NBC facts for kids

For other uses, see NBC (disambiguation).

"Peacock Network" redirects here. For the streaming service, see Peacock (streaming service).

Quick facts for kids
National Broadcasting Company
Programming

Type	Radio network and television network
Country	United States
Affiliates	State Market
Headquarters	Comcast Building, Rockefeller Center, Midtown Manhattan, New York City
Language(s)	English
Picture format	1080i HDTV 720p or 1080p via ATSC 3.0 in some markets
Ownership
Owner	NBCUniversal
Parent	NBC Entertainment
History
Founded	June 19, 1926; 99 years ago (1926-06-19)
Launched	Radio: November 15, 1926; 98 years ago (1926-11-15) Television: April 30, 1939; 86 years ago (1939-04-30)
Founder	David Sarnoff
Replaced	NBC Radio Network

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is a big American commercial TV and radio network. It's a main part of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast. NBC's main office is in New York City at the Comcast Building. They also have offices in Chicago.

NBC was started in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America. It's the oldest of the three main American TV networks, sometimes called the "Peacock Network". This nickname comes from its cool peacock logo, first used in 1956 to show off their new color TV shows.

NBC has twelve stations it owns and nearly 200 other stations across the United States. Some of these stations can also be seen in Canada and Mexico. NBC also has deals for international channels in South Korea and Germany.

Evolution of Comcast NBCUniversal

1912	Universal Pictures is founded
1926	NBC is founded
1928	Walter Lantz Productions is established
1943	MCA Inc. establishes Revue Studios (later Universal Television)
1953	NBC begins first compatible color broadcasts, preceding other networks by nine years
1956	NBC's first peacock logo debuts
1963	American Cable Systems is founded
1964	Universal Studios Hollywood opens
1967	NBC broadcasts the first Super Bowl
1968	American Cable Systems rebrands to Comcast
1972	Comcast began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
1975	Universal releases Jaws
1980	PolyGram renames Casablanca Record & Filmworks to PolyGram Pictures MCA Videocassette‚ Inc. (Later Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is established
1982	Universal releases E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
1984	Walter Lantz Productions' assets are sold to Universal Telemundo is founded
1985	Universal releases Back to the Future
1986	General Electric buys RCA for $6.4 billion, including NBC and a stake in A&E
1989	NBC relaunches Tempo Television as CNBC
1990	Universal Studios Florida opens Law & Order premieres on NBC Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting merge to form British Sky Broadcasting Universal Cartoon Studios (later Universal Animation Studios) is established
1993	Universal releases Jurassic Park
1994	DreamWorks Animation is founded
1996	NBC and Microsoft replace America's Talking with MSNBC
1997	Barry Diller purchases Universal's domestic television assets
1998	Seagram acquires PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Universal Television is renamed Studios USA Television
1999	PolyGram Filmed Entertainment is folded into Universal Pictures Universal Studios Florida expands to become Universal Orlando Resort Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premieres on NBC
2001	Grand opening of Universal Studios Japan Universal releases The Fast and the Furious Vivendi purchases Studios USA
2002	NBC acquires Telemundo and Bravo Studios USA assets are folded into Universal Focus Features is formed Comcast acquires AT&T Broadband for $44.5 billion
2003	Universal becomes the first studio with five summer releases breaking the $100 million mark
2004	GE and Vivendi merge NBC and Universal into NBCUniversal
2005	The Office premieres on NBC Comcast sets up a joint-venture with PBS, Sesame Workshop & HIT Entertainment to form PBS Kids Sprout Comcast & Time Warner Cable jointly acquire Adelphia Cable assets for $17.6 billion
2006	USA Network begins 13-year streak as #1 cable network in total viewers
2007	Illumination is founded
2010	Universal releases Illumination's first film Despicable Me
2011	Vivendi divested in NBCU; Comcast buys 51% of NBCU from GE, turning it into a limited liability company NBCUniversal Archives is founded
2012	Universal celebrates its 100th anniversary NBCUniversal divests its A&E Networks minority stake
2013	Comcast buys GE's remaining 49% of NBCU Comcast/NBCU assumes full ownership of Sprout
2014	Comcast attempts to acquire Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion NBCUniversal reaches a new long-term deal with WWE
2016	NBCU acquires DreamWorks Animation
2017	Sprout relaunches as Universal Kids
2018	Comcast acquires Sky after a heated bidding war with 21st Century Fox
2019	NBCU acquires Cineo Lighting
2020	NBCU launches Peacock
2021	Grand opening of Universal Beijing Resort
2023	The Super Mario Bros. Movie becomes Illumination's highest-grossing film
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History of NBC

NBC is the first and oldest major broadcast network in the United States. It was created in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). At that time, RCA was owned by several companies like General Electric (GE) and Westinghouse. In 1932, the U.S. Government made GE sell RCA and NBC because of antitrust rules. Later, in 1986, GE bought RCA back.

In 2003, a French company called Vivendi joined its entertainment businesses with GE, creating NBCUniversal. Comcast then bought most of NBCUniversal in 2011 and took full ownership in 2013.

NBC is known for some of the longest-running TV shows in American history. These include the news show Meet the Press (started 1947) and Today (started 1952). Other long-running favorites are The Tonight Show (started 1954) and Saturday Night Live (started 1975). The drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which began in 1999, is currently the longest-running live-action show in prime-time TV.

Popular NBC Programs

As of 2022, NBC broadcasts 87 hours of TV shows every week. This includes 22 hours of prime-time shows from Monday to Saturday evenings. On Sundays, prime-time shows air for four hours.

News and Talk Shows

30 Rockefeller Plaza, the main office of NBC in New York City

NBC News has always been a very important part of the network.

Today: A morning news and interview show that airs on weekdays and weekends.
NBC News Daily: A weekday news program in the afternoon.
NBC Nightly News: The main evening news program.
Meet the Press: A Sunday political talk show, which is the longest continuously running program in American TV history.
Early Today: An early morning news program on weekdays.
Dateline NBC: A newsmagazine show that airs on Friday nights.

Late-night shows include:

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Late Night with Seth Meyers

NBC News also expanded to cable channels. In 1989, they launched CNBC, a business news channel. Later, they created MSNBC in 1996, which focuses on general news and political discussions. In 2008, NBC also bought The Weather Channel.

Sports on NBC

NBC broadcasts live sports events on weekends. These often air in the afternoon. Sometimes, sports events can run longer than expected. This means NBC might have to change its schedule for other shows.

NBC has held the American broadcasting rights for the Summer Olympic Games since 1988. They have also had the rights for the Winter Olympic Games since 2002. Olympic coverage often means that regular shows are replaced during the day and evening.

Children's Shows on NBC

Children's programming has been a part of NBC since the early days of TV.

Howdy Doody: NBC's first big children's show, which started in 1947.
From the 1960s to 1992, NBC showed many cartoons. These included Looney Tunes, Woody Woodpecker, The Flintstones, and The Jetsons. They also aired shows like The Smurfs and Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Saved by the Bell: This live-action teen sitcom started in 1989. It became one of the most popular teen shows on Saturday mornings.

The success of Saved by the Bell led NBC to create a new block of live-action shows called TNBC in 1992. These shows were made to meet new rules for educational TV. Many of these shows were produced by Peter Engel, like City Guys, Hang Time, and Saved by the Bell: The New Class.

Later, NBC partnered with other companies for children's programming:

Discovery Kids on NBC (2002-2006): This block showed educational programs from the Discovery Kids cable channel. It included reality shows like Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls and scripted series like Strange Days at Blake Holsey High.
Qubo on NBC (2006-2012): NBC launched this block with other companies like Ion Media Networks and Scholastic Press. It featured shows like VeggieTales and Babar.
NBC Kids (2012-2016): This block was for preschool children and was programmed by Sprout (now Universal Kids).
The More You Know (2016-present): This current block is programmed by Litton Entertainment. It's named after NBC's public service announcements.

Special Events

NBC broadcasts several annual specials and award shows.

Golden Globe Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards: These award shows are rotated among the major networks each year.
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: NBC has been the official U.S. broadcaster of this parade since 1953. They also air a replay of the parade later in the day.
National Dog Show: NBC acquired the rights to this show in 2007, and it airs after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

During the Christmas holiday season, NBC also airs special animated and live-action shows.

Since 2013, NBC has aired live musical adaptations with famous stars. These have been very popular.

The Sound of Music (2013) starring Carrie Underwood.
Peter Pan (2014) starring Allison Williams and Christopher Walken.
The Wiz (2015) starring Queen Latifah and Mary J. Blige.
Hairspray (2016) starring Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson.
Jesus Christ Superstar (2018) starring John Legend and Sara Bareilles.
Annie Live! (2021) starring Taraji P. Henson and Harry Connick Jr..

How People Watch NBC

Online and On-Demand

NBC offers ways to watch its shows online and on demand.

NBC.com: You can watch shows on NBC's website.
NBC on Demand: This service is available through most cable and internet TV providers.
Hulu: NBCUniversal is a part-owner of Hulu. You can watch full episodes of most NBC shows on Hulu's website and app.
Live Streams: Since 2015, NBC has offered live streams of local NBC stations in some areas. You need to be a subscriber to a participating TV provider to watch these.

High-Definition (HD) TV

NBC broadcasts its main signal in 1080i high definition. This is the standard for NBCUniversal's TV channels. Some NBC stations also broadcast in 720p HD.

NBC officially started broadcasting in high definition on April 26, 1999. The Tonight Show was the first regularly scheduled American network program to be produced and shown in high definition. The network slowly changed most of its shows to high definition starting in 2002. By September 2012, all of NBC's programming was in full HD.

NBC Website History

In 1999, NBC launched NBCi, an online project to create a web portal. This meant NBC partnered with other internet companies to offer email, web hosting, and news. This experiment lasted about one season. After it didn't work out, NBCi's operations went back into NBC. The NBC TV part of the website returned to NBC.com.

NBC Logo Evolution

NBC has used many logos over the years. Early logos were similar to the logo of its parent company, RCA. Later, NBC logos started to use stylized peacock designs. The current peacock logo has been in use since 1986.

International Reach

Canada

You can watch NBC shows in most of Canada through cable, satellite, and internet TV providers. This is done by picking up signals from U.S.-based NBC stations. Sometimes, Canadian TV providers might replace an American station's signal with a Canadian one if they are showing the same program at the same time. This helps protect Canadian advertising.

Europe and the Middle East

NBC no longer has its own channel in Europe. However, NBC News and MSNBC programs are shown for a few hours a day on OSN News in Africa and the Middle East. CNBC Europe also broadcasts some news from MSNBC and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

NBC Europe

In 1993, NBC's parent company bought Super Channel and relaunched it as NBC Super Channel. In 1996, it was renamed NBC Europe. This channel showed many NBC News programs, like Dateline NBC and Meet the Press. It also aired The Tonight Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

In 1999, NBC Europe stopped broadcasting in most of Europe, except Germany. It was then relaunched as a German-language technology channel.

Latin America

Mexico

NBC shows are available in Mexico through free-to-air stations near the Mexico–United States border. Some U.S. border stations are also available on paid TV providers across Mexico.

Nicaragua

In Nicaragua, cable and satellite providers used to carry U.S.-based NBC and Telemundo stations. However, in late 2017, NBC stations stopped being distributed in Nicaragua and other parts of Central America. This was due to concerns about broadcasting rights outside their local area.

Canal de Noticias NBC

In 1993, NBC launched Canal de Noticias NBC, a 24-hour Spanish-language news channel for Latin America. It was based in Charlotte, North Carolina. This channel closed down in 1999 because it couldn't make enough money from advertising.

Caribbean

In the Caribbean, many TV providers carry U.S.-based NBC stations. NBC programming has also been available in the U.S. Virgin Islands since 2004. In Aruba, NBC has a station called PJA-TV (ATV).

Pacific

Guam

In Guam, the NBC programming lineup is carried by Hagåtña station KUAM-TV. Because Guam is on the west side of the International Date Line, entertainment and news shows are broadcast one day later. Live events, like sports, air as scheduled, often very early in the morning due to the time difference.

American Samoa

In American Samoa, NBC was affiliated with KKHJ-LP from 2005 to 2012. Cable TV providers there now carry NBC programming from the Seattle station KING-TV.

Asia

NBC Asia and CNBC Asia

NBC Asia launched in 1994, reaching countries like India, Japan, and South Korea. It showed most of NBC's news programs, The Tonight Show, and Saturday Night Live. It also had a regional evening news program.

In 1998, NBC Asia was replaced by a regional version of the National Geographic Channel. CNBC Asia now broadcasts some episodes of The Tonight Show and Meet the Press.

Regional Partners

Through partners, NBC shows are seen in some Asian countries. In the Philippines, channels like Jack TV and TalkTV air NBC programs. In Hong Kong, TVB Pearl airs live broadcasts of NBC Nightly News.

Australia

The Seven Network in Australia has strong ties with NBC. They have used many of NBC's image campaigns and slogans since the 1970s. Seven News uses "The Mission," which is the theme music for NBC News. NBC News and Seven News often share news reports.

Seven also rebroadcasts some of NBC's news programs in the early morning. This includes the weekday and weekend editions of Today, which they call NBC Today.

Leaders of NBC Entertainment

Executive	Term	Position
Sylvester Weaver	1953–1955	Weaver helped NBC compete with CBS. He started the idea of TV networks producing their own shows and selling advertising time during them. Before this, advertisers usually created each show. Weaver also created popular shows like Today (1952) and Tonight Starring Steve Allen (1954), which was the first Tonight Show.
Robert E. Kintner	1958–1966	Kintner became president in 1958. He worked hard to make NBC's news division better than CBS News. He gave the news division more money, which helped them cover big events like the 1960 Presidential election.
Julian Goodman	1966–1974	Goodman helped make Chet Huntley and David Brinkley a famous news anchor team. He also made a big deal to keep Johnny Carson as the host of The Tonight Show.
Herbert Schlosser	1974–1978	When Johnny Carson wanted to stop the weekend editions of The Tonight Show, Schlosser asked Dick Ebersol to create a new show for Saturday nights. This led to the creation of Saturday Night Live in 1975. The show was first called NBC's Saturday Night. It became Saturday Night Live in 1977 and is still on the air today.
Fred Silverman	1978–1981	Silverman came to NBC in 1978. During his time, he launched important shows like Hill Street Blues and the miniseries Shōgun. He also brought David Letterman to the network. Silverman helped improve NBC News and brought back the peacock as NBC's logo in 1979.
Brandon Tartikoff	1981–1991	Tartikoff became president of NBC's entertainment division in 1981 at age 32, making him the youngest person to hold the job. At that time, NBC was in last place. Tartikoff helped turn the network around with hit shows like The Cosby Show, Miami Vice, and Knight Rider. He also helped keep Family Ties on the air, which made Michael J. Fox a star.
Warren Littlefield	1991–1998	Littlefield helped create many hit shows in the 1990s. These include Seinfeld, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Friends, ER, Frasier, and Will & Grace.
Scott Sassa	1998–1999	Sassa became president of NBC Entertainment in 1998. He helped develop new prime-time series like The West Wing, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Fear Factor. Under Sassa, NBC was the number one network for three out of four seasons.
Garth Ancier	1999–2000	Ancier was named President of NBC Entertainment in 1999. He was also a TV producer before joining NBC.
Jeff Zucker	2000–2004	Zucker became President of NBC Entertainment in 2000. He helped the network stay on top by airing shows like Fear Factor and signing Donald Trump for The Apprentice. He also helped increase NBC's earnings.
Kevin Reilly	2004–2007	Reilly returned to NBC in 2003. He helped develop shows like ER and supported The Office when it had low ratings. Other shows developed under Reilly included My Name Is Earl, Heroes, and 30 Rock.
Ben Silverman	2007–2009	Silverman became co-chairman of NBC Entertainment in 2007. He helped save the drama Friday Night Lights by making a special deal with DirecTV.
Jeff Gaspin	2009–2010	Gaspin first joined NBC in the 1980s. He helped create Dateline NBC and expanded Today to weekends. He also helped develop new shows like The Apprentice and The Biggest Loser.
Robert Greenblatt	2011–2018	Greenblatt took over in 2011. Under his leadership, NBC had big successes with the Chicago series, This Is Us, and the return of Will & Grace. Many of his shows helped NBC become the number one network in the 2017–18 TV season.
George Cheeks & Paul Telegdy	2018–2020	Cheeks and Telegdy took over after Robert Greenblatt left. Cheeks later moved to CBS.
Jeff Shell	2020–2023	Shell was also the CEO of NBCUniversal.