On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 10:21 PM, M-D November <[email protected]> wrote: > OK, here's what I don't get. The "MS" in "msnbc" was short for Microsoft. > True, in today's multichannel environment, no one knows what channel > acronyms are supposed to mean anymore, but given its prior meaning - why > keep the msnbc name at all? > > I get that they can't just call it "NBC News Channel", akin to the > rebranding of Versus to NBC Sports Channel, since that would set off the > Fixed Noise types, although they'd want to keep some kind of indirect tie to > the mothership...still, there must be another name out there that fits the > channel better. Surely the crack minds who thought up "Syfy" and "Cloo" > can...oh, wait. > > <Emily Litella> Never mind. </Emily Litella>
My guess is that rebranding costs money and viewers who didn't follow the rebranding would just assume the channel went off the air or into another cable tier. NBC has spent a couple of years marketing MSNBC as a liberal alternative to FNC and that could easily be lost if they change names. If they changed the name to NBC News Channel and kept Maddow and that lineup I don't think they would be bothered by FNC-type complaints. I think they would be more bothered by dissent from news veterans within NBC and retired NBC newspeople who would publicly say that NBC News should stand for the old values of journalism. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
