Leading Television News Organization Takes Control of Its Digital
    Businesses to Become an Integrated Multi-Platform News Provider







  Current msnbc.com Site Becomes NBCNews.com; MSNBC TV Gets New Home on
                            the Web in 2013




NEW YORK, July 16, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NBC News President Steve
Capus announced today that NBC News is now the full owner and operator
of Msnbc Digital Network, which includes msnbc.com, TODAY.com,
NightlyNews.com, BreakingNews.com, Newsvine.com, EveryBlock.com, and
the existing apps and digital extensions of these respective
properties. On July 13, 2012, NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC
News, acquired from Microsoft its 50 percent share of the joint venture
that was formed in 1996. All of NBC News' digital businesses, including
Msnbc Digital Network properties, theGrio.com, NBCLatino.com,
EducationNation.com, social media and all of the network's digital
initiatives, will combine to form a new division entitled, NBC News
Digital. Under the NBC News umbrella, NBC News Digital joins the news
network's television properties including "TODAY," "NBC Nightly News,"
"Meet the Press," "Dateline" and "Rock Center"; its cable arm, MSNBC
TV; its radio and mobile arms, NBC News Radio and NBC News Mobile; its
educational arm, NBC Learn; its production arm, Peacock Productions;
its NBCUniversal partners, CNBC, The Weather Channel and Telemundo; and
over 200 of its local affiliate stations across the country.

As part of the transition, the current msnbc.com site is now
NBCNews.com, and the site will continue to provide users with the
highest quality news and information from the network's trusted on-air
and online journalists, editors and producers. NBCNews.com will also
provide access to a new, expanded and higher-quality local news
experience by partnering with NBC's Owned Television
Stations--providing users a wide offering of local, regional, national
and international news.

MSNBC TV will launch a new digital home in 2013. The digital presence
will be an extension of the MSNBC TV on-air brand, creating in-depth
content and a community for the passionate audiences of MSNBC TV
programs. Until then, MSNBC TV's digital content will continue to be
available on its current platforms.



Msnbc Digital Network properties will be fully incorporated into NBC
News' current operational structure, and some staff will be co-located
at NBC's headquarters in New York in order to create unified
multi-platform teams, and promote the sharing of resources and
cross-platform reporting between the network's broadcast and digital
properties. NBC News plans to keep a substantial presence in the
Seattle area, building what will become the "NBC News Innovation
Center." This center will focus on digital innovation and technology,
and incubate new ideas for NBC News and NBCUniversal.

As the teams begin to combine, NBC News will continue to invest in the
growth of its digital businesses, focusing on a model of user
engagement through social networks, and creating more premium content
with an emphasis on video.

"When msnbc.com launched 16 years ago, it set the standard for how
people consume news online--creating trends and leading the
marketplace. Today, NBC News enters a new phase of its history better
positioned to compete and grow in a digital environment, as well as
deliver consumers and clients a multi-platform news experience unlike
anything else in the industry," said Capus. "We'd like to thank
Microsoft for everything they've done for this partnership and for
helping us build these properties into what they are today."

In the coming years, MSN will remain an important distribution partner
for NBCNews.com, featuring NBC News links to content on the MSN
homepage and other properties.

"After years of working together with NBC to successfully build
msnbc.com into a leading online news outlet, we are excited to explore
future innovations, relationships and opportunities that will continue
to provide the most relevant news and conversations at MSN," said Bob
Visse, general manager of MSN. "We are looking forward to seeing how
the msnbc news team thrives under NBC, and we will continue to feature
the great stories from NBC News as well as expand our news offerings to
best serve the evolving interests of our broad global audience."

NBC News Digital will be overseen by Vivian Schiller, Senior Vice
President & Chief Digital Officer of NBC News. Charlie Tillinghast will
continue to oversee the legacy Msnbc Digital Network properties,
reporting to Schiller. The current NBC News Digital sales team will now
report to Marianne Gambelli, President of NBC Network Ad Sales, and
work closely with John Kelly, Executive Vice President of NBC News Ad
Sales.

"This deal represents so many opportunities for NBC News, including the
ability to better align television with digital, innovate around how we
deliver content to consumers, and fully integrate digital into
everything that we do," said Schiller. "Through this new structure,
we'll grow by engaging users with our content directly, and on every
platform. This is a different model from the rest, and given where the
future of online news is trending, we see it as a model with staying
power."

About NBC News Digital

NBC News Digital is a collection of innovative and powerful news brands
that deliver compelling, diverse and visually engaging stories on your
platform of choice. NBC News Digital features world-class brands
including NBCNews.com, tv.msnbc.com, TODAY.com, theGrio.com,
NBCLatino.com, NBCPolitics.com, EducationNation.com, NightlyNews.com,
Meet the Press, Rock Center, Dateline, Newsvine, EveryBlock, Breaking
News and the existing apps and digital extensions of these respective
properties. We provide something for every news consumer with our
comprehensive offerings that deliver the best in breaking news,
segments from your favorite NBC News shows, live video coverage,
original journalism, lifestyle features, commentary and local updates.
NBC News Digital reaches an audience of more than 58 million unique
visitors who generate more than 1.2 billion page views and 140 million
online video streams each month.

The NBC News Digital logo is available at
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=13652

The NBCNews.com logo is available at
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=13653


CONTACT: Meghan Pianta
         212-664-2364
         meghan.pianta@nbcuni.com