Comcast NBCUniversal continues to lay the groundwork to spin most of its cable television assets off into a new publicly traded entity called Versant, announcing Monday that MSNBC will by year’s end be rebranded as MS NOW — short for “My Source for News Opinion and the World.” The channel’s new logo will no longer include the iconic Peacock, which remains part of the parent company’s NBC branding. The plans were shared in an internal memo from Mark Lazarus, the NBCUniversal Media Group chairman who has been chosen to run Versant as founding CEO.

“As we all know, the peacock is synonymous with NBCUniversal, and it is a symbol they have decided to keep within the NBCU family,” Lazarus explained in the memo, excerpted in Variety. “This gives us the opportunity to chart our own path forward, create distinct brand identities, and establish an independent news organization following the spin.”

Variety says MSNBC had originally planned to keep its name, but NBCU recently decided to retain its famous Peacock design and markings and not share them, requiring Versant to make changes to some of its networks that use those insignia and the NBC logo, Lazarus said.

NBCU executives “determined that retaining the name would create brand confusion with NBC News,” Deadline reports. In a memo to MSNBC staff, the basic cable news network’s President Rebecca Kutler wrote that “NBCUniversal decided that our brand requires a new, separate identity. This decision now allows us to set our own course and assert our independence as we continue to build our own modern newsgathering operation.”

A post on the MSNBC website advises its community that while “it may be hard to imagine this network by any other name,” the mission remains the same: “to serve as your destination for breaking news and thoughtful analysis.”

NBC News did its own reporting on the topic, quoting Kutler saying the rebrand will be backed by “a national marketing campaign ‘unlike anything we have done in recent memory.’”

The cable business channel CNBC, which is also migrating to Versant, will get to keep NBC in its name — an acronym for “Consumer News and Business Channel” — though its logo is changing.

In addition to core broadcast assets including the NBC network, NBC News and NBC Sports, the arts and culture channel Bravo, the Peacock streaming service will remain under the NBCU wing as Versant is launched publicly. The IPO is expected to take place by the end of this year.