MSNBC.com will be getting a name change. Via The Daily Beast:
Under the plan, officials will rebrand MSNBC.com, which consistently ranks among the top three in online news sites, as NBCNews.com. The announcement of the corporate divorce is expected within days, although there could always be a last-minute snag.
“We’re absolutely having those conversations, but there is no deal,” an NBC spokesman said Wednesday.
The cable channel MSNBC was originally a joint venture between the broadcast network and Bill Gates’ company—hence the initials in the name—but the television partnership was dissolved in 2005. The companies, however, remained 50-50 partners in the website.
A move that had to be made, but still gutsy because so much traffic to MSNBC.com comes from Microsoft’s MSN portal. NBC will have to pay to keep that traffic flowing.
