The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is a major American commercial broadcast television and radio network. It operates as the flagship property of NBC Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. NBC is one of NBCUniversal's two primary flagship subsidiaries, the other being Universal Studios. In essence, NBC is a cornerstone of the American media landscape, providing television and radio programming to a wide audience.
In 1952, Weaver created the Today show for NBC.
In 1953, NBC became the official American broadcaster of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
In 1954, Weaver created Tonight Starring Steve Allen, the first program in the Tonight Show franchise. He also created Home in 1954.
In 1955, Weaver created Wide Wide World for NBC. He also developed NBC Monitor, a weekend-long magazine-style block featuring news, music, comedy, drama, and sports.
In 1956, KUAM-TV in Guam became an NBC affiliate, carrying the entire NBC programming lineup.
From 1966 to 2014, WMGM-TV, based in Atlantic City, was an NBC affiliate.
By 1975 Michaels had assembled a talented cast for NBC's Saturday Night.
NBC Monitor, a weekend-long magazine-style block featuring news, music, comedy, drama, and sports ended in 1975.
In 1976, NBC purchased the rights to the name Saturday Night Live from ABC.
On March 26, 1977, NBC officially adopted the title Saturday Night Live for its show.
In 1979, Silverman pioneered the reality television genre with the debut of Real People.
In 1979, Silverman reintroduced the peacock as NBC's corporate logo.
In 1981, Silverman oversaw the development of an animated series based on The Smurfs.
By 1982, network president Grant Tinker and President of Entertainment Brandon Tartikoff gradually turned the network's fortunes around. Tartikoff pursued actor-comedian Bill Cosby to create a comedy pilot which resulted in The Cosby Show, the 1980s drama Miami Vice inspired by a brainstorming memo that simply read "MTV cops", and Knight Rider which was inspired by a perceived lack of leading men who could act.
By 1985, Brandon Tartikoff as President of Entertainment, would help get NBC back on top.
Since 1986, the current version of NBC's logo, which incorporates stylized peacock designs, has been in use.
In 1989, the animated series The Smurfs ended, well after Silverman's departure.
In February 1991, Johnny Carson broke the news of his retirement to Tartikoff during a lunch meeting.
In 1993, NBC launched Canal de Noticias NBC, a 24-hour Spanish-language news channel serving Latin America. It based its news schedule around the "wheel" format conceived at CNN.
In 1993, then-NBC parent General Electric acquired Super Channel, relaunching the Pan-European cable network as NBC Super Channel.
In 1994, NBC Asia launched, distributed to multiple countries including India, Japan, and South Korea. It featured NBC's news programs, The Tonight Show, Late Night, and Saturday Night Live.
In 1996, the channel was renamed NBC Europe, though it was almost always referred to as simply "NBC" on-air.
On February 2, 1997, Meet the Press was the first regular series on a major television network to produce a high-definition broadcast, airing in the format over WHD-TV in Washington, D.C.
In July 1998, NBC Asia was replaced by a regional version of the National Geographic Channel.
On April 26, 1999, NBC officially began its conversion to high definition with the launch of its simulcast feed, NBC HD, with The Tonight Show as the first HD program.
In 1999, Canal de Noticias NBC shut down due to the channel's inability to generate sustainable advertising revenue.
In 1999, NBC Europe ceased broadcasting in most of Europe outside of Germany. The network was relaunched as a German-language technology channel aimed at a younger demographic, with the new series NBC GIGA as its flagship program.
In 1999, NBC launched NBCi, a heavily advertised online venture serving as an attempt to launch a web portal, partnering with various companies to provide a multi-faceted internet portal.
In April 2000, NBC purchased GlobalBrain, a company specializing in search engines that learned from searches initiated by its users, for $32 million.
Beginning with the 2002-03 season, NBC gradually converted much of its existing programming from standard-definition to high definition, with select shows among that season's slate of freshmen scripted series being broadcast in HD from their debuts.
In 2003, NBC acquired the rights to the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants as part of a deal brokered by Miss Universe Organization owner Donald Trump, giving NBC half-ownership of the pageants.
Since 2004, NBC programming has been available in the U.S. Virgin Islands on WVGN-LD in Charlotte Amalie. Telemundo owned-and-operated station WKAQ-TV in San Juan, Puerto Rico carries the WNBC feed on a digital subchannel.
As of 2005, certain holiday specials produced prior to 2005, such as its annual broadcast of It's a Wonderful Life, continue to be presented in 4:3 SD, although some have been remastered for HD broadcast. Full HD presentation happened after September 2012.
From 2005, NBC was affiliated with KKHJ-LP in Pago Pago, American Samoa.
In 2005, the channel NBC GIGA was relaunched again as the free-to-air movie channel Das Vierte.
In February 2007, Reilly signed a new three-year contract with NBC.
In late May 2007, Reilly was terminated as president of NBC.
On October 29, 2007, Hulu launched in private beta testing, offering full-length episodes of most of NBC's programming through the streaming service.
In 2007, NBC acquired the rights to the National Dog Show, which airs following the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade each year.
In 2007, NBC declined to renew its contract to carry Miss Teen USA, effectively discontinuing televised broadcasts of that event until 2023.
In mid-2007, NBCi.com began to mirror the main NBC.com website.
In 2008, NBC.com and certain other partner websites, including Hulu, provided complete back catalogs of most of its current series as well as a limited selection of episodes of classic series.
From 2009, Solar TV broadcast The Jay Leno Show in the Philippines.
In 2009, GIGA Television, spun off as a separate digital channel, shut down as a TV station. It was available on satellite and cable providers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
In 2009, NBC and Seven both used the Guy Sebastian single "Like it Like That" in image promos for their respective summer schedules.
In 2009, NBC began airing a same-day rebroadcast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade telecast, replacing its annual Thanksgiving afternoon airing of Miracle on 34th Street.
In 2009, the digital television transition reduced signal coverage in southern areas of Canada located near the Canada–United States border due to the lower radiated power required to transmit digital signals.
On May 2, 2010, Meet the Press became the last NBC News program to convert to HD.
In 2010, NBCi.com was eventually redirected to the NBC.com domain.
In 2010, Solar TV stopped broadcasting The Jay Leno Show in the Philippines.
In July 2011, Netflix lost the right to carry newer episodes of NBC's programs during their current seasons, carrying only cataloged episodes of NBC programs.
In September 2012, NBC completed its conversion to high definition with the launch of NBC Kids, a new Saturday morning children's block programmed by PBS Kids Sprout.
In 2012, Macy's chose to reroute the parade out of the view of CBS' cameras, as NBC holds exclusivity over the broadcast of Broadway and music performances appearing in the parade.
In 2012, NBC disaffiliated with KKHJ-LP in Pago Pago, American Samoa.
Das Vierte, previously known as NBC GIGA, eventually shut down at the end of 2013. It was acquired by Disney, which replaced it with a German version of Disney Channel.
Since 2013, NBC has aired live musical adaptations with major stars in lead roles, proving to be rating successes and a nostalgic tribute to the early days of television.
From 1966 to 2014, WMGM-TV, based in Atlantic City, was an NBC affiliate.
From 2003 to 2014, NBC held rights to the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants.
In 2014, NBC's entire program lineup was carried by VSB-TV, until it ended operations.
On February 18, 2015, NBC began providing live programming streams of local NBC stations in select markets to authenticated subscribers of participating pay television providers.
On June 29, 2015, NBCUniversal relinquished the rights to Miss Universe and Miss USA as part of its decision to cut business ties with Donald Trump and the Miss Universe Organization due to controversial remarks made by Trump.
In February 2016, WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina re-joined NBC and began broadcasting at 1080p via WNGT-CD.
In 2016, Donald Trump made controversial remarks about Mexican immigrants during the launch of his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. This resulted in NBCUniversal cutting business ties with Trump.
In 2018, a change to the NFL's mobile rights agreement allowed NFL game telecasts to be streamed through network websites and apps.
In 2018, the experimental station WRAL-EX, which transmitted limited NBC programming in UHD, went off-air as part of the FCC's repacking process.
In early 2018, NBC purchased the Nashua station (formerly WYCN-CD) after the FCC spectrum auction.
In April 2019, it was reported that NBC had paid a firm to improve its reputation by lobbying for changes to the Wikipedia articles on NBC, Nextdoor and several others.
In 2019, NBC relocated WYCN-LD to Providence, Rhode Island to serve as a Telemundo station for that market.
In 2023, televised broadcasts of Miss Teen USA effectively resumed, after NBC had discontinued broadcasts of that event in 2007.
On December 31, 2024, KXGN-TV in Glendive, Montana dropped NBC from its DT2 subchannel.
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