Comcast is starting to move forward with the separation of its cable news outlet MSNBC from its broader NBC News division, according to information provided to workers this week.

On Wednesday, employees at MSNBC were told the cable outlet will no longer offer reports from domestic or international NBC News journalists after October 6, the first significant step toward MSNBC’s independence from NBC and Comcast.

Journalists based at NBC News’ bureau in Washington, D.C. will continue to make appearances on the channel through October 20, at which point MSNBC will be reliant upon its own news team and political analysts.

The move is part of a broader separation of Comcast’s cable networks, which are being spun out into a standalone business called Versant. Comcast and Versant will continue to have a business relationship — NBC Universal is selling advertising opportunities for Versant, and is helping the cable business fill job openings through its NBC Universal Careers platform — but that relationship won’t include editorial operations.

The spin-off includes MSNBC’s sister network CNBC, which will maintain its staff of finance-focused reporters and analysts, nearly all of whom are moving over to Versant.

CNBC will maintain its branding, owed to its service as an initialism for “Consumer News and Business Channel,” though it is expected to lose the famed NBC Peacock logo in the coming months. MSNBC is in the process of rebranding as “MS NOW,” which purportedly stands for “My Source for News, Opinion and the World.”

As part of the spin-off, non-news channels like USA Network and Golf Channel will also receive updated brand identities, executives at Versant said.