MS NOW is shaking up its weekend programming lineup, with plans to move away from live, hosted hours after 6 p.m. on weekends starting June 28.
Instead, they will rely on taped video podcasts hosted by MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace and Chris Hayes, as well as a content agreement with Crooked Media, which includes highlights from Pod Save America, Runaway Country with Alex Wagner, Strict Scrutiny, Pod Save the World, Lovett or Leave It, Hysteria, Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams, Offline with Jon Favreau, What A Day, and more.
In a memo to staff, MS NOW president Rebecca Kutler said the network would expand partnerships tied to the new taped strategy over the summer, with more announcements to be made in the coming weeks.
The changes will result in staff reductions of less than approximately 2% across the entire organization. Employees have been encouraged to explore the nearly 40 current open roles, with more than a dozen additional new roles expected to be posted online soon.
As a result of the change, MS NOW is canceling “The Weekend: Primetime” after June 27, with host Antonia Hylton moving to anchor Saturdays and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. “The Weekend: Primetime” executive producer Joy Fowlin will serve as executive producer of Hylton’s new program.
Other talent expected to stay with MS NOW include Ayman Mohyeldin, Catherine Rampell and Elise Jordan. Meanwhile, Alex Witt, who has worked at the network since 1999, will depart later this year.
“Having anchored more hours on MS NOW than any other anchor in our network’s history, Alex has guided our viewers through many of the most significant stories that have defined a generation, including the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, reporting from Ground Zero immediately following the tragic 9/11 terrorist attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina, the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and more,” Kutler said in her memo. “We thank Alex for her endless contributions to the network and will have more opportunities to celebrate her in the coming months.”
Despite the shakeup, Kutler said the network would expand the teams of Mike McLaughlin and Jeff Kepnes and continue to be staffed 24/7 to deliver breaking news coverage. MS Now will also continue to air 20 hours of live programming each weekend.
The move comes as MS NOW prepares to launch its inaugural direct-to-consumer membership product this summer, which is centered around community, membership, and democracy.
It also comes as the Crooked Media partnership has seen early success on Saturday nights, with half of its viewers being new to the network and nearly two-thirds of them under age 55, marking the strongest launch for a new MS NOW series among total viewers in three years and strongest launch in the demo in more than four years.
Additional weekday and weekend titles in MS Now’s programming lineup include “Money, Power, Politics with Stephanie Ruhle,” “On the Line with Alicia Menendez,” “The Moment with Katy Tur,” “The 11th Hour with Ali Velshi” and “Connect with Jacob Soboroff.” Symone Sanders Townsend and Michael Steele were also joined by Luke Russert as co-anchor of “The Weeknight.”
