NBC

NBC, the first permanent, full-service radio network in the United States, was founded by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). RCA had been formed after World War I by several large American companies to keep wireless technology in American hands and was then the world’s leading maker of radio receivers; it formed NBC to provide a large number of quality radio programs so that “every event of national importance may be broadcast widely throughout the United States.” NBC founder David Sarnoff had proposed a broadcast network as early as 1915. General Electric (GE) and Westinghouse also initially held stakes in NBC, but RCA bought them out in January 1930.⁠[1][1][1][1][2][1]

On November 15, 1926, NBC made its first broadcast, a four-and-a-half-hour presentation of the leading musical and comedy talent of the day, carried from New York over 25 stations as far west as Kansas City; close to half of the country’s five million radio homes tuned in. On New Year’s Day 1927 NBC covered the Rose Bowl football game in California, its first coast-to-coast broadcast.⁠[1][1][1]

Because demand from local stations grew so quickly, less than two months after its first national broadcast NBC split its programming into the “Red” and “Blue” networks: the Blue network offered mostly cultural programs such as music, drama and commentary, and the Red featured comedy and other entertainment. In its early years NBC hired many performers, including Rudy Vallee, Jack Benny, Groucho Marx, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and covered sports, both parties’ national conventions and presidential inaugurations, carrying Roosevelt’s first “Fireside Chat” in 1933; NBC News was officially created in 1933.⁠[1][1][1][1][1][1][1]

NBC founder David Sarnoff predicted television in a 1923 memorandum to RCA’s board, and RCA engineers began television experiments in 1925. In 1939 NBC began what is considered the first regular television service with a telecast of President Roosevelt opening the New York World’s Fair; on January 11, 1940, programming was relayed automatically by radio from RCA’s WNBT in New York to General Electric’s WRGT in Schenectady, the first television network broadcast. In 1941 NBC obtained a commercial television license from the FCC for WNBT, which became the world’s first commercial television station.⁠[1][1][1][1]

By 1941 the Red and Blue networks blanketed the country, with 103 Blue subscribing stations, 76 Red and 64 supplementary stations. That year the FCC adopted a rule that no license would be issued to a station affiliated with an organization operating more than one network. NBC sued, and on May 10, 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the rule in National Broadcasting Co. v. United States. That year NBC sold the less profitable Blue network to Edward J. Noble, who named it the American Broadcasting Company, the future ABC.⁠[1][3][3][3][4]

During World War II television programming was limited to four hours a day; on D-Day, June 6, 1944, NBC canceled all commercial programming to provide continuous news coverage of the Normandy invasion. After the war NBC built its television network the way it had built its radio network, starting with stations covering New York, Philadelphia, Schenectady and Washington. Meet the Press, which began on NBC Radio in 1945, moved to television in 1947 and became the longest-running show on television. In 1951 NBC established regular coast-to-coast network television service, beginning with coverage of the signing of the Japanese peace treaty in San Francisco on September 4.⁠[1][1][1][1][1]

In 1952 NBC launched the morning program Today, a two-hour magazine-style show of news, features, interviews and entertainment that pioneered the format; in 1954 it launched the late-night program The Tonight Show. In 1953 NBC made the first coast-to-coast transmission of a color broadcast, and that year the FCC approved the RCA-backed National Television System Committee’s compatible color standard, removing CBS’s rival system from competition. In 1956 NBC aired the first videotape.⁠[1][2][1][1][1]

In 1960 NBC initiated and broadcast the presidential debates between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon, and in 1964 it presented the first made-for-TV movie, establishing a new format. Popular 1960s programs included The Virginian, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In and Star TrekStar TrekStar Trek is a science-fiction franchise originating in the work of Gene Roddenberry. Its central subjects include exploration aboard starships, encounters across cultures and humanity’s future. It spans television, film, animation and other media, with a long-established fan community.Open the full entry. Radio meanwhile declined: in 1975 NBC Radio launched a 24-hour news network, the National News and Information Service, which was discontinued two years later for lack of audience and station clearance.⁠[1][1][1][1]

In 1983 none of NBC’s nine new shows was renewed, and the network had low ratings for the third year in a row. It quickly replaced low-rated programs, reached second place in the 1984–85 season and first place by 1985; chairman Grant Tinker and programming chief Brandon Tartikoff are credited with the revival, with hits such as Cheers, The Cosby Show, St. Elsewhere and Hill Street Blues.⁠[1][1][1]

In 1986 General Electric acquired RCA for $6.3 billion and became NBC’s parent, ending RCA’s period as NBC’s sole owner since 1930. That year NBC launched the Skycom satellite system and became the only network to use satellites as its sole method of distribution. After Tinker’s departure, Robert C. Wright, former president of GE’s financial services business, succeeded him, and NBC’s corporate culture shifted toward a focus on shareholder profits.⁠[1][1][1][1]

In July 1987 GE agreed to sell the NBC Radio Network, The Source and Talknet to Westwood One for $50 million in cash and a stock option; at the time about 2,800 members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET) had been on strike against NBC for four weeks. In 1988 NBC sold seven of its eight radio stations and left the radio station business.⁠[5][5][5][1]

In 1991 NBC’s revenue fell 4% and its operating profit 56%, but it still won the 1990–91 ratings race by its narrowest margin in six years. By the start of 1992 NBC had divested RCA Columbia Home Video and acquired the Financial News Network, merging it with its Consumer News and Business ChannelCNBCCNBC is an American business and financial news cable channel launched by NBC in 1989; it merged with its rival FNN in 1991 and since January 2026 has been part of Versant Media Group, spun off from Comcast.Open the full entry (CNBC); that year The Cosby Show aired its last episode, and The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson ended its run in May.⁠[1][1][1][1]

In 1993 NBC fell to third place behind ABC and CBS. Wright cut costs, reducing the workforce from 8,000 to fewer than 5,000 and saving nearly $120 million in overhead, and hired Don Ohlmeyer to run NBC Entertainment. NBC focused on building a dominant Thursday night, and Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier and ER were great successes; NBC also pioneered “seamless” programming, moving from one show to the next without a commercial break. By 1995 NBC was again the top network, and that year it secured Olympic broadcast rights through 2008 in a $4 billion deal.⁠[1][1][1][1][1][1][1]

In 1996 NBC teamed up with Microsoft to launch MSNBCMS NOWMS NOW (My Source for News, Opinion and the World) is an American cable channel for political news and commentary. It was formerly MSNBC, launched in July 1996 as a joint venture of NBC and Microsoft, adopted its current name on November 15, 2025, as its business was spun off from Comcast, and since January 2026 has belonged to the independent public company Versant Media Group. It is known for its liberal-leaning commentary programs.Open the full entry, a 24-hour cable news channel and website owned jointly by the two companies; that year it also launched CNBC Europe and NBC Asia to expand overseas. By early 1997 NBC had set revenue and earnings records for the fourth consecutive year, with revenue of more than $5 billion.⁠[1][1][1]

In 2004 NBC merged with the film company Universal to form NBCUniversal.⁠[2]

On January 28, 2011, Comcast completed its transaction with General Electric and acquired control of NBC Universal (now NBCUniversal Media, LLC), with GE retaining a 49% stake in the joint venture. On March 19, 2013, Comcast bought GE’s 49% stake for $16.7 billion, along with NBCUniversal’s headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and GE exited the business entirely.⁠[6][7][7][7]

On June 29, 2015, NBCUniversal ended its business relationship with Donald Trump over his remarks about Mexican immigrants during his presidential campaign, dropping its broadcasts of the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants it co-owned with Trump and moving to end the joint venture. NBC said respect and dignity for all people were cornerstones of its values. Trump responded that NBC was “so weak and so foolish” about illegal immigration and that the termination of the pageant contract would be decided in court.⁠[8][8][8][8]

On November 29, 2017, NBC News fired Matt Lauer, who had anchored Today for about two decades, after a female colleague made a detailed complaint accusing him of inappropriate sexual behavior during the 2014 Sochi Olympics that continued in the workplace afterward. NBC News chairman Andrew Lack said it was the first complaint against Lauer since he became anchor in 1997 but that there was reason to believe it may not have been an isolated incident. The next day Lauer issued a statement that partly denied the allegations but admitted there was “enough truth in these stories” to make him feel embarrassed and ashamed.⁠[9][9][9][9]

In October 2019 former NBC News reporter Ronan Farrow alleged in a book that Harvey Weinstein had used damaging information about Lauer to pressure NBC into not airing Farrow’s investigation of Weinstein. NBC denied ever receiving any threat and maintained that it had no knowledge of Lauer’s behavior before firing him.⁠[10][10][10][10]

On November 20, 2024, Comcast announced plans to spin off most of its cable channels, including USA Network, CNBC and MSNBC, into a separate public company, while keeping the NBC broadcast network, NBC News, NBC Sports, the streaming service Peacock and the cable channel Bravo. The spin-off was completed on January 2, 2026, creating Versant Media Group.⁠[11][11][12]

On January 31, 2025, the Department of Defense announced an “annual media rotation program” requiring NBC News, The New York Times, NPR and Politico to vacate their dedicated Pentagon workspaces within two weeks, with One America News Network taking NBC News’s broadcasting booth. NBC News said it was disappointed to lose a booth it had used for decades but would continue to report with the same integrity and rigor.⁠[13][13][13][13][13]

NBC marks September 9, 2026, as its centennial; in February 2026 it began its anniversary celebrations around the Winter Olympics, Super Bowl LX and the NBA All-Star Game, using the tagline “A Century Together,” and it planned a live three-hour centennial variety special from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on December 10. In the 2025–26 season through May 17, NBC averaged 5.83 million prime-time viewers, up about 14% from the previous year, winning the season in total viewers for the first time since 2001–02 and ending CBS’s streak dating from 2008–09; Sunday Night Football was the top show for a record 15th consecutive season.⁠[14][14][14][15][16][16][16][16]

NBC rotates White House television pool duty with ABC, CBS, CNNCNNCNN (Cable News Network) is an Atlanta-based news organization founded by Ted Turner on June 1, 1980, as the world’s first 24-hour television news channel. It has been owned in turn by Turner Broadcasting System, Time Warner, AT&T and Warner Bros. Discovery, became part of Skydance Corporation along with Warner Bros. Discovery in October 2026, and is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry and FOX News; CNN joined the pool after suing the Reagan administration and ABC, CBS and NBC in 1981. On September 18, 2026, Trump announced a ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, and on September 21 the White House did not allow CNN, which was scheduled for duty, to serve as the pool. That day the five networks issued a joint statement saying the public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government and that no administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting, and suspended the TV pool, with no replacement, while the restrictions remained in place.⁠[17][18][17][17][19]

The suspension lasted about four days and coincided with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House, so there was much less video coverage of the related ceremonies; during that time NBC News and other networks continued to cover White House events open to the press outside the pool. On September 24 a judge ordered the White House to restore the three outlets’ credentials, though the order did not directly address the pool; on September 25 the five networks resumed the pool.⁠[20][20][21][22][23][23]

In October 2026 the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division opened an investigation into whether ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News violated antitrust law by suspending the White House television pool. Justice Department spokesperson Emily Covington said group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act and that the Antitrust Division was simply investigating whether these news organizations had broken the law; a Justice Department official said civil investigative demands had been sent on October 9. NBC representatives declined to comment. As of October 14, 2026, the Justice Department had announced no findings.⁠[22][20][21][21][24]

As of the end of 2025, NBC is part of the media business of Comcast’s NBCUniversal. Its original entertainment, news and sports programming reaches virtually all U.S. television households through more than 200 affiliated stations, including 11 owned stations, which are in 8 of the top 10 markets and together reach about 36 million households, or about 28% of U.S. television households.⁠[12][12][12]

NBC: Official website: https://www.nbc.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[25]

X: Public account: https://x.com/nbc (opens in a new window)⁠[26]