NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network, serving as the flagship property of NBC Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, which is a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's two flagship subsidiaries, alongside Universal Studios. It is the first and oldest major broadcast network in the United States.
NBC's headquarters are located in New York City at Rockefeller Center's Comcast Building, the network's longtime home. The network's predecessor parent companies were integral to the center's construction. NBC also notably has offices at the NBC Tower in Chicago, Illinois, and at 10 Universal City Plaza in Los Angeles, California.
Founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America through its newly-created "National Broadcasting Company, Inc." division, then shortly thereafter co-owned by General Electric, Westinghouse, & AT&T Corporation, NBC is the oldest of the traditional "Big Three" American television networks in the 21st century and is sometimes often referred to as the Peacock Network in reference to its stylized peacock logo, which was introduced in 1956 to promote the company's innovations in early color broadcasting.
NBC has twelve owned-and-operated stations and has affiliates in almost every TV market in the United States. Some of the stations are also available in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Canada, via pay-television providers or in border areas over the air.
History
NBC was formed in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America as the first and oldest major broadcast network in the United States. NBC was then owned by General Electric, Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Company. In 1932, the U.S. government forced GE to sell RCA and NBC due to antitrust violations. In late 1986, GE regained control of RCA through its $6.4 billion purchase of the company. Although it retained NBC, GE immediately closed or sold off most of RCA's other divisions and assets.In 2004, French media company Vivendi Universal merged its entertainment assets with GE, forming NBCUniversal. Comcast purchased a controlling interest in NBCUniversal in 2011 and acquired GE's remaining stake in 2013.File:GE Building Oct 2005.jpg|thumb|right|30 Rockefeller Plaza, the headquarters of NBC at Rockefeller Center in New York City
NBC is the home broadcaster of some of the longest continuously running American television series, including the news program Meet the Press ; Today ; The Tonight Show ; and Saturday Night Live. The drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which debuted in 1999, began its 26th season in October 2024 and is currently the longest-running live-action series in American prime-time television history.
Programming
, NBC provides 87 hours of regularly scheduled network programming each week. The network provides 22 hours of prime-time programming to affiliated stations Monday through Saturdays from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time and Sundays from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time.Daytime NBC News programming includes the morning news/interview program Today from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. weekdays, 7:00 a.m.–8:30 a.m. / 8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. on Saturdays and 7:00 a.m.–8:00 a.m. / 8:00 a.m. -9:00 a.m. on Sundays, it also airs NBC News Daily at 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m. on weekdays, it includes nightly editions of NBC Nightly News, the Sunday political talk show Meet the Press, weekday early-morning news program Early Today and primetime newsmagazine Dateline NBC on Friday nights. Late nights feature the weeknight talk shows The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and an overnight replay of Today with Jenna & Friends. NBC affiliates carrying it in syndication also have the option to substitute a same-day encore of The Kelly Clarkson Show on weekdays. On Saturdays, the LXTV-produced 1st Look and Open House NYC air after Saturday Night Live, with a Meet the Press encore a part of its Sunday overnight schedule.
The network's weekend morning children's programming time slot is programmed by Litton Entertainment under a time-lease agreement. The three-hour block of programming designed mainly for 14-16-year-old teenage viewers is under the umbrella branding of The More You Know, based on the network's long-time strand of internally-produced public service announcements of the same name. It premiered on October 8, 2016, giving Litton control of all but Fox's Weekend morning E/I programming among the five major broadcast networks.
Live sports programming is also provided on weekends at any time between 7:00 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time, but most commonly between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern. Due to the unpredictable length of sporting events, NBC will occasionally pre-empt scheduled programs. NBC has also held the American broadcasting rights to the Summer Olympic Games since the 1988 games and the rights to the Winter Olympic Games since the 2002 games. Coverage of the Olympics on NBC has included pre-empting regularly scheduled programs during daytime, prime time, and late night. In July 2022, NBC announced that the Olympic Channel will be shut down on September 30. NBC stated they will be announcing the plans for Olympic content in the fall of 2022.
NBC News
News coverage has long been an important part of NBC's operations and public image, dating to the network's radio days. Notable NBC News productions past and present include Today, NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press, Dateline NBC, Early Today, NBC News at Sunrise, NBC Nightside and Rock Center with Brian Williams.In 1989, the news division began its expansion to cable with the launch of the business news channel CNBC. The company eventually formed other cable news services including MSNBC, and the 2008 acquisition of The Weather Channel in conjunction with Blackstone Group and Bain Capital. In addition, NBCSN carries sports news content alongside sports event telecasts. Key anchors from NBC News are also used during NBC Sports coverage of the Olympic Games.
Former Daytime programming block
While NBC has aired a variety of soap operas on its daytime schedule over its history, Days of Our Lives was the last soap opera on the network when it was taken off the air in 2022. Currently the network only offers NBC News Daily on its afternoon schedule, with affiliates using the rest of the afternoon for syndicated or local programming.Long-running daytime dramas seen on NBC in the past include The Doctors, Another World, Santa Barbara, and Passions. NBC also aired the final 4 years of Search for Tomorrow after that series was initially cancelled by CBS, although many NBC affiliates did not clear the show during its tenure on the network. NBC has also aired numerous short-lived soap operas, including Generations, Sunset Beach, and the two Another World spin-offs, Somerset and Texas.
Notable daytime game shows that once aired on NBC include The Price Is Right, Concentration, The Match Game, Let's Make a Deal, Jeopardy!, The Hollywood Squares, Wheel of Fortune, Password Plus/Super Password, Sale of the Century and Scrabble. The last game show ever to air as part of NBC's daytime schedule was the short-lived Caesars Challenge, which ended in January 1994.
Notable past daytime talk shows that have aired on NBC have included Home, The Ernie Kovacs Show, The Merv Griffin Show, Leeza and Later Today.
Children's programming
Children's programming has played a part in NBC's programming since its initial roots in television. NBC's first major children's series, Howdy Doody, debuted in 1947 and was one of the era's first breakthrough television shows. From the mid-1960s until 1992, the bulk of NBC's children's programming was composed of mainly animated programming including classic Looney Tunes and Woody Woodpecker shorts; reruns of prime time animated sitcoms such as The Flintstones and The Jetsons; foreign acquisitions like Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion; animated adaptions of Punky Brewster, ALF and Star Trek as well as animated vehicles for Gary Coleman and Mr. T; live-action programs like The Banana Splits, The Bugaloos and H.R. Pufnstuf; and the original broadcasts of Gumby, The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Underdog, The Smurfs, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears. From 1984 to 1989, the network aired a series of public service announcements called One to Grow On, which aired after the end credits of every program or every other children's program.In 1989, NBC premiered Saved by the Bell, a live-action teen sitcom which originated on The Disney Channel the previous year as Good Morning, Miss Bliss. Saved by the Bell, despite being given bad reviews from television critics, would become one of the most popular teen series in television history as well as the top-rated series on Saturday mornings, dethroning ABC's The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show in its first season.
The success of Saved by the Bell led NBC to remove animated series from its Saturday morning lineup in August 1992 in favor of additional live-action series as part of a new block called TNBC, along with the debut of a Saturday edition of Today. Most of the series featured on the TNBC lineup were executive produced by Peter Engel, with the lineup being designed from the start to meet the earliest form of the FCC's educational programming guidelines under the Children's Television Act. NBA Inside Stuff, an analysis and interview program aimed at teens that was hosted for most of its run by Ahmad Rashad, was also a part of the TNBC lineup during the NBA season until 2002.
In 2002, NBC entered into an agreement with Discovery Communications to carry educational children's programs from the Discovery Kids cable channel. Debuting that September, the Discovery Kids on NBC block originally consisted exclusively of live-action series, including reality series Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls ; the Emmy-nominated reality game show Endurance, hosted and produced by J. D. Roth ; and scripted series such as Strange Days at Blake Holsey High and Scout's Safari. The block later expanded to include some animated series such as Kenny the Shark, Tutenstein and Time Warp Trio.
In May 2006, NBC announced plans to launch a new Saturday morning children's block under the Qubo brand in September 2006. An endeavor originally operated as a joint venture between NBCUniversal, Ion Media Networks, Scholastic Press, Classic Media and Corus Entertainment's Nelvana unit, the Qubo venture also encompassed weekly blocks on Telemundo and Ion Television, a 24-hour digital multicast network on Ion's owned-and-operated and affiliated stations, as well as video on demand services and a branded website. Qubo launched on NBC on September 9, 2006, with six programs.
On March 28, 2012, it was announced that NBC would launch a new Saturday morning preschool block programmed by Sprout. The block, NBC Kids, premiered on July 7, 2012, replacing the "Qubo on NBC" block.
On February 24, 2016, it was announced that NBC would launch a new Saturday morning block programmed by Litton Entertainment under the Children's Television Act. It's called The More You Know, inspired by the name of brand extension of The More You Know—a series of public service campaigns first launched by NBC in 1989. The block premiered on October 8, 2016, replacing NBC Kids block.