What will happen to CNBC and MSNBC when they no longer have a corporate connection to NBC information?
Comcast’s corporate reorganization means that there will soon be two television networks with “NBC” in their name — CNBC and MSNBC — that will no longer have any corporate connection to NBC information.
How that affects viewers of those networks, along with the people who work there, still needs to shake out. Their recent corporate chief, Mark Lazarus, visited the set of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” as the schedule was being announced on Wednesday and spoke to network staff members during a morning conference call to address concerns.
Comcast is spinning off most of its cable networks, also including USA, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and the Golf Channel, into a divide corporation. That recognizes how streaming is considered the upcoming and the cable networks are a drag on the final profit.
In the space of a lifetime, the networks went from upstarts aside a legacy operation like NBC to profitable superstars to castoffs.
Lazarus, chairman of the NBC Universal Media throng, is becoming CEO of the newly-formed corporation of cable networks, temporarily dubbed “SpinCo.” Cesar Conde, who as NBC Universal information throng chairman had oversight of CNBC and MSNBC, will misplace those networks from his holdings, yet remain in fee of NBC information, NBC information Now streaming, Telemundo and the information operations of the NBC-owned local stations.
The presence of Lazarus and Anand Kini, who will be chief operating officer and chief financial officer of SpinCo, is a excellent sign for the recent corporation, said Jessica Reif Ehrlich, research analyst for the lender of America. “You can’t dismiss it as getting rid of the crappy assets, because these are talented executives,” she said.
At MSNBC, questions about the upcoming range from the straightforward — will it even keep its name? — to the complicated.
MSNBC’s staff and studios are based in the same Rockefeller Center offices as NBC information, and it was ambiguous on Wednesday whether they will remain or shift elsewhere, Lazarus told MSNBC employees.
MSNBC’s connection with NBC information has caused some awkwardness, particularly as the network has become known for its stable of liberal commentators while still attached to a information division that stresses impartiality. For much of MSNBC’s broadcast day, NBC information journalists like Katy Tur, Jose Diaz-Balart, Chris Jansing and a host of reporters appear on the network.
It’s ambiguous whether arrangements could be made for that cross-pollination to continue — where will Steve Kornacki land, for example? — or if MSNBC will bear the expense of building out its own newsgathering operation or lean more heavily into commentary.
It’s a nervous period at MSNBC for other reasons. The network has seen a dramatic drop in viewership since Donald Trump’s election win, although it is ordinary that information networks that appeal primarily to one side of a political divide misplace viewers when their candidates are defeated. history shows most viewers gain, and MSNBC executives anticipate that.
Less obvious is whether a second Trump administration will make life challenging. Trump friend Steve Bannon, on his radio display last week, sent out a specific warning to the network’s anchors and producers. “You better be worried,” he said. “You better lawyer up.”
CNBC launched in 1989, while MSNBC started in 1996. They have seemed inextricably bound with the broadcast network since, and the sharing of legal, promotional, technical and other back is something else that needs to be worked out.
With its financial concentration, CNBC has been more independent of NBC information than its cable brethren. With offices in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., its operation is even physically divide. However, NBC information often taps CNBC reporters for their business expertise on broadcast and its streaming service.
For both MSNBC and CNBC, the current sharing of legal, promotional, technical and other back services with NBC information will have to be worked out.
“I completely empathize with people who ponder this would be a bittersweet thing,” Lazarus said, according to MSNBC. “I ponder it’s exciting because very few times in life you get to have the chance to be part of what I’ll call a ‘well-funded enterprise.’”
Despite the ancient-school nature of a corporation of cable properties, Comcast executives are bullish on its prospects, noting that many of them produce profits individually. And there’s the potential for buying other networks undervalued by large media companies.
Andrew Ross Sorkin, host of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” said on “Morning Joe” Wednesday that the two cable information networks produce ”extraordinary profits” for Comcast that are not being reinvested in cable properties.
“If you could receive that money that’s coming off of these channels and invest in the businesses as an independent entity, what will that ultimately look like”?” Sorkin asked. “Could you use that money to leave make other acquisitions? Could you make investments in the business itself? That’s the large question.”
One piece of advice from lender of America’s Ehrlich: Keep the names. “Those are pretty large brand names,” she said. “I would not advise them to transformation.”
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David Bauder writes about media for the AP. pursue him at http://x.com/dbauder.
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