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National Broadcasting Company
(NBC)
TypeBroadcast radio network
television network
Country
 United States
AvailabilityNational; also distributed in  Canada,  Mexico (northern), and  Bermuda
OwnerNBC Universal Inc. (United States General Electric Co. and France Vivendi)
Key people
Bob Wright, CEO
Jeff Zucker, President, NBCU Television Group
Steve Capus, President, NBC News
Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Sports
Launch date
November 15, 1926 (radio); July 1, 1941 (television)
Official website
www.nbc.com/

NBC (an acronym for National Broadcasting Company) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center. It is sometimes referred to as the Peacock Network due to its stylized peacock logo. The network is now part of the media company NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric (GE) and Vivendi, and supplies programming to more than 200 affiliated U.S. stations.

Formed in 1926 by RCA, control of NBC passed to GE in 1986 following GE's $6.4 billion purchase of RCA. Since this acquisition, the chief executive of NBC (now NBC Universal) has been Bob Wright.

The Peacock Network's corporate name was shrunk from "National Broadcasting Company, Inc." to "NBC Universal, Inc." following the merger with French Vivendi Universal's Entertainment division, then-owner of Universal Studios, in May 2004. NBC still uses the full name during official and occasional broadcasts, such as its coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. [1]

History

NBC Tower in Chicago

Radio

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) radio network went on the air with twenty-four affiliated stations on November 15, 1926. It was owned by Radio Corporation of America (RCA), itself set up in 1919 to control Guglielmo Marconi's American patents; RCA in turn was owned by General Electric Company (GE), the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the United Fruit Company and American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T).

Earliest Stations: WEAF & WJZ

During a period of early consolidation in the broadcasting business, RCA had acquired New York radio station WEAF from AT&T. RCA shareholder Westinghouse had a competing facility in Newark, pioneer station WJZ, which also served as the originating station for a loosely-structured network. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, and moved to New York.[2]

WEAF had been a laboratory for AT&T's Western Electric, which manufactured transmitters and antennas. AT&T's long-distance and local Bell operating divisions were developing technologies for transmitting voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, via both wireless and wired methods. So AT&T's creation of station WEAF in 1922 offered a research-and-development center for these activities. WEAF put together a regular schedule of programs of all types, and created some of the first broadcasts to incorporate commercial endorsements or sponsorships. It was an immediate success, and created links with other stations to offer coverage of sports or political events. WEAF's first efforts in what would become known first as "chain broadcasting" and later as "networking" tied together Outlet Company's WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island with AT&T's WCAP in Washington, D.C. (named for the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company division of AT&T). RCA also saw an advantage in sharing programming, and after getting a license for station WRC in Washington, D.C. in 1923, attempted to transmit audio between cities via low-quality telegraph lines (since AT&T refused outside companies access to their high-quality phone lines). The effort was poor at best, with the uninsulated telegraph lines incapable of good audio transmission quality and very susceptible to both atmospheric and man-made electrical interference.

In 1925 the management of AT&T decided that WEAF and its network was not compatible with AT&T's goal of providing a phone service, and offered to sell the station to RCA, whose business was set manufacturing. When RCA bought WEAF, it gained rights to rent AT&T's phone lines for network transmission.

Red & Blue Networks

For $1 million, RCA acquired radio station WEAF and a Washington sister-station, WCAP, which it shut down. This transaction accompanied the announcement, in the late summer of 1926, of a new wholly owned division of RCA called The National Broadcasting Company.[3] It was actually owned 50% by RCA, 30% by General Electric, and 20% by Westinghouse. The network officially was launched on November 15, 1926. WEAF and RCA's WJZ already were the flagship stations of two radio networks, and they operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. In 1927 NBC formally divided their respective marketing strategies: the NBC Red Network offered entertainment and music programming; the NBC Blue Network carried many of the "sustaining" or non-sponsored broadcasts, especially news and cultural programs. Legend has it that the color designations originated from the color of the push-pins early engineers used to designate affiliates of WEAF (red pins) and WJZ (blue pins), or from the use of double-ended red and blue colored pencils. A similar two-part/two-color strategy appeared in the recording industry, dividing the market between classical and popular offerings. At various times in the 1930s NBC developed additional color designations, with the NBC White, Gold, and Orange (hence the logo) networks operating in various configurations in the South, the Midwest and on the West Coast.

In a major move in 1931, RCA signed crucial leases with the new Rockefeller Center management that resulted in it becoming the lead tenant of what was to become in 1933 its corporate headquarters, the RCA Building, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Under the terms of the lease arrangement, this included studios for NBC and theaters for the RCA-owned RKO Pictures. The deal was arranged through the Center's founder and financier, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., with the chairman of GE, Owen D. Young, and the president of RCA, David Sarnoff.[4]

The Chimes

Main article: NBC chimes

The famous three-note NBC chimes came about after several years of development. The three note sequence G-E-C may have been first heard over WSB in Atlanta which used it for its own purposes until one day someone at NBC in New York heard the WSB version of the notes during a networked broadcast of a Georgia Tech football game and asked permission to use it on the national network. NBC started to use the three notes in 1931, and it was the first ever audio trademark to be accepted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A variant sequence was also used that went G-E-C-G, known as "the fourth chime" and used during wartime (especially in the wake of the Pearl Harbor bombing), on D-Day, and disasters. The NBC chimes were mechanized in 1932 by Richard H. Ranger of the Rangertone company; their purpose was to send a low level signal of constant amplitude that would be heard by the various switching stations manned by NBC and AT&T engineers, and thus used as a system cue for switching different stations between the Red and Blue network feeds. Legend has it that the three musical notes, G-E-C, stand for NBC's then-and-now parent corporation, the General Electric Company. G-E-C is still used on NBC-TV, although NBC's radio branch no longer exists. G-E-C-G is also still used by ABC, which still has a radio network.

New Beginnings: The Blue Network Becomes ABC

From its creation in 1934, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had studied the monopolistic effects of network broadcasting on the industry, and found that NBC's two networks and their owned-and-operated stations dominated audiences, affiliates and advertising dollars in American radio. In 1939 the FCC ordered RCA to divest itself of one of the two networks; RCA fought the divestiture order, but divided NBC into two companies in 1940 in case an appeal was lost. The Blue network became the "NBC Blue Network, Inc." (now as ABC) and the NBC Red became "NBC Red Network, Inc."

With the loss of the final appeal before the United States Supreme Court, RCA sold the NBC Blue Network, Inc. for $8 million to Lifesavers magnate Edward J. Noble in 1943. For his money Noble got the network name, leases on land-lines and the New York studios, two-and-a half stations (WJZ in Newark/New York, KGO in San Francisco and WENR in Chicago which shared a frequency with "Prairie Farmer" station WLS) and about 60 affiliates. Noble renamed the company "The Blue Network, Inc." but wanted something more memorable. In 1944 he acquired rights to the name "American Broadcasting Company" from George Storer and the Blue Network became ABC, with the official name change announced on June 15, 1945, after the sale was completed. "NBC Red" reverted to being simply "NBC" when Blue was sold.

Defining Radio’s Golden Age

File:NBC, NewYork.jpg
The Front Entrance of The NBC Tower at 454 N. Columbus Drive, Chicago, IL.

In the golden days of network broadcasting, 1930 to 1950, NBC was the pinnacle of American radio. Home to many of the most popular stars and programs, NBC stations were often the most powerful, or occupied clear-channel frequencies so that they were heard nation-wide. Such well-known stars as Al Jolson, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, Johnny Carson and Fred Allen called NBC home, as did Arturo Toscanini's NBC Symphony. NBC also broadcast radio's earliest hit, Amos 'n' Andy, in its original fifteen-minute serial format that set the standard for just about all serialised programming in the first radio era, whether for comedies or soap operas.

As television became more popular in the 1950s, many NBC radio stars gravitated there. Toscanini made his ten television appearances on NBC between 1948 and 1952. In 1950, the network sanctioned The Big Show, a 90-minute radio variety show that harked back to radio's earliest musical variety style but with sophisticated comedy and dramatic presentations and featuring stage legend Tallulah Bankhead as its host. It aimed to keep classic radio alive as television matured and to challenge CBS's Sunday night lineup —much of which had jumped there from NBC in the late 1940s, including (and especially) Jack Benny. But The Big Show's initial success didn't last despite critics' praises; the show endured only two years, with NBC said to lose a million dollars on the project.

NBC Radio's last major programming push, in 1955, was Monitor, a continuous, all-weekend mixture of music, news, interviews and features with a variety of hosts including such well-known television personalities as Dave Garroway, Hugh Downs, Ed McMahon, Joe Garagiola and Gene Rayburn. The potpourri also tried to keep vintage radio alive in featuring segments from Jim and Marian Jordan (in character as Fibber McGee and Molly), Ethel & Albert, and iconoclastic satirist Henry Morgan, among others. Monitor was a success for a number of years, but after the mid-1960s, local stations, especially in larger markets, became increasingly reluctant to break from their established formats to run non-conforming network programming. After Monitor went off the air in early 1975, there was little left of NBC Radio beyond hourly newscasts and news-related features.

Later in 1975, NBC launched the NBC News and Information Service, which provided up to 55 minutes of news per hour around the clock to local stations that wanted to adopt an all-news format. The service attracted several dozen subscribers, but not enough to allow NBC to project that it would ever become profitable, and it was discontinued after two years. Near the end of the 1970s, NBC started "The Source," a modestly successful secondary network that provided news and short features to FM rock stations.

After their 1986 acquisition of NBC, GE decided that the radio business did not fit their strategic objectives. NBC Radio's network operations were sold to Westwood One, and the NBC-owned stations were sold to various buyers. In 1989, the NBC Radio Network as an independent programming service ceased to exist, becoming a brand-name for content produced by Westwood One. By the late 1990s NBC-branded newscasts were being produced only on weekday mornings; around 2003 even these were discontinued, and the remaining NBC Radio Network affiliates began to receive CNBC Radio-branded newscasts at all hours. At about the same time Westwood One began to distribute a new service called NBC News Radio, consisting of brief news updates read by NBC News and MSNBC anchors and reporters.

Television

File:30rock.jpg
30 Rockefeller Center, also known as the GE Building, is the world headquarters of NBC.

For many years NBC was closely identified with David Sarnoff, who used it as a vehicle to sell consumer electronics. It was Sarnoff who ruthlessly stole innovative ideas from competitors, using RCA's muscle to prevail in the courts. RCA and Sarnoff had dictated the broadcasting standards put in place by the FCC in 1938, and stole the spotlight by introducing all-electronic television to the public at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair, simultaneously initiating a regular schedule of programs on the NBC-RCA television station in New York City. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appeared at the fair, before the NBC cameras, becoming the first U.S. president to appear on television on April 30, 1939. An actual, off-the-monitor photograph of the FDR telecast can be viewed at http://www.davidsarnoff.org/gallery-tv-bw/FDR_TV-WF_39.htm. The broadcast was transmitted by NBC's New York television station W2XBS Channel 1 (now WNBC-TV channel 4) and was seen by about 1,000 viewers within the station's roughly 40-mile coverage area from their Empire State Building transmitter location. The next day, May 1, four models of RCA television sets went on sale to the general public in various New York City department stores, promoted in a series of splashy newspaper ads. It is to be noted that DuMont (and others) actually offered the first home sets in 1938 in anticipation of NBC's announced April 1939 start-up. Later in 1939, NBC took its cameras to professional football and baseball games in the New York City area, establishing many "firsts" in the history of television. Actual NBC "network" broadcasts (more than one station) began about this time with occasional special events--such as the King and Queen of England's visit to the New York World's Fair--being seen in Philadelphia (over the station which would become WPTZ, now KYW) and in Schenectady (over the station which would become WRGB), two pioneer stations in their own right. The most ambitious NBC television "network" program of this pre-war era was the telecasting of the Republican National Convention in 1940 from Philadelphia, which was fed live to New York and Schenectady. However, despite major promotion by RCA, television set sales in New York in the 1939-1940 period were disappointing, primarily due to the high cost of the sets, and the lack of compelling regular programming. Most sets were sold to bars, hotels and other public places, where the general public viewed special sporting and news events.

NBC's experimental New York City station was licensed for commercial telecasts beginning on July 1, 1941, adopting the call letters WNBT (it is now WNBC-TV). The first official commercial on that day was for Bulova Watches, seen just before the start of a Brooklyn Dodgers telecast. Limited programming continued until the U.S. entered World War II. Telecasts were curtailed in the early years of the war, then expanded as NBC began to prepare for full service upon the war's end. On VE-Day, 1945, WNBT broadcast hours of news coverage, and remotes from around New York City. At one point, a WNBT camera placed atop the marquee of the Hotel Astor, panned the crowd below celebrating the end of the war in Europe. It was, by all reports, a thrilling prelude of things to come as television began its rapid ascent into the American household. After the war ended, development of television soared ahead and the NBC television network grew from its initial post-war lineup of four stations. The World Series of 1947 featured two New York teams (Yankees and Dodgers) and local TV sales boomed, since the games were telecast in New York. Stations along the East coast and Midwest were gradually connected by coaxial cable in the 1940s until September 1951, when the first transcontinental telecasts took place.

The early 1950s brought massive success for NBC in the new medium, as it launched television's first superstar in Milton Berle, whose antics on the The Texaco Star Theater drew massive audiences. Also, the network launched Today and The Tonight Show, which would bookend the broadcast day for over fifty years, continuing to this day to draw more eyes than the comparable offerings of other networks.

While rivals CBS and DuMont also offered color broadcasting plans, RCA convinced a waffling FCC that its color system should prevail, and in December 1953 the FCC agreed; the NBC network was to begin offering color programming within days of the FCC's decision. NBC began broadcasting certain shows in color in 1954, and the first NBC show to air all episodes in color, The Marriage, was shown that summer. In 1956 during a National Association meeting in Chicago, NBC announced that their Chicago TV station — WNBQ (now WMAQ-TV), was the first color TV station in the nation (at least six hours of color broadcasts a day). In 1961 and 1962, NBC-TV offered "Color Weeks" where most of the primetime schedule would be broadcast in color. The event was marked by promotional pushes for RCA Color TV. By 1963, most of NBC's prime time schedule was in color; without television sets to sell, rival networks followed more slowly, CBS in 1965 and ABC in 1966. Days of Our Lives was the first soap opera to premire in color television.

It was during the period of the 1970s and through the mid 1980s that NBC suffered its massive slide in the ratings. The network was beginning to lose some of its luster to other networks, particularly CBS. Fred Silverman, who had taken over NBC's programming department, had greenlit shows such as Hello, Larry, Marie, Pink Lady and Jeff, The Waverly Wonders, and the most notorious of all NBC series, Supertrain. All of these series and more did not survive a single season. Perhaps the low point was in 1983, when NBC began its new fall season with nine new series. These nine series were: Bay City Blues, Boone, For Love and Honor, Jennifer Slept Here, Manimal, The Rousters, Mr. Smith, We Got it Made, and The Yellow Rose. All nine of them were eventually cancelled before completing a year. This is the only time that a network's entire line of new series has failed to be renewed for a second season. Fortunately during this period there were two bright spots: Johnny Carson's Tonight Show solidly held its enormous ratings, and was reported to be the network's top money-maker in the 1970s.

Also during this time, NBC suffered through the defections of several longtime affiliates in markets such as: Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and San Diego. Most of the defecting stations were wooed away by ABC, which was the number-one network during the late 1970s and early 1980s; in markets such as San Diego and Jacksonville, NBC was forced to replace the lost stations with new affiliates broadcasting on the UHF band.

Tartikoff, "Must See TV" and beyond

NBC would soon rebound in the ratings, thanks to new programming chief Brandon Tartikoff. During the 1980s and 1990s, NBC programmed several hit television shows and became a leader in comedy, most notably on its self-christened "Must See TV Thursdays". Sitcoms such as Cheers, The Cosby Show, Seinfeld and Friends, would each finish as a season's #1 show at least once and enjoy success in syndication afterwards. The network also aired several successful dramas, including Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, L.A. Law and ER.

It was estimated in 2003 that NBC is viewable by just over 97 percent of all households, reaching 103,624,370 viewers in the United States. NBC has 207 affiliated stations in the United States and its possessions. It is also seen throughout Latin America,Canada and the Caribbean via cable and satellite, via the WNBC-TV feed from New York City, and in Canada via the WDIV feed from Detroit, WGRZ Buffalo, WHDH Boston, KHQ Spokane and KING Seattle depending on which affiliate the Cable or Sattelite provider decided to carry.

With the loss of Friends in 2004, NBC was faced with several moderately-rated shows and few true ratings hits. This, combined with CBS' popular CSI franchise, FOX's American Idol and ABC hits such as Lost, Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy, has led to NBC being currently ranked as the fourth most watched television network in the United States, after CBS, a resurgent ABC, and Fox.

During the 2004-2005 season, NBC became the first major television network to start producing its programming in widescreen, with the hopes of attracting new viewers. Though NBC did see a slight boost in viewers, NBC didn't get any real ratings rise, since widescreen television has yet to catch on in popular culture.

In December 2005, NBC unleashed its first-ever week-long primetime game show event, Deal or No Deal, to big ratings by the end of its first week-long run and returned multi-weekly in March 2006. Having enjoyed sustained success, Deal or No Deal returned in the fall of 2006. But otherwise the 2005-06 season would be one of the worst for NBC in three decades, with only one series (My Name Is Earl) that debuted that fall surviving into a second season. 2006 has been a mixed bag, with Heroes becoming a surprise hit on Monday nights, while the highly-anticipated Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip lost a third of its premiere-night viewers by week six. The return of NFL football (eight years after NBC originally lost their rights), the still-strong Deal or No Deal, and the third season of The Office (fresh off its Emmy Award win for Outstanding Comedy Series) could also help propel NBC out of fourth place.

It was reported in March 2007 that NBC will let viewers buy full-length prime-time television shows like "The Office" and "Heroes" on-demand to play on mobile phones. This will be a first for the United States. It is the latest effort by media and wireless companies to entice consumers to watch video on their phones. [5]

NBC African American Programs

Over The Many Years, NBC had a lot of African American sitcoms airing on the network, some had made with success on the Nielsen Ratings, some had won Emmy Award for their work on shows, here is a list of African American TV Shows, that aired on the network:


Main article: NBC logos

NBC has used a number of logos throughout its history; early logos were similar to the logo of its then parent company, RCA, but later logos included stylized peacock images.

NBCi

In April, 2000, NBCi purchased a company that specialized with search engines that learnt from the users searches for $32 million, called GlobalBrain.

From 2001-2002, NBC briefly changed their web address to NBCi.com, in a heavily-advertised attempt to launch an Internet portal and start page. This move saw NBC teaming up with XOOM.com, e-mail.com, AllBusiness.com[1] and Snap.com (eventually acquiring all four of them), launching a multi-faceted internet portal with e-mail, webhosting, community, chat, personalization and news capabilities. This experiment lasted roughly one season, and failed [2], and NBCi was liquidated. The NBC-TV portion of the website was then reverted to NBC.com. However, the NBCi Web site still exists as a portal for NBC-branded content (the URL redirects to NBCi.MSNBC.com), using a co-branded version of InfoSpace to deliver minimal portal content.

Programming

NBC presently operates on an 87-hour regular network programming schedule. It provides 22 hours of prime time programming to affiliated stations: 8-11pm Monday to Saturday (all times ET/PT) and 7-11pm on Sundays. Programming will also be provided 7-10am weekdays (Today) along with a two-hour Saturday and one-hour Sunday edition; anytime between 12-3pm weekdays (currently the soaps Days of Our Lives and Passions); nightly editions of NBC Nightly News, the Sunday political talk show Meet the Press and weekday early morning news program Early Today; late night talk shows The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Last Call with Carson Daly; Saturday Night Live; recently added to the Late Night schedule is Poker After Dark, which airs following Carson on weeknights and also on Saturday nights (or after re-broadcasts of local affiliate news); weeknight rebroadcasts of The Tonight Show under the banner NBC Up All Night; and a three-hour Saturday morning animation block under the name qubo.

In addition, sports programming is also provided weekend afternoons any time from 1-6pm (all times ET/PT).

Current schedule

Further information: List of programs broadcast by NBC

Returning comedies are in red; new comedies are in pink; returning dramas are in green; new dramas are in blue; returning reality shows are in yellow; new reality shows are in gold; returning game shows are in orange; new game shows are in beige; news programming is in brown. Scheduled premiere dates are shown in parentheses.

All times are Eastern and Pacific (subtract one hour for Central and Mountain time), with the exception of Sunday (see below).

7:00 PM 7:30 PM 8:00 PM 8:30 PM 9:00 PM 9:30 PM 10:00 PM 10:30 PM
Sunday Dateline NBC Deal or No Deal The Apprentice
Monday Local Programming Deal or No Deal Deal or No Deal The Black Donnellys ‡
Tuesday Dateline NBC Law & Order: Criminal Intent Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Wednesday Friday Night Lights Crossing Jordan Medium
Thursday My Name Is Earl The Office 30 Rock Andy Barker, P.I. ‡‡ ER
Friday Identity Raines Law & Order
Saturday Dateline NBC Drama Repeats Drama Repeats
  • ‡ - Show begins at 10:01 p.m.
  • ‡‡ - Show begins at 9:31 p.m.
See also: 2006-07 United States network television schedule

Daytime Programs

NBC currently airs two daytime dramas that include Days of our Lives at 1:00pm & Passions at 2:00pm.

Children's programming

Children's programming has always played a part in NBC's programming since its initial roots in television. In 1947, NBC's first major children's series was Howdy Doody, one of the era's first breakthrough television shows. The series, which ran for 13 years, featured a frecklefaced marionette and a myriad of other characters and hosted by "Buffalo" Bob Smith. Howdy Doody spent most of its run on weekday afternoons.

In 1956, NBC abandoned the children's programming lineup on weekday afternoons, relegating the lineup to Saturdays only with Howdy Doody as their marquee franchise for the series' remaining four years. Throughout the 1960s until 1992, the bulk of NBC's children's programming were derived from theatrical shorts like The Pink Panther Show and Looney Tunes, reruns of popular television series like The Flintstones and The Jetsons, foreign acquisitions like Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, original animated series (most notably The Smurfs and Alvin and the Chipmunks in the 1980s), cartoon adaptations of Mr. T., ALF and Star Trek, and original live-action series including The Banana Splits, The Bugaloos, and H.R. Pufnstuf.

In 1989, NBC premiered Saved by the Bell, which originated at The Disney Channel as Good Morning, Miss Bliss. Saved by the Bell would become one of the most popular teen series in television history as well as the number one series on Saturday mornings, dethroning The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show in its first season.

NBC abandoned the animated series in August 1992 in favor of a Saturday edition of Today and more live-action series under the name TNBC (Teen NBC). Most of the series on the TNBC lineup were series produced by Peter Engel such as City Guys, Hang Time, California Dreams and One World. Though there were exceptions, the short-lived Just Deal, one of only two series without a studio audience and/or laugh track and the only "filmed" series was co-created and executive produced by Thomas W. Lynch. NBA Inside Stuff was also a part of the TNBC lineup during the duration of the NBA season.

In 2002, NBC began a deal with Discovery Communications' Discovery Kids channel to air their original FCC-mandated educational programming under the banner Discovery Kids on NBC. The schedule originally consisted of only live-action series, including a kid-themed version of Trading Spaces and J.D. Roth's Emmy-nominated reality game show Endurance (TV series), but has expanded to include some animated series such as Kenny the Shark, Tutenstein, and Time Warp Trio. In 2006, the Discovery Kids deal was discontinued.[6]

In May 2006, in order to replace the Discovery Kids Saturday Morning block, NBC announced plans to launch a new children's block on Saturday mornings starting in September 2006 as part of the qubo endeavor teaming parent company NBC Universal with ION Media Networks, Scholastic Press, Corus Entertainment and Classic Media/Big Idea. qubo will include blocks to air on NBC, Telemundo (the Spanish-language network owned by NBC Universal), and ION Media Networks's ION Television, as well as a 24/7 digital broadcast kids channel, video on demand services and a branded website.

The Discovery Kids on NBC block last aired on September 2, 2006. On Saturday, September 9, 2006, NBC started airing the following qubo programs: "VeggieTales", "Dragon", "VeggieTales Presents: 3-2-1 Penguins! and LarryBoy Adventures", "Babar", "Jane and the Dragon", and "Jacob Two-Two."

NBC News

Main article: NBC News

NBC News currently has the highest rated evening news program (NBC Nightly News) and the highest rated morning show program (Today).

NBC News has an agreement with the British broadcaster BBC, where the two organizations share news gathering resources.

International broadcasts

Canada

Picks up the same exact broadcast as seen in the United States

Europe and Latin America

NBC Nightly News is shown on CNBC Europe. NBC is not shown outside the Americas on a channel in its own right. However, both NBC News and MSNBC are shown for a few hours a day on Orbit News in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. MSNBC is also shown occasionally on sister network CNBC Europe during breaking news.

In 1993, NBC began production of Canal de Noticias NBC. This service was beamed to Latin America from the NBC Newschannel headquarters located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Over 50 journalists were brought to produce, write, anchor and technically produce a 24 hour news service based on the popular "wheel" conceibed at CNN. The service folded in 1997 as sales departments were not able to generate any revenue. Canal de Noticias NBC holds the distinction of being the first 24 hour news service to be seen in Latin America. Telenoticias, at one point owned by CBS came later followed by CNN en Espanol.

NBC Super Channel becomes NBC Europe

In 1993, the Pan-European cable network Super Channel was taken over by General Electric, the parent of NBC, and became NBC Super Channel. In 1996, the channel was renamed NBC Europe, but was, from then on, almost always referred to as simply "NBC" on the air.

Most of NBC Europe's prime time programming was produced in Europe, but after 11PM Central European Time on weekday evenings, the channel aired The Tonight Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Saturday Night Live, hence its slogan "Where the Stars Come Out at Night." Most NBC News programs were broadcast on NBC Europe, including Dateline NBC and NBC Nightly News, which was aired live. The Today Show was also initially shown live in the afternoons, but was later broadcast the following morning instead, by which time it was more than half a day old.

In 1999, NBC Europe stopped broadcasting to most of Europe. At the same time the network was relaunched as a German language computer channel, targeting a young demographic. The main show on the new NBC Europe was called GIGA. In 2005, the channel was relaunched once again, this time as a free-to-air channel under the name "Das Vierte".

The Tonight Show and NBC Nightly News continue to be broadcast on CNBC Europe.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to NBC.

References

  1. ^ Similarly, CBS is no longer the Columbia Broadcasting System. As of 2006, ABC still has American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. as its legal name for copyrights, paychecks, contracts and on-air branding, with ABC, Inc. as the name of the Disney-owned parent company.
  2. ^ "Why Did WABC Have Such a Great Signal?". WABC Musicradio 77: musicradio77.com. Retrieved 2006-08-04.
  3. ^ "Announcing the National Broadcasting Company, Inc". earlyradiohistory.us. Retrieved 2006-08-04. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ RCA Lead Tenant of Rockefeller Center - see John Ensor Harr and Peter J. Johnson, The Rockefeller Century: Three Generations of America's Greatest Family, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988. (p.326)
  5. ^ NBC to Offer On-Demand Mobile TV Service. March 15, 2007.
  6. ^ "Discovery, NBC to End Sat. Kids Block". Mediaweek. 2006-03-16. Retrieved 2006-08-04. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Unknown parameter |name= ignored (help)
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