Microsoft, NBC kill MSNBC.com joint venture

In a post on NBCnews, NBC and Microsoft announced that their 16 year partnership is now over. NBC News has acquired full control of msnbc.com and its digital network from Microsoft and is immediately rebranding the site as NBCNews.com. Financial details were not discussed.

msnbc.com will reflect the homepage of NBCNews.com. Eventually, it will become the address of MSNBC TV, giving MSNBC TV its own dedicated address and ending an arrangement under which the news site shared the MSNBC name with an increasingly commentary-driven channel.

For now, visitors should see little difference. "It'll have a new name and a new URL, but everything else will be the same," Charlie Tillinghast, the site's president and publisher said.

NBC News President Steve Capus said that even though the name would change, the site's focus on hard news and original reporting would stay the same. The site has won the highest awards in online journalism, including last year's National Headliner Award for best television-affiliated website.