MSNBC Rebrand Inspires WTF Reaction On Social Media

The TV network announced Monday it will be officially dropping the “NBC” from its name later this year.

NBC Universal ordered the name change after it spun off many of its struggling cable networks ― including USA, CNBC, MSNBC, E! Entertainment, Oxygen and the Golf Channel ― into a new company called Versant.

MS NOW is meant to stand for “My Source News Opinion World,” but the reaction to the new name on social media suggested it will attract more snark than viewers ― at least in the short term.

Former network personality Keth Olbermann seemed to take the name change personally, claiming the network “screwed up what I built for them.”

Many people admitted they thought the MS in MS NOW stood for something else, or “Microsoft,” NBC’s original partner in the network.

Some people thought it sounded like a long-forgotten computer program.

Conservative pundit Jonah Goldberg suggested it might be a decent name for a feminist cable news network.

Former soccer player turned analyst Alexi Lalas did offer some slight (and very snarky) praise for the new name.

But a lot of people saw the MS in MS NOW and immediately thought it stood for multiple sclerosis.

One person cheekily suggested that the MS NOW is best suited to a channel devoted to “Martin Scorsese ‘n’ Olivia Wilde.”