And they thought they would sneak this one past us? Well, Microsoft filed its 10-Q report this afternoon, and it has the numbers, in all its gory details of the MSNBC join venture unraveling and NBC taking control: “Microsoft and NBC Universal entered into amended and restated agreements to restructure their joint venture relationships for MSNBC Cable L.L.C. ("CJV") and MSNBC Interactive News, L.L.C. ("IJV"). As a result, Microsoft divested 32% of CJV for $331 million and NBC acquired the right, exercisable in the following two years, to buy the remaining 18% interest.

In addition, Microsoft and NBC modified their agreements to grant to IJV a content license to the U.S. only and to remove the exclusivity obligation on both NBC and Microsoft for local and non-U.S. news content. As part of the MSNBC restructuring agreements, Microsoft paid a fee of $200 million to effectively terminate IJV’s prior content license agreement and Microsoft prepaid the remaining $14 million license fee to NBC.

Microsoft’s sale of its 32% investment in CJV resulted in a recognized gain of $248 million. Microsoft also recognized a loss as a result of the effective termination of IJV’s license agreement of $200 million. For the three and six months ended December 31, 2005 income from equity investees and other includes a net gain of $48 million related to the restructuring of CJV and IJV.”

So there, you have it...now you know. We’ll try to get some more explanation of this in plainer language tomorrow..

Related:

-- NBCU Takes Full Control Of MSNBC; Web Site Remains Joint Effort

-- MSNBC.com’s Recent History, Through Links