Comcast, NBC build a wall between MSNBC website, TV channel
Comcast and NBC draw a line between the liberal commentators of the MSNBC channel and the straight-news MSNBC website.
Comcast and NBC have drawn a line between its TV hosts and its online news reporters.
Elise Amendola/AP/File
PHILADELPHIA
NBC News 补苍诲听Comcast聽Corp. moved on Monday to fix brand confusion between the MSNBC 24-hour cable news show, whose ratings have surged with liberal commentators Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews and Ed Schultz, and the straight-news MSNBC.com news website.
Comcast聽and NBC bought out Microsoft鈥檚 50 percent stake in MSNBC.com for a reported $300 million. Readers logging onto MSNBC.com on Monday were redirected to NBCNews.com. NBC officials would not comment on the financial terms of buying out their 16-year partner in the venture.
MSNBC will remain the name of the cable channel, and MSNBC.com will become the cable channel鈥檚 exclusive website in 2013, which will insulate the objective news product from the more partisan content on the cable channel.
Microsoft is expected to launch its own news service independent of NBC in the fall.
Both NBC and Microsoft praised the partnership but indicated it was time for both companies to control their digital destinies.
Steve Capus, the president of NBC News, said in a morning conference call, 鈥淭his is an exciting day for NBC News. 鈥� We want to make sure we have direct control of our digital future. 鈥� We are not doing this as a way to cut costs.鈥� He said other companies were cutting journalism jobs, while this deal showed a commitment to news.
Vivian Schiller, the former chief executive officer of National Public Radio, will head NBC News Digital, whose websites, in addition to NBCNews.com, will include NightlyNews.com, BreakingNews.com, Newsvine.com, EveryBlock.com, TheGrio.com, NBCPolitics.com and EducationNation.com.
This is the second recent deal for聽Comcast聽involving NBCUniversal, which it acquired in early 2011. The cable giant disclosed in a federal regulatory filing on July 10 that it sold its 15.8 percent stake in A&E Television Networks LLC for $3 billion in cash 鈥� some which can be used to purchase the 50 percent in MSNBC.com.
Comcast聽owned the 15.8 percent share through NBCUniversal. It sold the stake back to its partners in A&E, the Walt Disney Co. and Hearst Corp.
NBC officials said on Monday that聽Comcast聽negotiated the deal with Microsoft, though聽Comcast聽officials did not participate in an hour-long press call announcing it Monday morning.聽Comcast聽and Microsoft have had close relations for years. Brian Roberts, the chief executive and chairman of the Philadelphia cable company, is a personal friend of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. In financial terms, this was a minor transaction for聽Comcast, which has a stock market capitalization of about $85 billion.
There are about 300 employees in MSNBC.com, many of them in Seattle.
NBC executives said they鈥檒l keep the MSNBC name because of its brand recognition with viewers and because they obtained ownership of the name as part of the deal.
Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, said that the cable channel has 鈥渇ound its voice鈥� and that 鈥渢he performance of the cable channel cannot be questioned.鈥� MSNBC ranks consistently No. 2 in the news channel category, behind Fox. Its ratings can be beaten by CNN for big breaking news stories.
Griffin described MSNBC as progressive and said executives believe a related 鈥減oint-of-view鈥� website will be a success. 鈥淥ur space is wide open,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 our intention, to own that space.鈥�