NBC rebranded its MSNBC.com website as NBCNews.com, after it bought out Microsoft's stake.
The product of a nearly two decade long, odd-couple partnership between NBC and Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) -- is now fully under NBC's roof. Comcast (CMCSA), the media giant's parent company, bought Microsoft's 50% share in the online news site. The deal was completed late Friday and announced on Monday.
The website has been rebranded NBCNews.com, though the content remains the same. Traffic to MSNBC.com redirects to NBCNews.com for the time being, but in early 2013, MSNBC.com will relaunch as the separate online home for NBC's cable network of the same name.
Confused yet? So were many people, which was part of the catalyst for the divorce. Microsoft divested its interest in the MSNBC TV station in 2005. Since then, the website and the TV network have existed as two mostly distinct properties without much to do with one another.
The divide between the television and online properties has become even greater in recent years as the cable channel began to position itself as a politically progressive alternative to News Corp.'s (NWS) Fox News Channel -- a shift that the website did not follow.
The deal allows NBC to settle any confusion between the two. Today.com, NightlyNews.com and BreakingNews.com will be under the newly formed NBC News Digital division, and the MSNBC brand will be exclusive to the cable channel. (It will retain that name even though Microsoft, the source of the "MS," is long gone.)
"With this move we're investing in the future of this news division," NBC News president Steve Capus said. "We want to make sure we have complete control and ownership of our digital future."
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