When MSNBC spins off from NBCUniversal (NBCU) by the end of its year to become an independent company, it will have a new name and logo. MSNBC will become My Source News Opinion World (MS NOW), and the multicolored Peacock logo MSNBC now borrows from its outgoing parent company will be replaced with a new red, white, and blue mark.

The change marks the end of a partnership that began in 1996, with the network joining CNBC and other channels under the new VERSANT umbrella.

(Reuters) -Cable news network MSNBC will change its name and drop the iconic peacock logo as parent Comcast presses ahead with the planned separation of many NBCUniversal cable networks later this year.

One brand strategist, Oliver Errichiello, who has advised more than 200 companies, called the rebrand “a big failure.” He noted that it did not retain elements of NBC’s signature peacock, a logo recognized by television viewers for nearly a century, and one that many graphic designers regard as one of the best corporate marks of all time.

MSNBC is rebranding to MS NOW, but Microsoft’s influence lingers. A look at the history of Microsoft’s role, and how the “MS” lives on.

MSNBC is changing its name to MS NOW and dropping its peacock logo as part of the cable channel's spinoff from Comcast's NBC Universal.

He pointed out that “the MSNBC name goes back to the days when it was a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC, and that’s been long dissolved.” Ironically, that’s the one thing the new name keeps. What does Minsky think of the rebrand?

The rebranding — which stands for My Source for News, Opinion, and the World — comes as Comcast spins off several of its cable networks into a new company called Versant. The change will drop both the NBC name and the peacock logo from MSNBC 's branding.

MSNBC will divorce itself from the NBC branding and rename itself “MS NOW” when the channel is spun out by Comcast and relaunched under Versant’s ownership, the company announced on Monday.