I always wondered at that particular alliance between Microsoft and NBC anyway. What was the business model? NBC certainly already had enough “news” outlets, and even some sort of entertainment programming. Was MSNBC to run online gaming? Was it supposed to be a unique news-gathering enterprise, like a superblog? Bloomberg is already doing that.
Squeezed out of existence and left looking like a mummified corpse.
What is going to be plugged into that soon-to-be-vacant channel on my cable TV lineup?
I think it was more about trying to create some on-air and online partnership that back in the mid-90s was a pretty new thing. It was supposed to be “multimedia” and “interactive” or some such 90s buzzword laden thing.
“What was the business model?”
There wasn’t a business model. It was a lesson to Microsoft on what shouldn’t be done if you want to create a news network.
If you're lucky, you'll get RFD-TV as a replacement. It’s the farming and agriculture channel. Be sure to catch the “Polka Fest" show -- it's a big hit.