The divide between so-called “creator media” and mainstream TV news continues to narrow — and quickly.
Starting on Sunday, June 28, MS NOW will move away from featuring live, hosted hours after 6 p.m. on weekends and instead fill its schedule largely with taped video podcasts, expanding its use of a popular Saturday-night program from Crooked Media as well as podcasts hosted by MS NOW mainstays Nicolle Wallace and Chris Hayes. MS NOW expects to expand its content partnerships tied to the strategy in coming weeks, according to a memo from Rebecca Kutler, MS NOW’s president, that was reviewed by Variety.
The moves will have a significant effect on the network’s weekend schedule. MS NOW will cancel the new series “The Weekend: Primetime” after June 27, and one of its hosts, Antonia Hylton, will take up anchoring Saturdays and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Alex Witt, the veteran anchor who has kept a news presence at the network since 1999 largely on weekend afternoons, will depart later in the year. Ayman Mohyeldin, Catherine Rampell, and Elise Jordan, the other hosts of the primetime weekend program, are expected to stay with MS NOW.
The network will continue to be staffed for breaking news during its evening hours on the weekend. Richard Lui has for many years been on standby as an anchor during these time slots. MS NOW also has a deal with Sky News that allows it to simulcast international coverage. MS NOW has offered taped programming on the weekends at different times in the past, including reruns of hours from its weekday primetime lineup, and, in earlier times, hours of “Dateline” or the prison documentary series, “Lockup.” Executives at the Versant Media-backed outlet expect that the weekend schedule will still have hours of live weekend programing that are comparable to the number or live hours on CNN and Fox News Channel.
