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NBC Purchases MSNBC Rights From Microsoft
flatt writes "Ending a sixteen year partnership between the now Comcast-owned NBCUniversal and Microsoft, the MSNBC.com website has been immediately renamed to NBCNews.com. Both parties note that the integration between both parties is deep and will require 2 years to complete the decoupling. For the immediate future, NBC will continue to provide news content for MSN.com and Microsoft will continue to be the advertising provider for the site. Content control, brand confusion, and partisan content are cited as reasons behind the breakup. Microsoft sold its 50% share in the MSNBC TV rights to NBC back in 2005."
Does that mean that Microsoft didn't like MSNBC's political bias, or that NBC didn't like Microsoft's insertion of political bias on MSNBC.com?
I am a geek attorney, but not your geek attorney unless you've already retained me. This is not legal advice.
Wait, I'm confused. This story suggests that this sale of the Microsoft share of MSNBC is a recent thing, but the summary says the sale happened in 2005. Is this old news, or did Microsoft have additional ownership that has recently (like within this calendar year) been purchased as well to finalize the split?
So, if I read this correctly, NBC is its own owner again, and therefore also in charge of its own contents. Independence is important for a news provider.
Two big profit-making concerns go from providing "news" together to providing "news" apart. Oh well.
ms got what it and its hollywood buddies wanted...
control
NBC paid over a billion dollars for the Olympics, again.
NBC announced a huge Olympic tie-in with Facebook. (google news is your friend, for purposes of this citation) This is a 180 degree position from the last Olympics. The last Olympics was 'delayed' and only viewable on your TV set during evening prime-time viewing, and NOT on-the-net (with any legality). Now, all is going to be available online, so everyone can chat with their facebook friends. Both NBC and Facebook corporations have gone public to state no cash has (or will) exchanged hands, this is just a pure partnership to grow interactive TV.
Nothing is accidental. Especially the timing of this announcement.
As noted in the brief blurb, NBC bought-out Microsoft back in 2005, the branding has changed, but little else will, and the complete seperation of the two will not be completed until 2014, nearly ten years after the buyout.
I seriously doubt the issue was political spin, ratings, etc. since this divorce started back in 2005 - it simply took Microsoft a long time to decide to actually do something with a cable channel on their own.
Ken
When this transaction first happened in the 90s, it didn't make sense to me. Why was MS starting a news channel and a news website, when NBC was already there, and MS really had nothing to bring to the party. I know, that was the era of Friends and Seinfeld, which made NBC far more attractive than Fox, ABC and CBS. However, MS made itself look like a shill for the Left in the eyes of Conservatives, even while it was being investigated by the DoJ for its monopolistic practices.
And these days, do too many people go to these sites? I'd imagine that they go to blogs that have the news about their subject of interest, and go there. This is different from the days of first Usenet, and later, web sites of news organizations. Nowadays, people just throng to the websites they trust, and follow whatever news they want there.
No way, I can't believe it. I thought MSNBC was completely free of bias.
The last Olympics was 'delayed' and only viewable on your TV set during evening prime-time viewing, and NOT on-the-net (with any legality). Now, all is going to be available online, so everyone can chat with their facebook friends.
Looked at from another angle, it's being locked down. Facebook isn't "everyone".
And it's still delayed.
Everytime I installed windows 95/98 and having to get rid of that stupid icon from the desktop and then from the ie bookmarks which were included even up to win 7. FInally that stupid icon is going to die away.
I would have guessed they'd have backronym'ed MSNBC due to its name recognition, but apparently the brand was so toxic as to require a rebranding as soon as the ink was dry.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I've always been uneasy about Microsoft, I mean Microsoft, being in control of a news network.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
I was worried that MSNBC wouldn't be able to be a fully functioning arm of the White House.
Yeah, too bad along with the icon's death the whole operating system is going to suck, since Microsoft is so dead-set on making Windows 8 a touchscreen/tablet OS and already trying to make the desktop feel "legacy" by making it a royal pain in the ass to use. I have to admit though, I didn't realize there were MSNBC favorites in IE all the way up to Windows 7 though... but then, I haven't run Windows myself since XP and ditched IE6 for Firefox/Mozilla Suite way back when Microsoft thought it would be a brilliant idea to just sit on their illegally-obtained monopoly and leave their browser to rot, along with the entire Web itself--but what did they care, they had the entire Web and its users by the balls.
Enjoy Metro and your lack of a little MSNBC icon. I've been MSNBC-free for years and will not be forced into switching to Metro.
I am still waiting for CNNBCBS, a division of ABC. That would be the worst channel ever.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Have the people at NBC not read their own pages? Could that be any more partisan? With the edited Zimmerman audio and everything else, it's a bloody joke. Idiots.
Obviously they are rebranding and are simply dumping the alliance with NBC completely. They are launching a media channel this fall and no doubt will sell to the cable companies. What they most likely have in mind is an integration with windows8. To understand what they are up to, just look at the button layout and how online centred it really is. When you go online no doubt your default search, news, and video entertainment will all launch from the IE button.
Hell they might even be able to convince comcast, or the likes, to allow access to digital broadcast content directy in MP4 through windows8 off your cable. They are out to completely dominate infotainment on tablets and the PC.
They will either succeed and finally start making real money off the entertainment industry with .net and Silverlight or it will be an historic failure that might just send Ballmer into retirement!
why not NBC NEWS so it's like FOX NEWS
If you have ever read - the road ahead - by bill gates you will see that this really ties into the plans of microsoft from a long time ago, when apple was still running around looking to stay afloat. The problem was back then it was the equipment would have been to expensive , now with throwaway equipment and people brainwashed into getting new cheap devices every two years it now makes sense.
And here is the clincher: Maddow has a light saber in her desk. Hannity comes nowhere close to being as cool as Maddow.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
NBC - "We just make shit up". To call it "news" is laughable.
MSNBC hasn't been a real news network since it began. That's why everyone watches Fox News instead.
Why don't you visit msn.com and find out what it is? It is pretty self evident. It is a site that Microsoft runs, for news etc, it will remain controlled by MS, after microsoft has sold off its stake in MSNBC, which Microsoft helped found. MSN is also an ISP with dial up access but this is shrinking, due to the fact we have unfortunately monopolies by cable companies and telephone companies on broadband services that other companies are not able to enter that market.
1) Martin Bashir
2) Rachel Maddow
3) Chris Hayes
4-7) The Cycle (Krystall Ball, S E Cupp, Taure and Steve K
8 Alex Wagner
9) Lawrence O'donnel
10} Melissa Harris Perry
and also Luke Russert and Ezra Klein - regular guests and standins for some of those shows.
I thought they usually just threw cold water on dogs...
I wonder if they'll edit the tapes to make it look like people who lost, won and people who won, lost. Then they'll claim some controversy based on that.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
it's biased towards "highbrow" which is to appeal to left leaning upper middle class people.
right, because PBS and NPR are trying to promote enriching and beneficial news and entertainment in separate realms. as for the left leaning upper middle class people, i guess they just havent succumbed to the sophistication of nascar and larry the cable guy.
It focuses much more on culture that the masses don't care about (such as opera).
So the acclaimed science program Nova, Inspector Lewis, Downtown Abbey, and Childrens programming like Barney? im sure there are others
Oddly, it's pro investing but mildly anti-business
so a television station that isnt willing to just carte blanche pander for advertising cash and instead gets a chance to truly criticize things like hydraulic fracturing and the pharmaceutical industry has somehow become a bad thing.
I doubt your brother has ever watched PBS (the "listeny" one is called NPR, both under the CPB but separate entities.) flamebait bullshit like "theres a small bit of truth" is the same crap FOX does in order to gin up dissent against anything that goes against the GOP or its inherent interests. it would be better to say "my brother once watched Tavis Smiley form a coherent and well structured argument against the established patterns and processes of social inequality as it applies to race, and that didnt fit with my american dream narrative so now the entire station is some sort of marxist cabal."
Good people go to bed earlier.
I suspect that the real reason that MSNBC is breaking up is because Ballmer through a chair through his TV set over some news story, vowing to "destroy MSNBC."
Don't think anyone is really going Metro. Most of the people giving it a thumbs down are planning on sticking with 7 until MS realizes what a cluster-fuck 8 is, and decides to go back to the WIMP paradigm in 9.
Of course, if 8 somehow obtains a magical killer-app that the rest of the tech world can't live without, then they will switch to 8. Or they could pull a Wesley, and make 9 even more tablety to try and convince everyone that 8 was really the way to go, but who knows?
I am John Hurt.
Facebook is everyone the advertisers care about.
It will take two years to fully decouple... how long until NBC News is respected as a news outlet again?
Oh, sorry, did I say "again"? Oops...
Most of the people who have tried Metro on the right sorts of equipment love it. Where it sucks is on traditional mouse/keyboard input systems. Microsoft appears to have the vision for changing the x86 platform and moving it towards that sort of hardware. There is a going to be a huge backlash, they claim to be willing to stand their ground. We'll have to wait and see.
The good news is, I suppose, that 2013 may at long last be the year of the linux desktop, thanks Windows 8!
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
Well that's just common sense, isn't it? You have programming that people lots of people want to watch; clearly the best avenue for making money is to facilitate more people watching it, rather than trying to lock it down as much as possible. Like, what am I missing here?
"Did the sale go through?"
"Yes."
"Finally! Now we can commence proper leftist bitching about Microsoft. God what an awful period of time."
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
I don't see where this makes any difference. I don't watch any NBC channels, try to do as little business with Microsoft as possible, and would go back to dialup before touching Comcast again. May they all rot in hell.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I agree. I think the Windows 8 strategy in driving up hardware prices might finally create a reasonable sized niche at the low end for the Linux desktops. Linux has always made sense for the low end of the market. XP was so compelling though, and Microsoft so intent on capturing the low end even at the expense of their own profits that they've crushed the market. Now they have too many other threats and the low end of the market would hold them back.
I thought it was "everyone with Facebook AND a cable TV subscription" since you need to log in with your cable TV account on nbcolympics.com before you can watch anything (outside of their prime-time event picks)
your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
FInally that stupid icon is going to die away.
Don't worry, it will be replaced by a new stupid icon.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Most of the people who have tried Metro on the right sorts of equipment love it.
Right, which is why Lumias are flying off the shelves.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
I don't know of any study or research tying the problems to the Windows interface rather than:
a) Much worse hardware
b) Inclusion of Skype and the carrier boycotts.
c) Little available software
d) Nokia customers preferring Symbian and to some extent Meego.
Metro being good doesn't fix all those other problems.
you seem to have a lot of anger towards microsoft. And I'm talking above and beyond the normal level of animosity towards MS on /.
I'd classify the three 24/7 cable news networks this way:
Fox News: The station does make an attempt at reporting the news, but it rarely feels thorough or balanced. Their bread and butter is "quotable inofotainment" that appeals to the lazy side of humanity that clings to soundbytes more than lengthy debate. Sean Hannity and Bill "F**k it! We'll do it live!" O'Reilly are masters of this, repeating facts (or factoids) that support their point of view, while belittling those who argue with them. I get a good laugh out of them sometimes and they are entertaining on occasion, but that's all they are. Others on the air there aren't so bad - John Stossel is entertaining, Greta V. is ok, etc. - but you can't shake the feeling it's all a puppet show. (Maybe The Daily Show and The Colbert Report has exposed enough of their unintentional, 24/7 cycle induced inconsistency to completely invalidate their "news cred"?)
MSNBC - The "ivory tower" of liberal news a**holes. Where did they find these people? Someone must've wounded Keith Olbermann (the king of liberal, sensationalistc bombast), and when his spilled blood hit the ground it grew into the intellectual monsters that are Rachel Maddow, Mr. Ed, and that O'Donnell guy. Rachel makes you want to punch her in the face within 5 minutes at times. She's sharp as a tack - right up until you realize that she's flat out ignoring the other side. Mr. Ed is a total dick that you couldn't discuss politics with at a party. His arguments are just as partisan, but don't even begin to hold up under scrutiny. And that O'Donnell guy - he's the worst. His calm administration of liberal venom via his soothsaying style is done with such partisan arrogance that I can't even listen to him. 100% revulsion... Case in point on MSNBC's problems: When the Wisconsin recall election was going the "wrong way", they were in flat out denial and spin mode. They even refused to broadcast most of Gov. Walker's speech... It should have been flat out embarrassing the way they were behaving. (The morning people are no better than Fox's blonde bimbo squad or their Red Eye crew) - more fun infotainment; all sugar, no substance.
CNN pretends to be in the middle, but they lean left. When you have openly homosexual "anchors", how can you not lean left on social issues? Their right-wing counterweights are too extreme and partisan to be acceptable. Case in point: Piers Morgan is a freak show (see "Robert Blake interview") that leans left whenever the show broaches a real topic, like gay marriage, etc. They miss the strength of shows like the 1980's Crossfire.
If I had to pick one of the three, I'd probably force myself to CNN, but I'd know that none of them is going to tell me the whole story and debate both sides of any issue without an agenda.
When you have to count on entertainment programming like "The Daily Show" to provoke new thought and expose hypocrisy in the government and news industry reporting, that's pretty sad.
I also miss the old CNN Headline News format. They did an old-school, 30 minute newscast every hour, on the hour, and repeated the content until new news stories came up and were rotated in. That was more informative and valuable to me than anything else in cable news today...
I think MSNBC TV has its offices in 30 Rockefeller Plaza in NYC, but msnbc.com has its offices actually within Microsoft's campus in Redmond WA.
I wonder if they'll have to move out.
[Public Broadcasting Service] focuses much more on culture that the masses don't care about (such as opera).
So the acclaimed science program Nova, Inspector Lewis, Downtown Abbey, and Childrens programming like Barney?
Arthur is fine, Barney not so much. Add up all the Roman numerals in "LoVabLe pVrpLe DInosaVr" (D=500, L=50, V=5, I=1) and you get six hundred sixty-six.
so a television station that isnt willing to just carte blanche pander for advertising cash
I'm not sure about "carte blanche pander", but right next to the "contributions to PBS stations from viewers like you (thank you)" you still see ads. But otherwise, your comment makes good points.
I would have guessed they'd have backronym'ed MSNBC due to its name recognition
You mean something other than the Most Socialist Network on Basic Cable?
Yeah, especially when every major American TV news outlet that isn't PBS is co-owned by the parent company of a Hollywood movie distributor: CNN and HLN with Warner Bros. under Time Warner, ABC with Buena Vista under Disney, CBS with Paramount under National Amusements, *NBC with Universal under NBCUniversal, and Fox News with Last Century Fox under News Corporation.