Veteran MS NOW anchor Alex Witt is leaving the information community, which is transferring away from dwell night programming on weekends.
The brand new weekend programming technique introduced Friday is a cost-saving measure that can give father or mother firm Versant extra assets for a brand new direct-to-consumer streaming providing that makes MS NOW out there to customers with no pay-TV subscription. The corporate can also be seeking to broaden its dwell occasion enterprise.
In accordance with a memo from MS NOW President Rebecca Kutler, “The Weekend: Primetime,” a dwell dialogue program launched final yr, can have its closing airing Saturday.
One of many program’s co-hosts, Antonia Hylton, will take over Witt’s noon shifts later this yr. Hylton’s co-hosts Ayman Mohyeldin, Catherine Rampell and Elise Jordan will stay with MS NOW and proceed to seem on different applications.
Kutler stated job losses from the strikes are minimal and inspired staffers who lose their present roles to use for 40 present job openings on the firm with extra on the way in which. MS NOW has been staffing up its information operation since separating from NBC Information final yr.
MS NOW modified its identify from MSNBC in November. The community, together with different Comcast-owned cable channels, had been spun off into Versant in January.
Weekends have lengthy been a scores weak spot for MS NOW, which whereas a distant second to Fox Information, has seen viewers progress in 2026 and stays forward of CNN. The community has began to depend on podcasts resembling “Pod Save America,” from Crooked Media, to fill some hours. The episodes have carried out strongly sufficient for MS NOW to strive comparable offers with exterior podcast producers.
“All through the summer time, we’ll broaden our taped technique and announce new content material partnerships,” Kutler stated in her memo.
With the modifications, MS NOW will nonetheless have 20 hours of dwell programming every weekend and might be staffed to deal with breaking information.
Witt joined the community previously often known as MSNBC in 1999, lengthy earlier than it started its sturdy tilt towards progressive political commentary. Through the years, Witt’s weekend newscast grew to become one of many few applications on the community that delivered straight information with out opinion.
Kutler referred to as Witt “a beloved longtime member of our MS NOW household” and “a continued, trusted, and regular presence for our audiences.”
Whereas Witt works via the summer time, Hylton will anchor the 11 a.m. weekday time interval, which is able to finally be dealt with by former NBC Information White Home correspondent Peter Alexander.
