As it looks to an era spun off from Comcast and as the second Trump administration begins, MSNBC has formalized hiring its new leader.
Rebecca Kutler, who held the title of interim president at the cable news channel, was officially promoted on Wednesday, top executive Mark Lazarus told employees. Kutler will succeed Rashida Jones, who served as MSNBC’s chief from 2021-2024 during the Biden presidency.
“Over the past two years, I have had the privilege of learning how all of you do what you do so well, and you’ve been doing it for 28 years, and you’ve built something truly incredible. MSNBC is now one of the most engaged brands in all of television,” Kutler told staff. “We ended 2024 as number one in cable news on both YouTube and TikTok. That is a credit to everyone on this call and everyone who has built this brand into what it has become over the last 28 years.”
The exec added, “My goal over the years ahead is to build on that success. Especially over the next year, this is going to be a really exciting time but also a challenging time. I think it’s important that we as leaders are honest about that and about the challenges ahead. Our jobs are hard on a normal day, and these are not normal times.”
Kutler joined the news outlet in 2022 after a 12-year tenure at CNN during the Jeff Zucker-led era, where she rose from executive producer on shows like Inside Politics with John King to senior vice president. The exec’s last role at the brand was programming chief for CNN+, the short-lived streaming service that briefly launched amid a strategic pivot and ownership transition from AT&T to Warner Bros. Discovery.
MSNBC, too, will be transitioning from being part of Comcast’s NBCUniversal division to a standalone company, tentatively titled SpinCo, that is expected to be publicly traded by the end of this year. Making the move to SpinCo alongside MSNBC will be fellow cable channels CNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, E!, Syfy and the Golf Channel.
The move will formally separate the channel from NBC News, which has shared resources with MSNBC and CNBC for years, and into a much smaller company comprised of cable assets that have a focus on genre-based entertainment, sports and news. SpinCo’s pitch is that its brands reach 70 million homes and generate $7 billion in revenue annually, even if they’ve been diminished in a cord-cutting world.
The move will also allow MSNBC to chart its own future in the streaming space apart from the Comcast fold, where it has been kept as one of the few programmers that is not available to watch online outside of the pay TV bundle. (“98 percent of the viewing on Peacock does not include the spun networks. So they need their own direct-to-consumer digital initiatives and focus and investment,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said on a Jan. 30 earnings call.)
SpinCo will be led by longtime NBCUniversal exec Mark Lazarus as CEO along with Anand Kini as CFO and Val Boreland as president of entertainment for the new venture. “We have a new company, we have new leadership, we will have new offices, and we have a non-stop news cycle,” Kutler stated, adding: “It’s going to be hard, but it’s also going to be exciting and interesting and a really important time to do what all of us do.”
MSNBC has kicked off the latest Trump era by returning the face of its network, Rachel Maddow, to hosting nightly during the 9 p.m. hour Monday-Friday during the busy first 100 days of the new administration. Other marquee hosts have indicated a shift to broaden coverage. Morning Joe anchor Joe Scarborough, for example, has pitched an interactive town hall format as well as a broader selection of guests beyond politics to appear on the flagship show.
Since joining MSNBC, Kutler helped develop Inside with Jen Psaki and launch MSNBC Live, which included events like a Brooklyn confab in September centered on the 2024 election that brought out Maddow along with hosts like Chris Hayes, Lawrence O’Donnell, Jen Psaki and Alex Wagner.
The full memo from Lazarus to staffers at SpinCo is below:
Team,
Today, I am officially naming Rebecca Kutler President of MSNBC. In the short time that Rebecca was the interim president, it became clear to me that she has the big-picture strategic view and the right leadership skills to ensure MSNBC delivers on its brand promise and is positioned for growth during a time of industry change.
Since joining the network, Rebecca has played a pivotal role in the development of many of the network’s recent program launches, has been a driving force behind MSNBC’s nonlinear growth and strategic investments, and has introduced new and innovative audience-focused products. By constructing a first-rate newsgathering operation and assessing what’s required to be competitive in the marketplace, Rebecca and the team will ensure that MSNBC continues to be indispensable to our audiences and our partners.
This is an exciting moment as we build our new company’s operation, and it has been a pleasure working with Rebecca over the last few months. I am thrilled to have such a respected leader at the helm of MSNBC during such a pivotal moment.
As we’ve all witnessed – and lived – in recent weeks, the news cycle has been nonstop, and MSNBC’s coverage has stood out for its depth, focus, and thoughtfulness. Thanks to this team’s hard work, viewers, readers, and listeners are reengaging at significant levels across the board.
Thank you for all that you do and please join me in congratulating Rebecca on this well-deserved appointment.
Mark Lazarus