Hit the delete key on the "MS" in MSNBC.com. Comcast, which owns NBC Universal, has acquired from Microsoft the 50 percent of the news website that it didn't already own and has renamed it NBCNews.com. The entertainment conglomerate agreed to pay $300 million to gain full ownership of the site, The New York Times reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources. Users of MSNBC.com are now automatically being redirected to NBCNews.com where they are greeted by a notice assuring them that "while you'll notice some changes to our logos and navigation," nothing else is changing. MSNBC.com will return as an altogether separate entity next year, the notice continued, "creating in-depth content and a community for the passionate audiences of MSNBC programs." With 55.7 million monthly visitors, the current website ranks fourth among all general news sites behind Yahoo/ABC News with 89.1 million; AOL/Huffington Post with 59.4 million; and CNN with 57.4 million, according to comScore. Meanwhile, the Associated Press is reporting that Microsoft intends to launch its own news website in The Fall.

16/07/2012