MS Now shakes up lineup ahead of midterm elections

MS Now, the progressive cable news channel formerly known as MSNBC, is making significant changes to its lineup of daytime and weekend programming ahead of this fall’s midterm election cycle.

“Morning Joe,” the outlet’s long-running weekday talk program, will scale back its coverage to three hours on weekday mornings while anchor Stephanie Ruhle will be helming a new program from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. during the week.

Ana Cabrera, who came to MS from CNN and has anchored a daytime news program since 2022, will depart the network, she told colleagues this week as the changes were announced.

Ruhle will be replaced at 11 p.m. by Ali Velshi, the network’s top elections and data guru, while Alicia Menendez will anchor a news program from noon to 2 p.m. on weekdays. Menendez is the daugher of former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who is serving an 11-year prison sentence after a conviction on federal bribery charges.

Luke Russert, the son of the late “Meet The Press” moderator Tim Russert and the face of the network’s live events push in recent months, has been named a host of “The Weeknight,” airing at 7 p.m., while Jacob Soboroff will anchor weekends from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Anchor Chris Jansing will also depart the anchor desk and become the channel’s chief political reporter.

MS NOW President Rebecca Kutler announced the changes during a network-wide editorial call on Wednesday and said “team members will have the opportunity to shift into new roles to support new priorities.”

“In most cases, comparable opportunities will be available to employees as these changes take shape,” Kutler said. “Overall, we expect to have more people working at MS Now by the end of 2026 than we do today.”

The changes come just months after MSNBC rebranded itself MS Now as part of Comcast’s spinoff of its linear cable assets.

The network, which previously relied on NBC News for news gathering, has been steadily building its own newsroom, saying it is now home to 25 on-air anchors and more than 30 reporters.

The changes come amid a time of sagging ratings across cable news, particularly during daytime and weekend hours as more consumers cut cable and turn to streaming platforms for information on current events.

The changes at MS Now are slated to go into effect in June.

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