The MS NOW Membership
MS NOW, 2026
Whether you are running a newsletter such as the one I crank out five days a week or are operating a massive cable TV news network and digital operation, the key to success is engaging your super fans.
There is some small subset of your readers and viewers who are especially engaged in your work and will not only consume it, they’ll evangelize about it to their friends and family. These are the people you want to build a stronger connection with. Because not only are they you’re best marketing tool, they provide the opportunity for growing revenue. These fans already like your brand. Now you just have to build additional revenue opportunities.
One way MS NOW is servicing its super fans is by launching a new “MS NOW Membership,” which costs $79.99 a year or $189 a year for the “founder” membership.
Members can watch the network live 24/7 and also can watch daily live video Q&As with hosts, participate in community discussions and get ad-free articles and on-demand video.
About That 24/7 Live Feed
The biggest feature of the membership is the access to a live feed of the network. Unless you have a paid live TV package of some sort, you can’t otherwise watch the network live. And even the cheapest live TV mini-bundle that includes MS NOW runs nearly $40 a month. So being able to watch it live is a big deal.
Except that the live feed isn’t available on the MS NOW smart TV app, something the network glossed over initially.
For instance, here is how it was described on the membership page when the offer launched:
A screenshot of the original version of the membership page.
MS NOW, 2026
And here is what the membership page looks like now:
What the membership page looks like now.
MS NOW, 2026
I understand the reasons behind this. Carriage agreements between live TV providers and the media companies that own networks provide the networks with a specified amount of money per subscriber. But that money comes with restrictions, and one of them is typically that the live network feeds are exclusive to companies that sign the carriage agreements.
I expect MS NOW will work to change that during upcoming negotiations. But for now, there are no live feeds for MS NOW members on smart TV apps, which is a big issue for some people.
That being said, the membership does offer some solid features. You can watch the network live 24/7 on the MS. NOW website or on the mobile app. And previous shows are available as well, which takes the place of being able to record them.
The Best Part Of The MS NOW Membership
The most distinctive part of being an MS NOW member is having access to the twice-a-day live Q&As with network talent, which are also available later for on-demand viewing.
Many of the anchors do a regularly scheduled weekly video chat and there are also Q&As with various network reporters, commentators and analysts. They are reasonably casual and select viewers have the opportunity to ask the network talent a question on video.
Overall, it’s a great idea that both provides additional context for members as well as leaning into the “we’re all part of this community” vibe the network is attempting to build.
Community Discussions
The MS NOW community discussion boards
MS NOW, 2026
Another feature of being a MS NOW member is participating in forums devoted to the various shows. And while it is still early, the forums seem to be struggling with the same issues that plague nearly every online message board.
Building a community is difficult. It requires a great deal of active posting from both the people who work there as well as from members. And to reach that critical mass, it is necessary to organically grow the comments to the point where members are responding to each other, not just approved threads.
The threads are primarily started by unnamed members of the “community team,” along with the occasional post from on-air talent. And so far, the boards look about like you would imagine. A fairly modest number of replies and almost no interaction between members.
As someone who has spent much of his life trying to build online communities, I can say there aren’t any guaranteed ways to do it. But I can say this isn’t the method that will likely prove successful.
MS NOW would be better served hiring a couple of people to be the digital faces of the community. People want that connection and being able to identify who is posting and having some sense of who they are might sound trivial. But it’s the kind of thing that resonates with members and it’s the best way to build a community.
The other way to build the community is by encouraging online conversations and having dedicated digital employees go in and respond in the threads and further the conversations is the only real way to be successful. People online want to be part of a community. But they generally need help getting started.
Bottom line: Overall, the MS Now Membership is an interesting experiment and it has the possibility of being successful. It’s biggest challenge is convincing viewers that it is worth paying $80 a year for a membership that isn’t available on the network’s smart TV app.
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