MSNBC awards Jen Psaki more airtime amid programming overhaul, Rachel Maddow will go back to Mondays only
Former Biden administration press secretary Jen Psaki will host MSNBC's 9 p.m. ET program on Tuesdays through Thursdays once "The Rachel Maddow Show" returns to only airing on Mondays following President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office, Fox News Digital has learned.
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, the liberal network's highest-paid star, famously cut "The Rachel Maddow Show" to once a week in 2022 to pursue other projects despite her enormous salary. But earlier this year, as MSNBC struggled to attract viewers in the wake of the presidential election, it was announced that Maddow would host her show each weeknight for Trump's first 100 days.
Alex Wagner, who hosted the coveted 9 p.m. ET timeslot on Tuesdays through Thursdays before Maddow temporarily returned to a five-days-per-week schedule, will not return to primetime with Psaki landing the additional airtime.
Wagner will remain with the network as a senior political analyst.
MSNBC's new president, Rebecca Kutler, has made a slew of changes since she was named the permanent replacement to Rashida Jones earlier this month.
Joy Reid's program "The ReidOut" was canceled and the far-left host will not remain at the network.
Ayman Mohyeldin's "Ayman Mohyeldin Reports," Katie Phang's "The Katie Phang Show" and Jonathan Capehart's current weekend programs have all been canceled.
Mohyeldin, Capehart and Phang will all remain at the network in new roles, with Mohyeldin and Capehart landing new shows at different timeslots and Phang will stay on as a legal correspondent broadcasting from Miami.
"Inside with Jen Psaki" launched in 2023 and was the brainchild of Kutler. The show is MSNBC's most-watched weekend program and also currently airs on Mondays, so MSNBC giving more airtime to the former Biden administration press secretary has long been rumored. She will now anchor her primetime show four nights a week as MSNBC signals it has no plans to ditch its far-left reputation.
Symone Sanders-Townsend, who was a former spokesperson to Vice President Kamala Harris, Alicia Menendez and RNC Chair turned MSNBC host Michael Steele will host a new show in the 7 p.m. ET timeslot previously occupied by Reid. The new program will be an hour Tuesdays through Thursday, but will be two hours on Monday nights, replacing the Monday edition of "Inside with Jen Psaki" now that she will move to the other weeknights.
MSNBC also plans to add a Washington bureau and beef up domestic and international correspondents ahead of parent company Comcast's plans to spin off several NBCUniversal cable networks, including MSNBC, into a new company called SpinCo. The move will separate NBC News from the cable network that it has long shared resources with.
Ana Cabrera, Chris Jansing and Katy Tur have seen their daytime programs moved or extended as part of the widespread shakeup. Ali Velshi will also expand his weekend program, "Velshi," to three hours.
MSNBC is consolidating its production operations to New York and Washington, D.C. This impacted "The Katie Phang Show," along with "José Díaz-Balart Reports," which were based out of Miami. Díaz-Balart will remain the anchor of "Weekend Nightly News" on NBC.
Most changes go into effect in late April, although exact dates remain uncertain.
"This is going to be a really exciting time but also a challenging time. I think it's important that we as leaders are honest about that and about the challenges ahead. Our jobs are hard on a normal day, and these are not normal times," Kutler told MSNBC leaders during a meeting before changes were announced.
"We have a new company, we have new leadership, we will have new offices, and we have a non-stop news cycle. I think it's important that we all share in the exciting parts of what the year ahead is going to mean in terms of getting to build a new news organization - one that is built for us, for our needs first, to be part of a new company that is standing itself up, and that we have a seat at the table at the ground floor of that, and what that's going to look like and we get to help determine that," Kutler added. "It's going to be hard, but it's also going to be exciting and interesting and a really important time to do what all of us do."
While there has been chatter about the new cable company ditching the MSNBC name, SpinCo CEO Mark Lazarus has told staffers to "take that off of your worry list" because the name will stick around.
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