#spinco

Ben Blanchet at HuffPost:

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has reportedly agreed to take a “far lesser amount” than her current $30 million a year as worries loom among MSNBC staff after parent company Comcast revealed its plan to spin off several NBCUniversal channels — including the network — into a new company. Maddow, who has been with MSNBC since 2008, renegotiated her deal with the network and is set to make $25 million annually for the next five years, a $5 million per year pay cut, The Ankler reported Thursday. Executives told the outlet that Maddow has been “ratings Viagra” for MSNBC and the network “needed to keep her” amid an uncertain time. “No one else can do what she does. You can’t build a brand like it overnight,” one unnamed executive told The Ankler. HuffPost has reached out to MSNBC for comment.

Comcast’s plan, which is set to take about a year, would create a company called “SpinCo” to house a number of assets including MSNBC, CNBC, E!, Golf Channel, Oxygen and Syfy. The assets set to move to SpinCo generated $7 billion in revenue for the year ending Sept. 30, according to Comcast. The news of Maddow’s pay cut comes as MSNBC staffers are “in a panic” over the network’s future, sources told The New York Post earlier this week.

[...] An unnamed NBC News producer — in remarks to TheWrap — said staffers are “in the dark” over what the shakeup means for their outlet’s relationship with MSNBC moving forward, adding that they expect the ties to be “cut off.”

Is this the first disturbing sign that the state of the news media in the US is careening towards where it currently is in Hungary, in which it gives undue praise to its authoritarian leader?

Charlie Nash at Mediaite:

President Donald Trump lashed out at MSNBC and billionaire Comcast CEO Brian Roberts in a late-night Truth Social post on Tuesday. “Wow! Fake News MSNBC has REALLY BAD RATINGS, in fact, not much better than the broken broadcasting disaster known as CNN,” wrote Trump in his post. “Comcast, which also has the ailing network known as NBC, is trying to stay away from lawsuits by disassociating NBC from MSNBC, but it won’t work. Comcast, the owner of both, and it’s Chairman, Brian Roberts, are a disgrace to the integrity of Broadcasting!!!” Trump has repeatedly lashed out at MSNBC and Roberts in recent years, threatening to make the CEO and his company “pay for their illegal political activity.” “MSNBC (MSDNC) uses FREE government approved airwaves, and yet it is nothing but a 24 hour hit job on Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party for purposes of ELECTION INTERFERENCE,” complained Trump in November 2023. “Brian Roberts, its Chairman and CEO, is a slimeball who has been able to get away with these constant attacks for years. It is the world’s biggest political contribution to the Radical Left Democrats who, by the way, are destroying our Country.” He concluded, “Our so-called ‘government’ should come down hard on them and make them pay for their illegal political activity. Much more to come, watch!”

Marita Vlachou at The Guardian:

Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, on Wednesday announced the spinoff of many of its cable TV channels, including MSNBC, carrying out a plan the company had hinted at earlier this year. In addition to MSNBC, the portfolio of the newly created company titled “SpinCo” will also comprise CNBC, USA, Oxygen and E!, among other channels, as well as digital assets, including Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes. Those assets made about $7 billion in revenue in the year that ended Sept. 30, the company said in a press release.

Bravo, the NBC broadcast network, the Peacock streaming service, Telemundo as well as the theme parks business and film and television studios will remain part of Comcast. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the transaction was imminent. Mike Cavanagh, the president of Comcast, said the move will enable “both SpinCo and NBCUniversal to play offense in a changing media landscape.” “Taken together, the entirety of NBCUniversal will be on a new growth trajectory, fueled by our world-class content, technology, IP, properties and talent — all working in concert with each other as an integrated media company,” Cavanagh said. Mark Lazarus, the outgoing chair of the NBCUniversal Media Group, will serve as chief executive of the new company. The process is expected to be completed in about a year, the Journal reported earlier.

Comcast spins off nearly all of NBCU’s cable networks, including USA, CNBC, MSNBC, and E!, into a separate spin-off company named SpinCo. NBCUniversal will retain NBC, Telemundo, Bravo, and Peacock as its key assets.

Brian Steinberg at Variety:

MSNBC‘s evening line-up may soon look quite different from what die-hard viewers have come to expect. The NBCUniversal-backed cable network is expected to move the trio of Symone Sanders-Townsend, Alicia Menendez and Michael Steele to its 7 p.m. weekday slot Tuesday through Friday, according to two people familiar with the matter, and the group on Mondays will lead two hours, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The move will have direct implications for Joy Reid, the anchor who currently fills 7 p.m. She is expected to host her last show on MSNBC this week.

What’s more, Alex Wagner, who has hosted weeknights at 9 p.m. save for a Monday night led by Rachel Maddow, is expected to be named a contributor, according to three people with knowledge of current talks. Wagner, who has been working as a correspondent across the U.S. during the first 100 days of the new Trump presidency while Rachel Maddow anchors each day at 9, is unlikely to return to her weeknight slot, these people indicated. Jen Psaki is expected to take over at least one of the hours, according to one of these people. MSNBC is also in talks with Eugene Daniels of Politico and Melissa Murray, a law professor at New York University who specializes in the regulation of sex, marriage, caregiving and reproductive rights that would have them join the network in unspecified capacities, according to one of these people. [...] The moves come quickly after Rebecca Kutler, a former senior executive at CNN who is known for her facility in developing new talent and programming concepts, was named MSNBC’s new president.  [...] Kutler has described plans to build an independent newsgathering apparatus for MSNBC, which will lose its ties to NBC News after the new company is formed. She wants to launch a separate MSNBC Washington bureau, and to add a new roster of international and domestic correspondents. She also wants to hire a new head of talent, a Washington bureau chief and a head of content strategy. Yet she has articulated a plan to hew close to the network’s progressive leanings, not trying to steer it to the center.

Big changes at MSNBC regarding their weeknight lineup: Joy Reid loses her evening show and set to leave the channel completely. Reid has hosted three different shows during her MSNBC tenure: The Reid Report on weekday afternoons, AM Joy on weekend mornings, and her current project, The ReidOut.

Alex Wagner Tonight will not be coming back, but Alex Wagner will remain with MSNBC in a correspondent role.

Rachel Maddow and her show will revert to Mondays (and special occasions) only at the end of the first 100 days.

Jen Psaki and her Inside show will most likely take the vacated spot of Alex Wagner Tonight, Tuesdays-Fridays at 9PM ET/8PM CT.

The Weekend hosts Alicia Menendez, Symone Sanders-Townsend, and Michael Steele take their talents to the soon-to-be vacated ReidOut spot at 7PM ET/6PM CT slot.

See Also:

Mediaite: BREAKING: Joy Reid Out at MSNBC as Part of Stunning Network Shakeup

The Guardian: MSNBC reportedly cancels Joy Reid show in reshuffle at liberal network

Alex Samuels at Daily Kos:

According to a report from Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter (note that it’s behind a paywall), the left-of-center MSNBC news network is apparently toying with shaking up its business model so it can be on “better terms” with Republicans.  Darcy reported that Mark Lazarus, the newly installed leader of SpinCo, a new company comprising networks like CNBC, MSNBC, and E!, indicated that he would like the outlet to incorporate “more GOP voices on its air.” Darcy cited people familiar with Lazarus’ thinking but said that no formal directive or editorial guidance has been given to MSNBC anchors or producers. 

“To be clear, Lazarus has signaled that he wants the channel to retain its core progressive identity," Darcy reported. Lazarus has also stated he intends to keep top talent, including Rachel Maddow. But there’s evidence that some of the network’s other well-known anchors want a better working relationship with Trump. In mid-November, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, cohosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” were widely criticized after they visited Mar-a-Lago to visit the president-elect. Perhaps Lazarus’ thinking is merely business-driven. After all, according to data from Nielsen, which was cited in reporting by the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC averaged 603,000 prime-time viewers from Nov. 6 to Dec. 8—down by more than half from the network’s year-to-date average. CNN’s ratings tumbled after Election Day, too, while Fox News was up by 12%. There’s also the looming threat of mega-billionaire Elon Musk. In November, the Tesla CEO teased that he could buy MSNBC. “How much does it cost?” he asked in a post to his social media network X.

His question was in response to a re-post by Donald Trump Jr. that falsely stated Comcast is putting MSNBC up for sale. (Comcast instead plans to spin off NBCUniversal’s cable networks into a separate company, but this change is not expected to affect individual channels or assets.)

Stephen Battaglio at LA Times:

MSNBC viewers have seen the last of Steve Kornacki’s big board. The popular data maven has signed a deal with NBC that will expand his presence across the network’s news and sports divisions. But the new contract does not include working for MSNBC, which is being spun off into a new corporate entity formed by parent company Comcast. Under the spinoff arrangement, MSNBC and NBC News are separating their operations, with the left-leaning cable network building its own newsgathering unit. Kornacki has chosen to remain with NBC. Kornacki, 45, will continue to be NBC’s go-to expert for statistical analysis of polls and election results and during major sporting events, including Triple Crown horse racing, the Olympics and the NFL. He will appear on the streaming channel NBC News Now along with the broadcast network franchises “Meet the Press,” “Today” and “NBC Nightly News.” A representative for NBC News confirmed the move Tuesday. A representative for MSNBC declined to comment on Kornacki’s exit, but noted the cable network is hiring more than 100 journalists in preparation for its split from NBC News. The search is already on for a new data guru. [...] Kornacki’s new deal, which makes him an NBC contributor with the title of chief data analyst, allows him to pursue projects on other networks and media platforms as long as they are unrelated to politics and sports.

Steve Kornacki remains in the NBCUniversal family for NBC News and NBC Sports work, but he will not be with MSNBC under a new deal. This is at least partially due to MSNBC set to be split off from NBC.