Launched on July 15, 1996 to 22 million subscribers, MSNBC is currently America's third-most-watched cable news channel, after FOX News Channel and CNN, and ahead of CNN Headline News.
MSNBC.com consists of news and features from MSNBC, MSNBC.com, NBC News, the Washington Post and Newsweek magazine, among others. MSNBC.com is the news provider for MSN, the portal site and online service operated by Microsoft. MSNBC.com hosts show websites for NBC News shows such as Dateline NBC, Today, and NBC Nightly News.
MSNBC.com launched a massive overhaul in December 2003.
Lester Holt Live is a slightly harder-edged newscast, and airs each weekday from 4-6pm.
Primtime begins at 6pm with The Abrams Report, hosted by NBC Chief Legal Correspondent Dan Abrams. The show focuses on the top legal stories of the day.
At 7pm, Hardball With Chris Matthews airs, with political reporter and author Chris Matthews. Hardball is MSNBC's top rated program, and serves up the top political news of the day.
Countdown with Keith Olbermann is a sometimes irreverent look at the day's top news, cablecast each weekday at 8pm ET. Hosted by former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Keith Olbermann, Countdown is styled like a radio music countdown -- starting with the day's #5 story, and progressing to number one. The higher the story number, the more buzz it is expected to get around the watercooler.
Deborah Norville Tonight with former Today show anchor Deborah Norville is an interview program airing each weekday at 9pm, featuring the day's newsmakers.
Scarborough Country with former Florida representative Joe Scarborough airs at 10pm Sunday-Thursday, and focuses on political, social and religious issues.
Weekends consist of limited live programming. A news block Saturday and Sunday morning is hosted by Alex Witt. From noon ET on, the network features series such as MSNBC Investigates,Headliners & Legends with Matt Lauer and National Geographic Ultimate Explorer with Lisa Ling. Brief news cut-ins are delivered at the bottom of each hour.
