will be rebranding the site NBCNews.com.  MSNBC will continue to exist as an NBC-only property, and MSNBC.com will now be dedicated to that station’s political content.

“There’s nothing wrong with what’s there,” admits NBC News president Steve Capus.  “There’s nothing that needs to be fixed.  NBC News has the most diverse portfolio of offerings of any news organization in the country, period.  We were in a joint venture in the area with the biggest growth in the news and information space, and we would like to control our own future.”

The move gives NBC a more vertically-integrated pairing of websites with television programs.  Today and the .com, MSNBC and the .com, and NBC News and the new NBCNews.com.  It also separates the increasingly opinion-driven MSNBC from the hard news of the award-winning MSNBC.  As for Microsoft, they’re going to be starting their own news agency for MSN.com to rely upon.

Tags: msnbc, nbc news, comcast, microsoft, nbc, nbc universal, steve capus, nbc news splits off of MSNBC, news, network news, cable news, television news, msn news

I’ve never had a problem eating food from a gas station.  Just two weeks ago, I ate a couple of hot dogs purchased from a gas station.  They were delicious.  That’s not the first time I’ve eaten gas station food, and I doubt it will be the last.  There’s nothing like a fun food novelty. […]

Commissioner Roger Goodell gathered 32 NFL owners for one big question.  One of the league’s most wanderlust-stricken franchises is looking to move again.  The Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders, tired of gutting it out in a run-down stadium, were once again looking for greener pastures.  Only the Miami Dolphins refused to cooperate.  With a vote of 31-1, […]

In 2006, an injury to Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe opened the door for an undrafted free agent by the name of Tony Romo to take the helm of America’s Team and lead the Dallas Cowboys to an early playoff exit.  Bledsoe went from starter to afterthought in a season.  Now, the circle continues […]

For 89 years, Oscars has never had a major mistake.  The last few Oscars might have had a few flubs, but at least they never got the most important category of the night wrong.  Well, that’s now changed, all thanks to OG Bonnie and Clyde legends Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.  When Faye Dunaway called […]

Tom Brady has been wildly successful, if controversial.  He’s the first quarterback ever to win five Super Bowls and only the second player to do so after Charles Haley.  Unlike Haley, Brady won all his Super Bowls with the same team, the New England Patriots.  The only thing that seems to be able to stop […]

Ben Affleck, no matter what you might think of him, is a talented actor and director.  He’s got the goods, but he’s smart enough to know when he’s in over his head.  All along, since he took on the mantle of Batman, he’s had his eyes on writing, directing, and starring as the Caped Crusader. […]

In May, students for the for-profit American College of Education were running into some problems.  Their access to email accounts and course information was locked down by Google, who had disabled their accounts.  The reason why?  A fired IT worker for the American College of Education locked the school out of their Google cloud account. […]