MSNBC Makes Key Political Hire as It Builds a New D.C. Bureau

As it prepares for its future spun off from Comcast, the new leaders of MSNBC have made a key hire to build up its political reporting infrastructure.

Sudeep Reddy was enlisted away from Politico to join the cable news TV brand as it establishes its own presence in Washington, D.C. apart from NBC News and creates its own beltway bureau. Reddy, who led 150 journalists as senior managing editor at the Arlington-based trade publication during an eight-year tenure, will start at MSNBC on June 16.

He’ll report to Scott Matthews, the svp of newsgathering who just joined the channel’s leadership from WABC-TV in March. “Sudeep’s appointment signals the importance of original and enterprise reporting for the future of MSNBC,” Matthews wrote in a memo to staff. “He will lead our Washington team to focus not just on the happenings inside Washington but also on how decisions in the capital will impact people across the nation and around the world.”

The work to build up its own political reporting muscle is ahead of Comcast’s separation of its cable TV business into a nondescriptly named firm called Versant that will include MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, E!, Syfy and the Golf Channel. Versant, which will be run by NBCU exec Mark Lazarus, says its brands reach 70 million homes and generate $7 billion in revenue annually.

The close date for that deal is expected later this year. NBC News, and its newsgathering resources along with franchises like the Today show, are staying put at Comcast. And several key reporting talents are being divided up between NBC News and Versant’s MSNBC and CNBC, among them Steve Kornacki, who inked a deal to exit MSNBC to stay put among the Comcast stable.

So MSNBC has been making notable hires — Matthews is looking to hire for an estimated 100 roles — to fill the void in reporting areas that had been occupied by NBC News resources. Reddy will oversee coverage of Capitol Hill, the White House, the State Department, Justice Department and Supreme Court as the exec looks to build the MSNBC D.C. bureau.

As the line between cable television blurs with longform video podcasting, MSNBC has also been hiring from a new competitive set, including bringing on former NBC News alum and recent Crooked Media GM Madeleine Haeringer to oversee its podcast and audio offerings.

New products, amid a rapidly shifting linear-to-digital landscape and evolving media ecosystem, appears to be one part of the equation for MSNBC. Matthews added of Reddy in the memo to staff, “While at Politico, he launched dozens of new products, including newsletters, podcasts, live events and digital offerings; guided strategy and operations for Politico Playbook during the first Trump administration; and built the newsroom’s first audio team from the ground up.”