MSNBC

MSNBC
Country	United States
Broadcast area	United States and Canada
Headquarters	30 Rockefeller Plaza; Manhattan, New York City;
Programming
Language(s)	English
Picture format	1080i HDTV; (downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed);
Ownership
Owner	NBCUniversal (Comcast)
Parent	NBCUniversal News Group
Sister channels	CNBC; CNBC World; NBC;
History
Launched	July 15, 1996
Replaced	America's Talking; (1994–1996); MSNBC Canada; (in Canada);
Links
Website	www.msnbc.com
Availability
Terrestrial
Digital terrestrial television	Channel 20.4 (Alexandria, Minnesota)
Streaming media
Service(s)	Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, FuboTV, YouTube TV

MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts rolling news coverage and liberal-leaning political commentary.

MSNBC was originally established as part of a joint venture between NBC News and Microsoft (with its name being a portmanteau of MSN and NBC), encompassing the channel and the news website MSNBC.com. Microsoft would divest its stake in the channel in 2005, followed by the website in 2012; the website was then rebranded as NBCNews.com to associate it more closely with the NBC News division, leaving MSNBC.com to become a website for the channel and its opinion content.

MSNBC initially focused on rolling news coverage, including long-form reports, interactive programs, and stories contributed by the local news departments of NBC's affiliates. By the late-2000s, MSNBC shifted to primarily airing opinion-based programming featuring liberal commentators such as Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, David Gregory, Ed Schultz, and Rachel Maddow; in 2010, MSNBC would beat CNN in primetime and overall viewership for the first time since 2001. In the mid-2010s, amid a decline in viewership, MSNBC increased its focus on hard news coverage, and added programs incorporating NBC News personalities. Under new leadership in the 2020s, MSNBC began to gradually decrease its reliance on NBC News personalities and resources (especially amid the upcoming spin-off of NBCUniversal's cable networks as a new company), and gradually expanded its opinion programming in dayparts such as the morning and weekends.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, MSNBC was the second most-watched cable news network in the U.S., averaging 792,000 total day viewers, behind rival Fox News, which averaged 1.212 million viewers, and ahead of CNN, which averaged 502,000 viewers.^[1] In 2023, MSNBC's top five highest-rated shows were The Rachel Maddow Show, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Deadline: White House, The Beat with Ari Melber, and All in with Chris Hayes.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] In November 2023, MSNBC's most watched nightly shows were The Beat with Ari Melber and Deadline: White House; The Beat was "the highest-rated non-Fox News show in the demo" on cable news, AdWeek reported,^[6]^[7] averaging around 1.8 million viewers that year.^[8]

^ "This Is the Q4 2023 Cable Network Ratings Report". Adweek. January 4, 2024. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
^ Steinberg, Brian (September 19, 2023). "MSNBC Isn't Using Blue-State Chatter to Build a Daytime Nation". Variety. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
^ Grynbaum, Michael M. (March 16, 2023). "The New Prime Time for TV News: Afternoons". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
^ "Fox News Dominates Cable News For October With Israel-Hamas Coverage, But MSNBC and CNN Both Gain Year Over Year". Mediaite. November 1, 2023. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
^ "Thursday, November 2 Scoreboard: The Five, Gutfeld! Split First Place in Ratings". Adweek. November 3, 2023. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
^ "Here Are Top-Rated Cable News Shows of November 2023". Adweek. November 30, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
^ Johnson, Ted (December 1, 2023). "Fox News Tops November Ratings; MSNBC Shows Total Day Gains Vs. 2022". Deadline. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
^ "Week of Oct. 23 Basic Cable Ranker: Top-Ranked Fox News Is No. 1 in Total Day Viewers, But Sheds Primetime Viewers". Adweek. November 1, 2023. Retrieved November 3, 2023.

[1] "This Is the Q4 2023 Cable Network Ratings Report". Adweek. January 4, 2024. Retrieved January 6, 2024.

[auto1-2] Steinberg, Brian (September 19, 2023). "MSNBC Isn't Using Blue-State Chatter to Build a Daytime Nation". Variety. Retrieved November 3, 2023.

[3] Grynbaum, Michael M. (March 16, 2023). "The New Prime Time for TV News: Afternoons". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 3, 2023.

[4] "Fox News Dominates Cable News For October With Israel-Hamas Coverage, But MSNBC and CNN Both Gain Year Over Year". Mediaite. November 1, 2023. Retrieved November 4, 2023.

[5] "Thursday, November 2 Scoreboard: The Five, Gutfeld! Split First Place in Ratings". Adweek. November 3, 2023. Retrieved November 4, 2023.

[6] "Here Are Top-Rated Cable News Shows of November 2023". Adweek. November 30, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.

[7] Johnson, Ted (December 1, 2023). "Fox News Tops November Ratings; MSNBC Shows Total Day Gains Vs. 2022". Deadline. Retrieved December 4, 2023.

[8] "Week of Oct. 23 Basic Cable Ranker: Top-Ranked Fox News Is No. 1 in Total Day Viewers, But Sheds Primetime Viewers". Adweek. November 1, 2023. Retrieved November 3, 2023.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]