MSNBC is being renamed after parent company Comcast spins the cable news channel off into a separate corporate entity later this year. The left-leaning channel will be known as MS NOW once it becomes part of Versant, a new company, and is no longer associated with NBC News, staffers were told Monday.

MSNBC will change its name later this year to MS Now (My Source News Opinion World) and drop the peacock image from its branding. These are the first significant public-facing changes in Versant's upcoming separation from Comcast's NBCUniversal.

Political news network MSNBC is preparing to change its name, part of Comcast Corp.’s plan to spin off some of its cable channels into a separate company called Versant. The network will be called My Source News,

As the cable news channel MSNBC splits up with NBC News, it is also dropping the NBC from its name. Later this year, the channel will become MS NOW, which stands for My Source for News, Opinion, and the World.

Comcast's looming spinoff of its cable assets is leading to a messy divorce between NBC News and MSNBC, which heavily relied on the Peacock network's news division.

(Reuters) -Cable news channel MSNBC will rebrand as My Source News Opinion World, or MS NOW, ahead of the planned spinoff of the bulk of parent Comcast's NBCUniversal cable networks later this year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.