MS Now is switching up its programming schedule after decoupling from NBC News last year—and elevating some nepo hires in the process.
MS NOW president Rebecca Kutler announced major changes coming to the network, formerly known as MSNBC, on the channel’s daily editorial meeting on Wednesday.
Alicia Menendez, daughter of imprisoned ex-New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and sister to current Rep. Rob Menendez, will be getting her own show from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. She had previously been a co-host of The Weeknight.
Luke Russert, who had been working as a fill-in anchor, is expected to join The Weeknight as a co-host, Status reported. He is the son of the late, longtime NBC Meet the Press anchor Tim Russert and Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth.
Luke Russert was hired at NBC months after his father’s death and has been accused of being a nepo hire, but has defended himself in the face of those assertions.
“There will always be people who will say, ‘Oh, he’s only gotten where he is because of his father,’ and that certainly helped. But I’ve been able to stay here because of me,” he told the Daily Beast in 2010.
He abruptly left NBC in 2016, saying he was focusing on other career paths. He later returned to MSNBC in 2023 to launch the network’s “MSNBC Live” venture.
The network’s signature morning show, Morning Joe, will be cutting back from its four hours on the air to three, as co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski had noted the strain that four consecutive hours on the air had brought.
Chris Jansing, who is the 12-2 p.m. anchor, has been relieved from her anchor duties and will now work as the network’s chief political reporter.
Ana Cabrera, who anchors the 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. slot, is out at the network entirely. She had been an anchor with MS for three years, moving there after an 11-year stint at CNN. She acknowledged her departure in a video posted to X, but did not provide further information about her next move.
Stephanie Ruhle is moving to a new daytime slot from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. after anchoring The 11th Hour for nearly four years. Longtime MS Now fixture Ali Velshi will now anchor The 11th Hour.
The anchor for the 11:00 a.m. hour has yet to be announced.
While the network said it will keep its daytime programming focused on hard news, not opinion shows, it is dropping the “Reports” name it had been using to describe its daytime news programming. A new name has not yet been released.
Katy Tur, wife of newly installed CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil, and Nicole Wallace will keep their respective 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. slots.
MS Now’s primetime programming is largely unchanged.
The Weeknight will move from two hours to just one on Mondays, as Chris Hayes will anchor at 8 p.m. again.
The Rachel Maddow Show will remain in its Monday 9 p.m. timeslot, and The Briefing with Jen Psaki is still filling out Tuesday-Friday at 9:00 p.m. Lawrence O’Donnell will keep his 10:00 p.m. slot.
The schedule shakeup at MS Now comes after its parent company, Comcast, spun off its cable assets into a new company, Versant Media Group.
The schedule effects will take place in June.
Kutler said there will be no reductions in staff as a result of the changes, noting that she hopes the network will grow moving towards the 2026 midterm elections.
“As part of these programming changes, team members will have the opportunity to shift into new roles to support new priorities,” Kutler wrote on Wednesday. “In most cases, comparable opportunities will be available to employees as these changes take shape. Overall, we expect to have more people working at MS NOW by the end of 2026 than we do today.”
