Comcast officially announced on Wednesday it would spin off several NBCUniversal cable networks, including MSNBC, in a move that will dramatically shake up the landscape of legacy media as the liberal cable outlet will no longer be affiliated with NBC News.
Cesar Conde will continue leading the NBCUniversal News Group, but now that group only includes NBC News, the NBC News Now streaming service, Telemundo and owned-and-operated local stations. Conde loses oversight of MSNBC and CNBC in the process and the fate of shared resources – and even the cable network’s name and editorial direction– are in question.
A current MSNBC staffer is “intrigued by the amount of thought that seems to have gone into” the decision from a business standpoint, but said there is a “big concern” about what this means going forward for MSNBC.
“What is MSNBC going to be editorially? I would say some people are probably relieved that probably Comcast and NBC will have less to do with that, because if…