MSNBC is making its lineup overhaul official, elevating a handful of key talent to the evenings while also making substantial changes to its weekend and dayside hours.
The most notable changes were telegraphed over the weekend, and will see major changes to MSNBC’s evening and primetime lineups.
As expected, when Rachel Maddow returns to her one day per week schedule in April, Jen Psaki will take over the 9 p.m hour on Tuesdays-Fridays. And The Weekend hosts Alicia Menendez, Michael Steele and Symone Sanders-Townsend will shift to the 7 p.m. hour, while hosting a two hour show on Mondays from 7-9 p.m.
As part of the changes, MSNBC’s current 7 p.m. host Joy Reid will leave the channel, with rotating hosts filling in until the new lineup kicks in. Alex Wagner, who had been helming 9 p.m. on Tuesdays-Fridays, will stay with MSNBC as a senior political analyst.
MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler announced the changes in a memo to staff Monday, adding that” I had hoped to share this with all of you directly and understand the frustration that you first learned about this over the weekend and not from me.”
On The Weekend, MSNBC will introduce a new trio of co-hosts for the program, with Jonathan Capehart working as one of the morning hosts, and Ayman Mohyeldin to be one of the evening co-hosts, with other hosts TBD. Ali Velshi will also expand his weekend show to three hours.
In conjunction with MSNBC’s spinoff from NBCUniversal, the cable channel will consolidate its production to New York and Washington D.C., with the channel opening a standalone Washington bureau, with plans to hire journalists and correspondents to stand up a new newsgathering operation.
As a result, the channel will stop producing shows out of Miami, with José Díaz-Balart Reports and The Katie Phang Show both ending production.
Díaz-Balart will continue as one of the weekend anchors for NBC Nightly News, while Phang will remain with MSNBC as a legal correspondent. As a result of the dayside changes, Ana Cabrera will expand an hour and anchor weekday Ana Cabrera Reports from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Chris Jansing will shift to anchor Chris Jansing Reports from 12 to 2 p.m. Katy Tur will add an hour to Katy Tur Reports from 2 to 4 p.m.
You can read Kutler’s memo, below.
Team,
As I shared with many of you a few weeks ago, my goal is to build on the successes that have distinguished MSNBC from its peers. We now have one of the most engaged audiences in all of television and are seeing rapid growth across digital, audio, and more. In the years ahead, we must continue to show up for our audiences in this critical moment while simultaneously best positioning ourselves for the future.
Today, I am sharing updates to our weekday and weekend lineups. I had hoped to share this with all of you directly and understand the frustration that you first learned about this over the weekend and not from me.
- In primetime, Jen Psaki will move to the 9 p.m. hour on Tuesdays through Fridays. Since joining MSNBC, Psaki has become a crucial and trusted voice for the network. Her Sunday program is now the most-watched show on the weekends, her expansion to Mondays has been a fast success, and “The Blueprint with Jen Psaki” has quickly become a top-rated news podcast.
- Following the first 100 days of the Trump administration, “The Rachel Maddow Show” will return to Mondays at 9 p.m.
- Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez, the current co-hosts of “The Weekend,” will move to weekdays at 7 p.m. to host a new ensemble news program with a two-hour edition on Mondays. Since its launch, “The Weekend” has seen a significant and sustained increase in audience engagement, and we are excited to build on that momentum during the week.
- Joy Reid is leaving the network and we thank her for her countless contributions over the years. Her work has been recognized with several esteemed honors, including most recently, the 2025 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding News Series. In the coming weeks, rotating anchors will host the hour.
- Alex Wagner will remain a senior political analyst with the network and continue to bring her journalistic and production expertise to MSNBC audiences across all day parts. Her reporting ahead of the 2024 election and in the early days of the new administration has provided audiences with an indispensable perspective at a key moment in American politics.
- We are increasing live programming by two hours on the weekends. Soon, we will announce a new trio of co-hosts for “The Weekend,” which will include MSNBC host and The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart. We will also introduce an evening edition of the program, hosted by a different group of anchors, including veteran MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin. We will have more to share in the weeks ahead.
- Ali Velshi will also expand his namesake program, “Velshi” to three hours on the weekends.
- In the coming months, MSNBC will consolidate its broadcast locations to New York and Washington, D.C. and sunset our production operations in Miami. This change will impact the Miami-based shows “José Díaz-Balart Reports” and “The Katie Phang Show.” Díaz-Balart will remain with NBC News as anchor of “Weekend Nightly News” and Phang will remain with MSNBC as a legal correspondent.
- On the dayside front, “Ana Cabrera Reports” will expand to 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.; “Chris Jansing Reports” will shift to 12 to 2 p.m., and “Katy Tur Reports” will add another hour to anchor from 2 to 4 p.m.
Unless otherwise noted above, these changes will go into effect in late April.
In the coming months, I will have more news to share on expanding our Washington operation, including establishing a bureau, and building a team of domestic and international correspondents.
Thank you for your continued commitment to our shared mission of keeping our audiences informed across all of our platforms.
Team leaders and HR managers will meet with various groups throughout the day to discuss all of this in more detail.
Weekday Programming | |
5 a.m. ET | “Way Too Early with Ali Vitali” |
6 a.m. ET | “Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist” |
10 a.m. ET | “Ana Cabrera Reports” |
12 p.m. ET | “Chris Jansing Reports” |
2 p.m. ET | “Katy Tur Reports” |
4 p.m. ET | “Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace” |
6 p.m. ET | “The Beat with Ari Melber” |
7 p.m. ET | Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez |
8 p.m. ET | “All In with Chris Hayes” on Tuesdays – Fridays; Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez on Mondays |
9 p.m. ET | “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Mondays; Jen Psaki on Tuesdays – Fridays |
10 p.m. ET | “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” |
11 p.m. ET | “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle” |
Weekend Programming | |
7 a.m. ET | “The Weekend” co-hosted by Jonathan Capehart |
10 a.m. ET | “Velshi” |
1 p.m. ET | “Alex Witt Reports” |
4 p.m. ET | “Best Of” |
5 p.m. ET | “PoliticsNation with Rev. Al Sharpton” |
6 p.m. ET | “The Weekend” co-hosted by Ayman Mohyeldin |
Thank you,
Rebecca