MS NOW Launching DTC Streaming Service Next Summer

News appears to be the hottest battlefront in the streaming wars. Following the launches of FOX One and CNN All Access, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) announced today it will roll out a direct-to-consumer streaming service next summer.

Today was the Versant Investor Day, where the soon-to-be standalone media company promoted its offerings to the business community. MS NOW President Rebecca Kutler outlined the ambitions of the cable channel in its digital transformation.

The company’s optimism hinges, in part, on the success of their top rival. Kutler said Fox News has “proven that you can build a subscription model catering to superfans.” The digital evolution of the New York Times is also a North Star for many legacy media companies, thanks to its diversification across audio, games, and cooking.

“Our DTC offering will allow users to watch MS NOW’s linear feed live on the app,” Kutler said. But the app will offer more than that. “It will be a membership community designed to serve our core audience in three ways. First, unlocking access to our talent through live and virtual events, providing curated insights just for them, not another endless doom scroll, and empowering communities with new moderated spaces for intelligent discussion.”

“While others are attempting the same old SVODs, MS NOW is building a membership community,” Kutler said. “So what does that mean? We know in this fragmented landscape. People are craving connection. We see it in our live events, which, by the way, we expect to triple next year. So when our fans sign up for MS NOW’s DTC offering, they will be able to interact with people who share their interests and their passions, whether that’s neighbors in their local communities or people from across the country. Right now, we are doing consumer research and we are talking to superfans and future fans to find out exactly what they want. We are aiming to launch this product next summer, just as the midterm elections are heating up.”

Of course, the success of any community-based digital product depends on how many users it can attract, along with the quality of that population. Scale will be a significant challenge.

“In MS NOW’s 30-year history, there has never been a serious investment in digital and our audience has never been given the chance to engage with a direct consumer product that is built for them,” Kutler said. “It’s kind of crazy that no one has built something to reach this incredibly valuable audience.”

It’s not entirely accurate that the channel hasn’t seen serious tech investment in the past. You may recall that the channel was called MSNBC for most of its history. It was a joint effort between Microsoft and NBC News, which was an early attempt to fuse traditional news with internet distribution. Microsoft backed out of the channel in 2005 and stopped supporting the website in 2012. Considering NBCUniversal’s historically glacial pace at embracing technology, it’s true the brand has been adrift in comparison to its peers.

Kutler said that MS NOW’s viewers are 60% less likely to cut the cord, which is code for “elderly.” But will a streaming solution add viewers or simply erode the profitable linear asset?

Read: NBC News Plans Standalone Streaming Service