| MSNBC is said to roughly
break even; it has never been terribly profitable. Microsoft
quit its online 'zine, Slate, in December,
selling the
venerable but also underperforming site to the Washington
Post Company.
The cable news and Internet venture between Microsoft
Corp. and the NBC network, didn't achive profitability
until the second quarter of 2001. It was launched in
July 1996, shortly after Fox News Channel, which far
exceeded profitability expectations, and left MSNBC
a distant third to Fox and CNN.
The irreverent Drudge Report asserts that
the channel's revised name will be the NBC News Channel.
The New York Post reported in March that talks
centered around NBC taking sole control of the news
company, with Microsoft having rights to use some of
its online news content.
Details of the final arrangement have not yet been
released.
Article originally published May 1, 2005. |
