MSNBC’s evening line-up may soon look quite different from what die-hard viewers have come to expect.
The NBCUniversal-backed cable network is expected to move the trio of Symone Sanders-Townsend, Alicia Menendez and Michael Steele to its 7 p.m. weekday slot Tuesday through Friday, according to two people familiar with the matter, and the group on Mondays will lead two hours, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The move will have direct implications for Joy Reid, the anchor who currently fills 7 p.m. She is expected to host her last show on MSNBC this week.
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What’s more, Alex Wagner, who has hosted weeknights at 9 p.m. save for a Monday night led by Rachel Maddow, is expected to be named a contributor, according to three people with knowledge of current talks. Wagner, who has been working as a correspondent across the U.S. during the first 100 days of the new Trump presidency while Rachel Maddow anchors each day at 9, is unlikely to return to her weeknight slot, these people indicated. Jen Psaki is expected to take over at least one of the hours, according to one of these people. MSNBC is also in talks with Eugene Daniels of Politico and Melissa Murray, a law professor at New York University who specializes in the regulation of sex, marriage, caregiving and reproductive rights that would have them join the network in unspecified capacities, according to one of these people.
MSNBC declined to make executives available for comment. Puck previously on some of the aforementioned plans.
The moves come quickly after Rebecca Kutler, a former senior executive at CNN who is known for her facility in developing new talent and programming concepts, was named MSNBC’s new president. She takes the helm of the network as it faces unique challenges, including the pressures of working with the Trump White House and being spun off along with other NBCU cable networks into a new publicly-traded company. “Our jobs are hard on a normal day, and these are not normal times,” she told employees on the day that her new role was announced by Mark Lazarus, the NBCU executive who will lead the new spin-off.
Like other cable networks, MSNBC is facing significant business challenges. More of the viewers who settle in each evening to watch a few hours of commentary on MSNBC are migrating elsewhere. MSNBC is projected to shed approximately 10.5% of its subscribers between the end of 2023 and the end of 2025, according to estimates from Kagan, a market-research firm that is part of S&P Global Intelligence. Rivals Fox News Channel and CNN are seen experiencing similar erosions in that period. MSNBC could be left with an average of 61.3 million viewers at the end of 2025, compared with 68.5 million in 2023 — and this with an election year, typically an event that brings viewers back to news, between the two milestones.
Kutler has described plans to build an independent newsgathering apparatus for MSNBC, which will lose its ties to NBC News after the new company is formed. She wants to launch a separate MSNBC Washington bureau, and to add a new roster of international and domestic correspondents. She also wants to hire a new head of talent, a Washington bureau chief and a head of content strategy. Yet she has articulated a plan to hew close to the network’s progressive leanings, not trying to steer it to the center.
MSNBC has been working to bring viewers back after the results of the 2024 presidential election. Both MSNBC and CNN saw significant erosion following Donald Trump’s return to the White House and the national conversation, and both have unveiled programing shake-ups in recent weeks. At MSNBC, Rachel Maddow returned to hosting the 9 p.m. hour Monday through Friday, compared to the Monday-only schedule (with various special appearances) she has enjoyed in recent years. Since the inauguration, MSNBC’s overall viewership has surged in primetime and across the day, though its audience levels remain well below that of Fox News Channel.
Kutler helped create “The Weekend,” the show led by Sanders-Townsend, Melendez and Steele, which has run early Saturday and Sunday mornings. In its first year on air, the program has seen audience for its time slot improve noticeably in both overall viewership and among people between 25 and 54, the demographic most preferred by advertisers in news programs. Psaki, meanwhile, has been a favorite of MSNBC executives since the former Biden White House press secretary joined its Sunday lineup in March of 2023.
Kutler may have more changes in store, and has been looking at MSNBC’s daytime and weekend schedule as well. The network has yet to announce a formal replacement for Andrea Mitchell, the NBC News veteran who anchored a noon program for decades, and recently left. Staffers are curious whether the daytime anchors, who are affiliated with NBC News, will stay with MSNBC over the longer haul.
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