NBC

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) 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 main flagship subsidiaries, alongside Universal Studios. It is the first and oldest major broadcast programming 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, later formally owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation, and United Fruit Company, NBC is the oldest out of the traditional "Big Three" American television networks in the 21st century, (inculding the other two going by the abbreviations of ABC and CBS) 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. NBC also maintains brand licensing agreements for international channels in South Korea and Germany.

The Peacock Network's corporate name was changed from National Broadcasting Company Inc., to NBC Universal Inc. along with the merger with the Universal Entertainment's French Vivendi division, and in 1986, NBC's controlled power was passed on to General Electric's $4.6 billion purchase with RCA.

NBC was formed as The National Broadcasting Company in 1926 by The Radio Corporation of America (RCA), as "The first and oldest major broadcast network in the United States." NBC was then owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Company. In 1932, the US 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 2003, French media company Vivendi 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.

NBC is the home broadcaster of some of the longest continuously running American television series, including the news program Meet the Press (debuted 1947); Today (debuted 1952); The Tonight Show (debuted nationally 1954); and Saturday Night Live (debuted 1975). 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.

As of 2025^[update], 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 (7:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m. in all other U.S. time zones) and Sundays from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time (6:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m. in all other time zones).