MSNBC said Monday it will rename itself “MS NOW,” short for My Source News Opinion World, and drop the long-standing NBC peacock from its logo. The change is scheduled to take effect later this year, according to internal memos reviewed by multiple news outlets. The rebrand coincides with Comcast’s plan to spin off most of its cable networks—including MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network and Golf Channel—into a separately listed company called Versant. Versant’s incoming chief executive, Mark Lazarus, told staff the new identity is meant to ‘accelerate the distinction’ between the cable channel and its former sibling NBC News, which will remain inside NBCUniversal. MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler said the network’s editorial focus will be unchanged but that a larger, stand-alone newsroom is being built. The channel is filling roughly 100 positions and has already recruited about 40 journalists from CNN, Bloomberg, Politico and other outlets, including its first dedicated Washington bureau. A national marketing campaign for MS NOW will launch ahead of the switch. Created in 1996 as a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC, MSNBC is now the second-most-watched U.S. cable news network, averaging about 1.2 million primetime viewers this year. While CNBC and other Versant channels will keep their names, they too will shed the peacock, underscoring the corporate divorce between NBCUniversal and its soon-to-be-independent cable portfolio.