Comcast's announcement that it was spinning off several cable networks, including MSNBC and CNBC, has sent shockwaves through the media world.
There's a chance that wherever MSNBC lands, it will lose its name and probably most of its talent. And that has MSNBC staffers panicking. “People don’t really know what’s going on," said one MSNBC insider. "They had the election, holidays are coming up. People are tired and just trying to get through.”
MSNBC, along with CNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and the Golf Channel, will apparently be part of a new company called SpinCo. But most of the future of the cable news network is unknowable as Comcast may seek other partners in the spinoff project, which will happen sometime next year.
“We could all be fired a year from now," said "Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough. “When this happens, you never know what’s going to happen,” he said,
“People are anxious but I’m not sure they’re more anxiety-ridden than they were five minutes before this announcement,” an MSNBC employee told the New York Post. “The business is not doing well.”
No one on the Trump transition team is shedding any tears about MSNBC's troubles. The virulent anti-Trump cable news outlet is public enemy number one and will continue to be for the Trump administration.
The prospect of being separated from NBC News has spiked fears among journalists at the company because MSNBC and CNBC routinely share reporting and contributors among other things.
Much of MSNBC’s daytime schedule is filled with NBC News-affiliated correspondents, for instance, which has sparked worries about how the network will manage its coverage and if there will be a major upheaval, as a result.
Employees at the meeting inquired about MSNBC’s newsgathering process, asking Lazarus if a unit for verifying the news would have to be “built from scratch,” sources said.
That could be a problem for Comcast and MSNBC. News gathering isn't cheap in that it's very much a people-heavy undertaking. Any decent news outlet will have to send correspondents all over the world. Being unable to depend on NBC for on-air talent, editors, and writers means that MSNBC may have to contract out for some services.
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Comcast promises the new entity, for now known as SpinCo, will start with a growth trajectory and significant financial firepower. But there is already speculation it may need to bulk up to survive.
That could mean a sale to another entity or an acquisition. Either way, a future deal would likely require approval from the DOJ, potentially led by Gaetz, and other Trump regulators. (The FCC’s blessing may not be required because SpinCo won’t include the NBC broadcast network).
Jettisoned from the Comcast mothership and its stable cash flows, the spinoff cable channels will have less financial protection from the volatility of the TV industry, not to mention less of a shield from the Trump administration.
MSNBC is projected to lose about 10% of its subscribers between the end of 2023 and the end of 2025, according to estimates from Kagan, a market research firm. Comcast is getting out while the going is good. They will still have their streaming entities and very profitable NBC Universal.
Deadweight like MSNBC is being tossed overboard.
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