Chuck Todd’s MSNBC Show Just Got Downgraded

Meet the Press Daily, Chuck Todd’s weekday version of the popular political talk show, won’t be on linear TV anymore. The Meet the Press spinoff is shifting from its network platform on MSNBC to its streaming platform NBC News NOW, a move that is widely considered a downgrade. NBC News announced last week that Todd’s regular weekday show would be one of several shows moving from MSNBC and NBC News over to NBC News NOW, which launched in 2019. The network claims this is a way of expanding its investment in the platform.

Todd has been hosting the daily weekday version of Meet the Press since 2015 and has been one of NBC’s most recognizable political commentators for far longer than that. The show was named MTP Daily for much of that time, but will now go by the name Meet the Press NOW to match the branding of the rest of the streaming service. In a statement about the change, NBC News president Noah Oppenheim said that this was a win for Todd and for viewers everywhere.

“NBC News is the leader in streaming news. Since our launch, we’ve been committed to delivering the best of NBC News’ journalism, free, to streaming audiences everywhere,” Oppenheim said. “Chuck was one of the first broadcast anchors to see the massive potential of streaming and bringing Meet the Press‘s daily franchise to NBC News NOW reinforces the platform’s status as the destination for news on streaming.”

The switch to streaming comes with a scheduling change for Todd as well. Meet the Press NOW will reportedly air at 4 p.m. ET rather than the 1 p.m. ET time slot it had on MSNBC. That hour will now go to Chris Jansing for a new program, simply called MSNBC Reports.

NBC News NOW is an ad-supported streaming platform that is available across a wide aray of hardware and software. Many viewers access it as a “channel” on another streaming platform — particularly the NBC-owned Peacock. It is also available through FuboTV, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Xumo, YouTube, YouTube TV and the NBC News app. It is even available directly through Samsung TV Plus on Samsung Smart TVs.

Still, cable news outlets have struggled to break into the streaming industry, and some fans predict that Todd will get less viewers overall this way. However, NBC’s press release highlights the accomplishments of NBC News NOW and its growth over the last three years. The company seems to believe there is much more potential for the streamer that is still untapped.