{"id":667022,"date":"2026-05-13T16:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T16:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/667022\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T16:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T16:24:08","slug":"ms-now-new-lineup-launches-ahead-of-midterm-elections-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/667022\/","title":{"rendered":"MS NOW New Lineup Launches Ahead of Midterm Elections Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAlicia Menendez is set to host her own show as part of sweeping lineup changes at MS Now<\/a> ahead of coverage for the 2026 midterm elections.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Versant-owned cable channel will launch its new weekend programming on June 13, followed by the weekday lineup debuting on June 15, it was announced on Wednesday. Menendez\u00a0will lead\u00a0On the Line with Alicia Menendez, to be based in New York City, as that show joins earlier announced new programming<\/a> like Money, Power, Politics with Stephanie Ruhle, The Moment with Katy Tur and The 11th Hour with Ali Velshi first announced in March.<\/p>\n

\n\tOther new lineup tweaks includes Symone Sanders Townsend\u00a0and\u00a0Michael Steele\u00a0joining new co-anchor\u00a0Luke Russert\u00a0on\u00a0The Weeknight. The changes overhaul the mornings, dayside, primetime, and weekend schedules for MS Now after it was rebranded from MSNBC and spun out into Versant.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey include Peter Alexander\u00a0being named on Wednesday to anchor the 11 a.m. hour starting in the summer, with details to follow. And MS Now reiterated Morning Joe\u00a0will shift back to three hours a day, starting at 6 a.m., from June 15.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat returns Morning Joe to a three hour show, before a fourth hour was added in 2022, as hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have re-signed their contracts beyond the 2028 election while pulling back from leading a four-hour show five days a week.<\/p>\n

\n\tGreg Kordick, senior vp of programming at MS Now, said in a memo obtained by The Hollywood Reporter that the lineup overhaul under the Versant banner builds on audience gains ahead of a new political season.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese new programs build on the organization\u2019s continued success ahead of a consequential midterm election season and consistent growth across linear, digital, social, and audio. April marked the network\u2019s fifth consecutive month of year-over-year growth, averaging more than 1.5 million viewers in weekday primetime, and more than one million viewers across weekday live programming, up nearly 20 percent year-over-year,\u201d Kordick argued.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe dayside programs at MS Now will focus on hard news and reporting. \u201cWe\u2019re excited for what\u2019s ahead and look forward to this revamped programming serving as destination viewing for our audience as we head into a pivotal election cycle,\u201d Kordick added.<\/p>\n

\n\tAn overview of MS Now\u2019s new lineup is below: <\/p>\n

\n\tJoe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski lead Morning Joe\u00a0\u2013 6 to 9 a.m. ET beginning Monday, June 15.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Ruhle\u2018s\u00a0Money, Power, Politics with Stephanie Ruhle airs from 9 to 11 a.m. ET hours during the week. <\/p>\n

Alicia Menendez\u00a0will host\u00a0On the Line with Alicia Menendez\u00a0weekdays from 12 to 2 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

Katy Tur\u00a0will anchor\u00a0The Moment with Katy Tur\u00a0weekdays from 2 to 4 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele\u00a0and\u00a0Luke Russert\u00a0will host\u00a0The Weeknight, weekdays at 7 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

Ali Velshi\u00a0will\u00a0anchor\u00a0The 11th Hour\u00a0with Ali Velshi\u00a0weekdays at 11 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

Jacob Soboroff\u00a0will anchor\u00a0Connect with Jacob Soboroff\u00a0on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on\u00a0MS\u00a0NOW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alicia Menendez is set to host her own show as part of sweeping lineup changes at MS Now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,114440,348],"class_list":["post-667022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-ms-now","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}