What Does MS NOW Stand For?

What does MS NOW stand for, word by word?

Read the full form again and you can see the trick. "My Source" gives the first two letters, and "News, Opinion and the World" gives the three letters that spell the word NOW. The little words for, and and the are skipped, as they usually are in names like this. Phrases fitted to letters that someone already wanted are close cousins of backronyms, which what is an acronym describes.

Why the old name had to go

The original name joined the initials of two cofounders: Microsoft, the software company behind the MS and the National Broadcasting Company behind the NBC. When NBC's parent company spun several cable networks into a new, stand alone business, the news channel left the NBC family. Keeping NBC in its name would no longer fit.

Instead of starting from scratch, the owners kept the MS that viewers already knew and swapped NBC for NOW. That choice kept the name easy to remember while showing that the channel was under new ownership.

How to say and write MS NOW

The name is a mix. Most people say the MS as two letters, "em ess," and then read NOW as an ordinary word. So it is half initialism and half acronym, said "em ess now."

• Use all capitals, with a space between MS and NOW.
• Leave out periods; M.S. NOW looks like a degree.
• Use an before it, because it opens with a vowel sound: "an MS NOW anchor."

What stayed the same for viewers

For most people at home, the rename changed the logo and the name on screen more than the programs. Daytime still means live news, and nights still belong to hosted discussion programs. Opinions about its coverage remain as varied as before.

Older clips, articles and links still say MSNBC, so expect to see both names side by side for some time. When you write about events from before the rename, it is fine to use the name the channel had then.

Other meanings of MS and NOW

On their own, these letters show up in many places. Context points to the right one.

• MS: Master of Science, multiple sclerosis, manuscript, or MS as the postal code for Mississippi.
• Ms.: a courtesy title for a woman, with a period. Compare Mrs..
• NOW: as an acronym, NOW also names a well known advocacy group and a type of bank account. Neither is linked to the channel.

See more media names on the brand name acronyms list.

Using the new name in a sentence

• "The interview aired on MS NOW last night."
• "MS NOW is the channel formerly called MSNBC."
• "An MS NOW correspondent reported from the scene."
• "I still type MSNBC out of habit, but the channel is MS NOW now."

When you quote an older news story, keep the name it used at the time. In your own sentences about the channel today, use MS NOW, and add "formerly MSNBC" once if your reader may not know about the change.