Williams & Couric Demonstrated “The Depth & Breadth Of NBC News”

“Something different was in the air at MSNBC” on Thursday, the Hollywood Reporter’s Paul Gough says. “The networks” — MSNBC and NBC — “truly connected.”

Neal Shapiro “acknowledged in an interview…that it wasn’t just happenstance. Very early on Thursday, the plans called for putting Williams on MSNBC while Couric and Holt carried ‘Today’ across the country live. That way, Shapiro said, the network could continue using its marquee talent on the main network (and also not disrupt normal programing) while providing a constant news haven on MSNBC using the news division’s deep bench.”

MSNBC VP Mark Effron said the decision had nothing to do with the depth of talent at MSNBC. Rather, “it demonstrates the depth and breadth of NBC News.”

> Also: “At some point we might rebrand MSNBC,” Shapiro said, but “I don’t think it’s imminent.”