MS NOW Sets $7.99 Monthly Subscription Launch for September
MS NOW has set a price and a window for its first stand-alone subscription service: $7.99 a month or $79.99 a year, expected to debut in September. The move makes it the last of the nation's three main cable-news outlets to offer a direct-to-consumer product, following CNN and Fox News Media into the streaming market (Variety, 19 August 2026).
MS NOW is the rebranded name of MSNBC, owned by Versant. The company first signalled plans for a membership-based streaming product in December 2025, describing it then as centred on community, membership and democracy, with a target launch in summer 2026 (Axios, 4 December 2025; The Hollywood Reporter, 4 December 2025).
Now the details have filled in. The Membership platform will feature original content, new verticals exploring how news and politics affect everyday life, and round-the-clock access to live streams and television programming. The service also aims to give subscribers new ways to interact with MS NOW's reporters, anchors and contributors (Variety, 19 August 2026).
MS NOW president Rebecca Kutler called the Membership "the first step in a long-term strategy to deepen our relationship with audiences," in a statement reported by Variety (Variety, 19 August 2026).
The price sits between its two competitors. CNN's All Access subscription costs $6.99 a month. Fox News Media's Fox Nation charges $8.99 (Variety, 19 August 2026).
What a cable-news outlet sells when it launches a subscription is no longer just a linear feed repackaged for phones. The original content, the live-event access and the promise of closer contact with on-air talent are the differentiators — the things a free YouTube stream or a cable log-in cannot replicate. Whether audiences decide that bundle is worth roughly the price of one takeaway coffee per month is the question that September's launch will begin to answer.
