Developing: Pakistani Plane Escorted by UK Fighter Jets — 2 Men Arrested

Listen to the Buck Sexton Show Live on TheBlaze Radio

Media

MSNBC.com Disappears as Microsoft and NBC Dissolve 16-Year Partnership

Jul. 15, 2012 11:16pm Erica Ritz

MSNBC.com Disappears as Microsoft and NBC Dissolve 16 Year Marriage | Microsoft Preparing to Launch Its Own News Service

MSNBC.com now automatically redirects. (Photo: Screen Shot)

(The Blaze/AP) — Microsoft is pulling out of the joint venture that owned MSNBC.com, freeing the world’s largest software maker to build its own online news service.

The breakup announced late Sunday dissolves the final shreds of a 16-year marriage between Microsoft Corp. and NBC News, which is now owned by Comcast Corp. The relationship began to unwind in 2005 when Microsoft sold its stake in MSNBC’s cable TV channel to NBC.

NBC is buying Microsoft’s 50 percent interest in the MSNBC website for an undisclosed amount, though the New York Times reports that Microsoft will receive roughly $300 million.

MSNBC.com will be rebranded as NBCNews.com, and readers who logged into MSNBC.com late Sunday were automatically redirected to NBCNews.com.

(Photo: Screen Shot)

The online divorce stemmed from the two partners’ desire to gain greater control over their digital destinies as the Internet becomes an increasingly important part of their businesses.

The inherent constraints of being locked into a joint venture sometimes handcuffed Microsoft and NBC.

Microsoft, in particular, had grown frustrated by contract terms requiring it to exclusively feature MSNBC.com content on its own websites. That exasperation was exacerbated by the MSNBC cable channel’s strategy to counter Fox News Channel’s appeal to conservative viewers by tailoring its programming for an audience with a liberal viewpoint.

The strategy fed a perception that material from MSNBC’s website was politically slanted, too.

“Being limited to MSNBC.com content was problematic to us because we couldn’t have the multiple news sources and the multiple perspectives that our users were telling us that they wanted,” said Bob Visse, general manager of MSN.com.

Now that it has shed those shackles, Microsoft is preparing to launch its own news service this fall. Although he declined to provide many details about the operation, Visse said the news staff will be about the same size as the roughly 100 people who created original content for the MSNBC.com.

By hiring its own news staff to feed material to its websites, Microsoft is embracing the same strategy as the owners of two other major Internet companies, Yahoo Inc. and AOL Inc.

Microsoft has leaned on its lucrative franchise selling personal computer software to pay for massive Internet investments that have rarely paid off, much to the frustration of its shareholders. The software maker initially invested $220 million in the MSNBC joint venture. It’s unclear if Microsoft ended up making any money on the alliance. As a whole, the company’s online operations, which include the Bing search engine and MSN portal, have lost more than $10 billion in the past seven years.

Even as it sets out to compete against NBC News, Microsoft will continue to highlight the top stories from its former partner for the next two years under terms of the split.

Vivian Schiller is now with NBC, after resigning from NPR. (Photo: AP)

NBC News, in turn, believes it will be able to attract more traffic to its stable of websites by forging other partnerships that were off limits when it was tied to Microsoft.

“There is no question that we are going to have more flexibility to make our own decisions,” said Vivian Schiller, NBC News’ chief digital officer. “This is really an amicable breakup. We think competition will make us better.”

Twitchy reminds that Vivian Schiller is the former president of NPR who resigned last year after a sting video showed another NPR manager making derogatory comments about conservatives.

MSNBC.com and its affiliated sites ranked as the Internet’s fourth most popular site for general news in the U.S., with nearly 50 million visitors in June, up 5 percent from last year, according to the research firm comScore Inc.

Yahoo’s recently formed alliance with ABC News topped the charts with 81 million visitors, followed by AOL/Huffington Post, and CNN.

As part of its online restructuring, NBC News plans to create a new online destination for the MSNBC cable channel’s personalities next year.

Although it will be based in New York, NBCNews.com will retain a significant staff in the Seattle area, according to Schiller. About 170 of MSNBC.com’s 300 employees worked in the Seattle area.

Microsoft is letting NBCNews.com remain in its Redmond office while it looks for a new location in the area.

Benghazi, IRS, AP...What's next? Only TheBlaze TV offers the truth from Glenn Beck, Andrew Wilkow, and Real News from TheBlaze. Get instant access and a free trial here.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (148)

lassiegirldawn
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:52am
How much do you think that the new Microsoft News will be unbiased? Commie In Chief was just here in Seattle and Gates is one of the biggest donors. If it were a newspaper instead of internet site, I would wipe my @ss with it.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Pilgrimsarbour
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 1:52am
  I STILL would.
  
  Report this comment
- mike_trivisonno
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 8:34am
  Bill Gates a treasonous piece of communist crap. He should be deported and all of his wealth confiscated. Bill Gates; America-hating communist piece of filth.
  
  Deport communists.
  
  Report this comment
- MadinIllinois
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 8:58am
  I can only think of a handful of news sites – paper, internet, TV – that actually do their jobs and give you the news straight up! NBC will still be a far left, liberal news site that I don’t ever watch – . Could you imagine where we would be IF the news media had actually done their job and “vented” this embarrassing THUG in the White House in 2008 ??
  
  Report this comment
- RayOne
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 8:59am
  Why, RT serves many different audiences, Schiller will lead them in market positioning and rebranding.
  As a new world globalist, the American public is still on its own.
  
  Report this comment
- Zipit
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 9:08am
  Just put some really soft paper in you printer, download a few articles, print em up and have at it! Just make sure you have some hemorrhoid creme handy as the content and bias in those items may rub off and cause you considerable discomfort.
  
  Report this comment
- DimmuBorgir
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:37am
  @ MIKE
  
  you just don’t like him cause you have a mac and can’t get off of apple’s junk
  
  Report this comment
- antitheist
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:37pm
  @Mike
  So you want Bill Gates to be deported and have his wealth taken by the government (who else conducts deportations)? You say he’s a communist yet you want his wealth to be taken by the government? You right wingers don’t think right?
  
  Report this comment
- Dr Vel
  Posted on September 19, 2012 at 1:10pm
  “The strategy fed a perception that material from MSNBC’s website was politically slanted, too”
  
  A perception? Who the hell wrote this article and what planet were they on at the time?
  
  Report this comment
- Dr Vel
  Posted on September 19, 2012 at 1:27pm
  antitheist “@Mike So you want Bill Gates to be deported and have his wealth taken by the government (who else conducts deportations)? You say he’s a communist yet you want his wealth to be taken by the government? You right wingers don’t think right?”
  
  Further proof liberals only think in one dimensional extremes. We think just fine. If only you were bright enough to see the comprehensive picture, i.e., the truth. We do not believe in stealing wealth from someone merely for honestly earning it. We want to take it from those who treasonously work against America, the constitution, and it’s founding principles. We also do not believe in robbing hard working people to give it to professional inter-generational leeches so they can take it easy with endless free leisure time. Free time used for watching soaps, partying, robbing workers homes while they are away at work for extra drug money, or protesting the hands that feed them.
  
  Report this comment
Benjamin Jarvis
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:50am
‘MSNBC.com and its affiliated sites ranked as the Internet’s fourth most popular site for general news in the U.S., with nearly 50 million visitors in June, up 5 percent from last year…’

Having to see all of their edited videos and religion bashing for myself, then sharing that with others…that’s your 5% uptick. I can’t believe what has happened to NBC, absolutely no shame, logic or conviction for the truth. The truth always makes the best story. I guess the best way to reiterate that point is to watch this network dispatch itself into oblivion.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- pschlentz
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 1:56am
  Can’t stand watching blatant prepared lies and acting like it’s news. What shamefull fools all these ‘News’ organizations have become.
  True Americans are on to them, and we’re growing.
  
  Report this comment
- hawkeyez
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 3:14am
  I just view and login to leave comments for the ******** to get upset at :-)
  
  Report this comment
- designbyinspiration
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 6:17am
  The only reason there is an increase in hits is people buy new Windows computers- and don’t know how to change the default homepage, lol. Way to stack the deck and create statistics simply with a certain marketing channel.
  
  How typical of altering/editing NBC. BTW: Did they use Microsoft Movie Maker to do that?
  
  Report this comment
- biohazard23
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 8:50am
  @Design, true that!
  
  Report this comment
- OhioRifleman
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 9:40am
  @ Design By Inspiration
  
  Well, think of this way: now that MS-NBGC has been split, and MS is going to start their own news service, NBCNews will get little to no publicity on the common front page of IE browsers. I expect it will crater some day soon with this breakup, unless they retain the link forward for MSNBC.com
  
  Report this comment
- POdVet
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 9:51am
  MSNBC’s website was number 4 only because logging out of hotmail automatically forwarded you to the MSNBC website.
  
  Report this comment
- Bobj_1960
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 11:25am
  It is ranked so high that it is the default home page for internet explorer unless changed by the user
  
  Report this comment
watersRpeople
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:48am
Only rats bed down with rats to begin with.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- starman70
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 8:23am
  Rats also abandon a sinking ship.
  
  Report this comment
- Redwood Elf
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:23pm
  You watch…this will amount to a re-branding like what the liberals did with ACORN when they got caught with their short hairs in the cookie jar…
  
  Report this comment
The-Monk
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:47am
This is going to cost NBC (MSNBC) a bunch.

I wonder if Matthews, Maddow, Shultz, O’Donnell, Bashir and Sharpton will have to take pay cuts?

Or even better… maybe some lay-offs?

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- GO-FOR-LIBERTY
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 4:22am
  How about working for minimum wage?
  
  Report this comment
- Rolandd
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 6:30am
  Obama can always use them in his ADmanipulation, ops I mean administration.
  
  Report this comment
- DEMOCRATS.ARE.EVIL
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 7:33am
  No layoffs – pink slips.
  
  Report this comment
lylejk
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:43am
Microsoft is full of bleeding liberals so have no trust in the news content they will create from this breakup. They should just stick with Operating systems and office software, but they aren’t even doig that right of late (i.e, Win8′s pretty much a joke from several reviews I’ve read). As for NBC, it’s been a lost cause for such a long time that the only reason they are still open is from steady payments of BO’s stimulous money. lol

:)

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
The-Monk
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:41am
“Microsoft is letting NBCNews.com remain in its Redmond office while it looks for a new location in the area.”

Russia’s not too far away. Then “Nothing But Communist NEWS” can say, “Hey, I can see Alaska from my work cubicle”.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Too_Far_Gone
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:38am
MS What ?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
cemerius
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:25am
Rats leaving sinking ships comes to mind!!! Will the re-brand the TV program now too? Just call them both NBC-BS?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
TJexcite
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:18am
It will be fun to see where the on air talent on MSNBC will have a online presence and how many people will still say and send people to MSNBC.com when there is no MSNBC.com.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:07am
Yeah! So no more jokes about PMS NBC. From now on, it’s just the Never Been Cross-checked News.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- The-Monk
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:39am
  Hi LPHP’s
  
  How about Nothing But Communist NEWS? : )
  
  Report this comment
- MODEL82A1
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:43am
  LESBIAN, oh no, make no mistake, the Premenstrual jokes will not even slow. We were never mocking the actual call letters, we are mocking the entire mindset. Got a problem with that? Let’s see your Packed-Hollow-Points; but be prepared for extremely blunt criticism. So, let’s see ‘em, Sweety. I’m waiting.
  
  Report this comment
- CatB
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 1:12am
  @MONK ..
  
  I like it … pretty much sums it up!
  
  OMG 2012 LIBERTY!
  
  Report this comment
- Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 10:28am
  @ Model 82A1:
  Awwww. Is this YOUR time of the month?
  
  It might help if you pulled the stick out.
  
  I’m an fiscal arch Conservative/Libertarian/Objectivist. The only news I want out of MSNBC/NBCNews is news of the fire which engulfed every building and broadcast asset they own. The mindset of the PMSNBC crew would not be out of place in a Communist politburo meeting. They made me sick the few times I steeled myself to do research on what the enemy was saying in the moment.
  
  Apropos of nothing, do you actually OWN a Barret .50BMG?
  
  Report this comment
- Michael
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 1:05pm
  What will I do without MSLSD to make fun of?
  
  Report this comment
- Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 1:18pm
  Simple, make fun of NBC News cable and broadcast Leftist wonks. Second verse, same as the first.
  
  Report this comment
Yankee
Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:06am
“…multiple perspectives that our users were telling us that they wanted…”

I think Microsoft will be hard pressed to offer up a fair balance of viewpoints once you consider that Seattle’s hard veer to the left coincided with Microsoft’s heavy hiring back in the 90s from Ivy League schools. The only way the Company might offer a balanced product is if its highly honed ability to make a buck outweighs the underlying ideologies of its employees. I am skeptical of that happening in a region where a statue of Lenin overlooks a parade of naked bicycle riders on the Solstice.

It’s not that the alternate viewpoints cannot develop in the region, witness Amy Holmes, Michelle Malkin, and of course, Glenn Beck. But they had to leave to flourish.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
GrumpyCat
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:56pm
MSNBC finally got so bad that Microsoft wanted out? Now that is my definition of REALLY BAD!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
KingCanon
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:53pm
This could be the litmus test proclaiming how Americans really comprehend the State of the Union.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
22AUTOMATIC
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:46pm
My brother-in-law’s sibliing was making accusations that MSNBC was the only “truthful” news network last year. He said Fox News was “propaganda.” So I bet him over Thanksgiving that if we picked any random date out of a bag that MSNBC would have more dishonest, more lies, omit more honest coverage, and have more propaganda than Fox News. The day we picked was two Tuesdays after Thanksgiving. We both had to write down anything “proven false” and present it to the other one that Friday for verification. As I expected from 6am to 11pm (DVR) he found ZERO on Fox and I literally had so many from MSNBC that I had to break out a second notebook. Just during Ed Shultz alone I found one ever 2 minutes and 19 seconds.(including even their promo commercials!) As if it wasn’t bad enough, they started putting “clever” written words at the bottom of the screen so in essence if it had been a drinking game I would have had to hook up an i.v drip moonshine just to keep up.

He tried hard to get just ONE by claiming Fox said the “Stimulus didn’t work” and he insisted it worked perfectly. Anyway, it was fun. He ended up having to donate $250 to Mercury One. Had I lost I would have had to donate the same amount to Media Matters. Easy Money & he doesn’t watch MSNBC anymore.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- nzkiwi
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 3:40am
  That’s a nice story.
  
  Fox News is pretty popular over here, and I think that this is because it is more reliable. At the end of the day, people want their news to contain facts and when they find that they have been deliberately mislead because of the political persuasion of the editors or producers, they lose faith in the organisation and go elsewhere.
  
  Even my left-wing friends watch Fox. They argue about the meaning of the story later,of course, but everyone likes to start with the facts. If their arguement is proven to be based on false information to start with, they get pretty ticked off. And who can blame them.
  
  Report this comment
TH30PH1LUS
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:38pm
“Fantasy Island” isn’t a TV show anymore – maybe they can use that title.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- cemerius
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:27am
  I like NBC-BS.com :)
  
  Report this comment
ohiowordguy
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:38pm
MSNBC was a bad idea then and now. It came about in the days of Netscape 1.0, when Bill Gates was telling the world what the Internet was going to be.

Microsoft ruled the world and Apple was teetering…Oh! How the might have fallen!

Who would have predicted then that Apple would become the most valuable company in the world, and slowly, methodically implement the “i” life that Gates boasted he would do.

…And all the while, MSNBC sucked!

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- MAMMY_NUNN
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 4:52am
  Netscape went opensource and is now Mozilla Firefox which is more secure then Internet Explorer and even Canonical which holds Ubuntu Linux is kicking Microsofts **** in Operating systems it seems Microsoft is a Flailing Company.
  
  Report this comment
- Meyvn
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 8:41am
  Opensource rocks.
  
  Report this comment
Wool-Free Vision
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:36pm
Unfortunately, Microsoft will still be promoting NBC News for two more years, according to the separation agreement. However, I’ll bet Microsoft stock is about to JUMP up. Between this “divorce” from MSNBC and the fact that Google wants to be political, sending new users like me to Bing, finally add the fact that people are finally getting sick of Apple’s incessant jackassery, I’d say Microsoft is looking pretty good.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
VoteRightDammit
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:35pm
Might have turned out differently if they had more than 7 total viewers ….

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
  Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:47pm
  Actually it’s 6 viewers, one of the viewers has a double personality disorder.
  
  Report this comment
Al J Zira
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:34pm
SO now we’ll have one more channel of NBC lies and a new network of Microsoft lies. Just another lying liberal .com being born.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
RLTW
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:32pm
I think in cable vernacular this is called menopause.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
RJJinGadsden
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:28pm
Aw-w-w-w-w, sounds like guppies eating each other. Awful luck with that ordeal, okay? Your viewership is dwindling.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Taquoshi
  Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:53pm
  RJJingadsden – I have to agree with you.
  
  “As a whole, the company’s online operations, which include the Bing search engine and MSN portal, have lost more than $10 billion in the past seven years.”
  
  That’s more than a billion a year. And it took them at least seven years to do something about it.
  
  Report this comment
- The-Monk
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 1:08am
  Hi RJJ,
  
  Al Sharpton in front of MSNBC headquarters……
  
  “Hey buddy, can you spare a… we must… and we will much… about… that… a dime?
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 6:40am
  TAQUOSHI, I do a lot of online research for my hobby, as well as for a number of other things. I’ve used the search engine with my regular IPO, and it is supposed to be ‘enhanced’ by Google to some degree. Then I added Google Chrome and Bing. Had better success with those two at first. Then Bing became difficult to find things, and I relied more heavily on Chrome. Now, Google Chrome changed their entire format and I mean it really sucks. I am about to dump it altogether and probably try Safari more. My son loves Safari, but I’ve hardly used it…yet.
  MONK, LOL, that is funny, and I can actually picture it.
  
  Report this comment
Marnin
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:27pm
They hired Vivian Schiller? New management, same direction. They will continue to slide into oblivion.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- GeorgieJo
  Posted on July 16, 2012 at 12:06am
  FORMER NPR Vivian running NBC====TOTAL DISASTER
  You could NOT pay me to listen to NPR and NBC has been on my **** List for years.
  Matt Loser/Savaknee Gutherie/AndreaFaultGreenspan/MarteenBasheeer/ChrissybarkerTingles/EddieUnionSchiltz/LarryO’Donkey/Tourette and the losers keep on going………….
  OMG 2012
  
  Report this comment
mattmo79
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:26pm
Boycott Comcast to shut down this irresponsible organization!!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:23pm
Ha, hahaha……..HA HA HA…….HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA……….HAAAAAAAAAhAHA.

Holy crap, I just laughed so hard, milk came out of my nose, and I’m not drinking milk.

So MSNBC.com is being disolved, what will NBC call their “So Called News” cable program. Oh, I got a new name for them, “Cancelled”. Maybe MSNBC, Current, and OWN can merge, they can call it. “Not Watched”

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- 82dAirborne
  Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:44pm
  Nice!
  
  Report this comment
oriondma05
Posted on July 15, 2012 at 11:21pm
And MSNBC the “news” channel?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply

It appears that you have Javascript Disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser preferences for a better user experience on TheBlaze. You can not comment without Javascript enabled.