• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, 5 hours ago

MSNBC, the “news” network that was dumped and evicted by NBCU, came back to life last weekend as MS NOW in a new home, a landmark building in Manhattan that was once the long-time headquarters of The New York Times.

How appropriate that MS would move into the one-time home of the Times, some media critics might say, since the two share the same liberal biases.

But you won’t hear that from the TV Blog. Besides, the Times moved around the corner to a new building on Eighth Avenue 18 years ago, so these media critics should move on, too.

In its new headquarters on West 43rd Street, MS is now keeping company with hipper (or at least younger) media -- BuzzFeed and Snapchat, both fellow tenants in the 112-year-old building opened in 1913.

The new MS studios are part of three floors of space now housing Versant, the company formed by NBCUniversal to independently manage its moribund basic-cable networks, including MSNBC, now MS NOW.

Or to put it another way, NBCU washed its hands of these properties (except Bravo) and evicted them from 30 Rock.

The rebranded MSNBC metamorphosed into MS NOW last Saturday, November 15. The “look” on TV and online (website screenshot above) has been redesigned.

But it is the same old thing -- the liberal cable news counterpart to conservative Fox News. The two are sworn enemies.

A glance at the screenshot above taken from MS Now’s home page Tuesday afternoon indicates that the misadventures of Donald Trump will continue to be the bread and butter of the new MS NOW. The screenshot shows no less than four photos of Trump at the same time.

This emphasis plays to the network’s base, who detest Trump as much as the channel’s talk-show stars and their guests do. 

This means MSNBC has been rebranded to MS NOW in name only. The new channel is the same as the old one, except for cosmetics and a new address.

The MSNBC brand was known for only one thing -- blasting Trump. Since MSNBC was included in the group of basic-cable networks that NBCU wanted to get rid of, it is reasonable to assume that MSNBC was underperforming (to say the least).

It stands to reason that by adopting the very same approach, point of view and talent lineup, MS NOW will continue to struggle for ratings just like MSNBC did.

What choice do they have? Liberal talk shows are the only thing they are known for.

The only other choice would have been to become an actual news channel -- and everybody knows that’s the last thing anyone wants to watch today.