Hosts from MS NOW ‘s Morning Joe and CNBC ‘s Squawk Box appeared at the NBCUniversal upfront Monday to vouch for the impact of Versant Media ‘s programming. For years, the talent’s presence at Radio City Music Hall would have been utterly ordinary. In 2026, though, the talent and networks are not owned by NBCUniversal. Along with a number of other cable and digital assets, MS NOW and CNBC were spun off by Comcast into a new stand-alone company, Versant Media. As a bridge from its start-up phase to a more established one down the line, the new company reached multi-year agreements with NBCU for distribution and advertising services. Along with MS NOW (rebranded from MSNBC) and CNBC, properties under the Versant tent include USA Network, Golf Channel and movie outlet Fandango. Versant started trading last January on the Nasdaq.…