MSNBC is rebranding to MS NOW, but Microsoft’s influence lingers. A look at the history of Microsoft’s role, and how the “MS” lives on.

MSNBC will rebrand as MS Now later this year as Comcast separates the network from NBC News, marking a push for independence and a new corporate identity.

The rebranding — which stands for My Source for News, Opinion, and the World — comes as Comcast spins off several of its cable networks into a new company called Versant. The change will drop both the NBC name and the peacock logo from MSNBC 's branding.

Cable news channel MSNBC will rebrand as My Source News Opinion World, or MS NOW, according to internal memos seen by Reuters today, as parent Comcast presses ahead with the planned separation of many NBCUniversal cable networks later this year.

Many people thought the new name sounded more like a discontinued form of software, a tragic disease or a channel devoted to "Martin Scorsese 'n' Olivia Wilde."

Cable news channel MSNBC is going to rebrand as My Source News Opinion World, or MS NOW, according to a new report from the New York Times. The change is happening because Comcast’s NBCUniversal is spinning off many of its cable TV assets into a new company called Versant, severing ties with the “NBC” part of MSNBC.

MSNBC will divorce itself from the NBC branding and rename itself “MS NOW” when the channel is spun out by Comcast and relaunched under Versant’s ownership, the company announced on Monday.

Making sense of MS Now, the corporate-mandated rebrand for the cable TV outlet that made its name as a left-leaning stalwart.