network . for nbc philippines see nation broadcasting corporation . for other uses see nbc disambiguation . national broadcasting company type broadcast television network 1939 present radio network 1926 1993 ; 2012 2014 ; 2016 sports radio network 2012 present branding nbc country united states availability national founded june 19 1926 ; 90 years ago june 19 1926 by radio corporation of america rca slogan here on nbc headquarters comcast building new york nbcuniversal nbc tower main headquarters comcast innovation and technology center nbc 10 and telemundo 62 10 universal city plaza comcast los angeles division stamford connecticut nbc sports owner nbcuniversal comcast key people bob greenblatt chairman nbc entertainment launch date november 15 1926 1926 11 15 radio april 30 1939 1939 04 30 television picture format 1080i hdtv 480i sdtv broadcasting experimentally at 1080p through nbc affiliate wral tv affiliates lists by state or details official website nbc.com the national broadcasting company nbc is an american commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of nbcuniversal a subsidiary of comcast . the network is headquartered in the comcast building formerly known as the ge building at rockefeller center in new york city with additional major offices near los angeles at universal city plaza chicago at the nbc tower and soon in philadelphia at comcast innovation and technology center . the network is part of the big three television networks . nbc is sometimes referred to as the peacock network in reference to its stylized peacock logo which was originally created in 1956 for its then new color broadcasts and became the network s official emblem in 1979 . founded in 1926 by the radio corporation of america rca nbc is the oldest major broadcast network in the united states . in 1986 control of nbc passed to general electric ge which previously owned rca and nbc until 1930 when it was forced to sell the companies as a result of antitrust charges through its 6.4 billion purchase of rca . following the acquisition by ge which later liquidated rca bob wright served as chief executive officer of nbc remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007 when he was succeeded by jeff zucker . in 2003 french media company vivendi merged its entertainment assets with ge forming nbc universal . comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011 and acquired general electric s remaining stake in 2013 . 1 following the comcast merger zucker left nbc universal and was replaced as ceo by comcast executive steve burke . nbc has thirteen owned and operated stations and nearly 200 affiliates throughout the united states and its territories some of which are also available in 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 . 2 3 contents 1 history 1.1 radio 1.1.1 earliest stations weaf and wjz 1.1.2 red and blue networks 1.1.3 chimes 1.1.4 new beginnings the blue network becomes abc 1.1.5 defining radio s golden age 1.1.6 decline 1.1.7 restoration 1.2 television 1.2.1 color television 1.2.2 1970s doldrums 1.2.3 tartikoff s turnaround 1.2.4 must see tv 1.2.5 new century new problems 1.2.6 comcast era 2011 2 programming 2.1 nbc news 2.2 daytime programming 2.3 children s programming 2.4 specials 2.5 programming library 3 stations 4 related services 4.1 video on demand services 4.2 nbc hd 4.3 nbci 5 evolution of the nbc logo 6 international broadcasts 6.1 canada 6.2 europe and the middle east 6.2.1 nbc super channel becomes nbc europe 6.3 latin america 6.3.1 mexico 6.3.2 nicaragua 6.3.3 canal de noticias 6.4 caribbean 6.4.1 bahamas 6.4.2 bermuda 6.4.3 netherlands antilles 6.5 pacific 6.5.1 guam 6.5.2 american samoa 6.5.3 federated states of micronesia 6.6 asia 6.6.1 nbc asia and cnbc asia 6.6.2 regional partners 6.7 australia 7 criticism and controversies 7.1 selective editing of george zimmerman 911 call 8 presidents of nbc entertainment 9 see also 10 references 11 further reading 12 external links history edit the comcast building in new york city or the ge building originally the rca building serves as the headquarters of nbc . radio edit earliest stations weaf and wjz edit during a period of early broadcast business consolidation radio manufacturer radio corporation of america rca acquired new york city radio station weaf from american telephone & telegraph at & t . westinghouse a shareholder in rca had a competing outlet in newark new jersey pioneer station wjz no relation to the radio and television station in baltimore currently using those call letters which also served as the flagship for a loosely structured network . this station was transferred from westinghouse to rca in 1923 and moved to new york city . 4 weaf acted as a laboratory for at & t s manufacturing and supply outlet western electric whose products included transmitters and antennas . the bell system at & t s telephone utility was developing technologies to transmit voice and music grade audio over short and long distances using both wireless and wired methods . the 1922 creation of weaf offered a research and development center for those activities . weaf maintained a regular schedule of radio programs including some of the first commercially sponsored programs and was an immediate success . in an early example of chain or networking broadcasting the station linked with outlet company owned wjar in providence rhode island ; and with at & t s station in washington d.c. wcap . new parent rca saw an advantage in sharing programming and after getting a license for radio station wrc in washington d.c. in 1923 attempted to transmit audio between cities via low quality telegraph lines . at & t refused outside companies access to its high quality phone lines . the early effort fared poorly since the uninsulated telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric and other electrical interference . in 1925 at & t decided that weaf and its embryonic network were incompatible with the company s primary goal of providing a telephone service . at & t offered to sell the station to rca in a deal that included the right to lease at & t s phone lines for network transmission . 5 red and blue networks edit main articles nbc red network and blue network rca spent 1 million to purchase weaf and washington sister station wcap shut down the latter station and merged its facilities with surviving station wrc ; in late 1926 it subsequently announced the creation of a new division known as the national broadcasting company . 6 the division s ownership was split among rca a majority partner at 50 % its founding corporate parent general electric which owned 30 % and westinghouse which owned the remaining 20 % . nbc officially started broadcasting on november 15 1926 . weaf and wjz the flagships of the two earlier networks were operated side by side for about a year as part of the new nbc . on january 1 1927 nbc formally divided their respective marketing strategies the red network offered commercially sponsored entertainment and music programming ; the blue network mostly carried sustaining or non sponsored broadcasts especially news and cultural programs . various histories of nbc suggest the color designations for the two networks came from the color of the pushpins nbc engineers used to designate affiliates of weaf red and wjz blue or from the use of double ended red and blue colored pencils . radio city west was located at sunset boulevard and vine street in los angeles until it was replaced by a bank in the mid 1960s . on april 5 1927 nbc expanded to the west coast with the launch of the nbc orange network also known as the pacific coast network . this was followed by the debut of the nbc gold network also known as the pacific gold network on october 18 1931 . the orange network carried red network programming and the gold network carried programming from the blue network . initially the orange network recreated eastern red network programming for west coast stations at kpo in san francisco . the orange network name was removed from use in 1936 and the network s affiliate stations became part of the red network . at the same time the gold network became part of the blue network . in the 1930s nbc also developed a network for shortwave radio stations called the nbc white network . in 1927 nbc moved its operations to 711 fifth avenue in manhattan occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect floyd brown . 7 the space that nbc occupied was designed by raymond hood who based the appearance of its multiple studio facilities on a gothic church the roman forum a louis xiv room and in a space devoted to jazz something wildly futuristic with plenty of color in bizarre designs . 7 nbc outgrew the fifth avenue facilities in 1933 . 7 in 1930 general electric was charged with antitrust violations resulting in the company s decision to divest itself of rca . the newly separate company signed leases to move its corporate headquarters into the new rockefeller center in 1931 . john d. rockefeller jr. founder and financier of rockefeller center arranged the deal with ge chairman owen d. young and rca president david sarnoff . when it moved into the complex in 1933 rca became the lead tenant at 30 rockefeller plaza known as the rca building later the ge building now the comcast building which housed nbc s production studios as well as theaters for rca owned rko pictures . 8 chimes edit main article nbc chimes entrance at the ge building . the iconic three note nbc chimes came about after several years of development . the three note sequence g e c was first heard over red network affiliate wsb in atlanta 9 with a second inversion c major triad as its outline . an executive at nbc s new york headquarters heard the wsb version of the notes during the networked broadcast of a georgia tech football game and asked permission to use it on the national network . nbc started to use the chimes sequence in 1931 and it eventually became the first audio trademark to be accepted by the u.s. patent and trademark office . 10 11 a variant sequence with an additional note g e c g known as the fourth chime was used during significant events of extreme urgency including during world war ii especially in the wake of the december 1941 attack on pearl harbor ; on d day and during disasters . the nbc chimes were mechanized in 1932 by rangertone founder richard h. ranger ; their purpose was to send a low level signal of constant amplitude that would be heard by the various switching stations manned by nbc and at & t engineers and to be used as a system cue for switching individual stations between the red and blue network feeds . contrary to popular legend the g e c notes were not originally intended to reference to the general electric company an early shareholder in nbc s founding parent rca and whose schenectady new york radio station wgy was an early affiliate of nbc red . the three note sequence remains in use by the nbc television network most notably incorporated into the john williams composed theme music used by nbc news the mission first composed in 1985 for nbc nightly news . new beginnings the blue network becomes abc edit further information blue network and american broadcasting company nbc tower in chicago . in 1934 the mutual broadcasting system filed a complaint to the federal communications commission fcc following the government agency s creation claiming it ran into difficulties trying to establish new radio stations in a market largely controlled by nbc and the columbia broadcasting system cbs . in 1938 the