What the Comcast cable network spinoff means for MSNBC and NBC News

When NBC launched MSNBC in 1996, the network was marketed with the slogan “It’s Time to Get Connected,” a line that acknowledged the emergence of the internet as a game-changing force in the media. Microsoft, then a minority partner in the channel, made web culture part of its programming.

Now, MSNBC is being upended by the very technology it first embraced, with streaming video now accounting for nearly half of all TV viewing, according to Nielsen. The decline of pay TV has culminated in Comcast placing MSNBC — along with sister networks such as CNBC and E! — in a spinoff company that will essentially be a repository for its cable outlets.

The plan, formally announced Wednesday, means MSNBC will be owned by a separate entity from its parent NBC News, ending what has at times been a tense relationship.