Ah, we're in the same area! MSNBC was on 31 on for me, too. I didn't notice MSNBC got moved, but I did notice my CourtTV (no I won't call it truTV) got moved. I'm really bitter about that. I did notice that the channels that got moved to digital high 100s were channels not owned in some way by Comcast. Hmmmmm!
Now in the Pittsburgh and Boston areas (Pinky, this is probably why you haven't noticed a change) MSNBC was moved to digital and replaced by the Golf Channel. The Golf Channel is a subsidiary.
Some of the channels and their owners that got moved to digital...
Hallmark - Crown Media
ESPN Classic - Disney
TruTV - TimeWarner
This shouldn't really affect me as I have a digital package with Comcast... but it does. I only have one box on one TV that receives the digital channels. When I contacted Comcast to ask where the heck some of my favourite channels got moved I was informed about the change to digital and then thrown a sales pitch to buy more boxes for the other TVs in my house.
I don't think this is politics at work but just greed.