Big Three (American television)From the 1950s to the 1980s, during the network era of American television, there were three commercial broadcast television networks – NBC (the National Broadcasting Company, "the Peacock Network"), CBS (the Columbia Broadcasting System, "the Eye Network"), ABC (the American Broadcasting Company, "the Alphabet Network") – that due to their longevity and ratings success are informally referred to as the "Big Three".
DuMont Television NetworkThe DuMont Television Network (also the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in the United States. It was owned by Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, a television equipment and television set manufacturer and broadcasting company. DuMont was founded in 1940 and began operation in 1946.
CBSAmerican broadcast television and radio networkTelevision channelCBS BuildingCBS Broadcasting Inc. (CBS, an abbreviation of its original name, the Columbia Broadcasting System) is an Americancommercial broadcasttelevision network and the flagship property of the CBS Entertainment Group division of Paramount Skydance. It is one of Paramount Skydance's three flagship subsidiaries, along with Paramount Pictures and MTV.
American Broadcasting-Paramount TheatresAmerican Broadcasting Companies, Inc. (originally United Paramount Theatres, and American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, Inc., abbreviated ABPT) was the parent company of the American Broadcasting Company and, until 1978, United Paramount Theatres, formed from a merger of the two companies in 1949.
Blue NetworkThe Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a former American radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the independent Blue Network was born of a divestiture in 1942, arising from antitrust litigation. In 1945, the Blue Network formally became the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).
The Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company, commonly known as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainmentconglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Founded on October 16, 1923, as an animation studio by brothers Walt and Roy Oliver Disney as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Disney operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before adopting its current name in 1986.
Television broadcasterTelecommunications network for TV programming A BBC television and radio transmitting station, Crystal Palace, with Croydon transmitting station in the distance A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or, in the United States, multichannel video programming distributors.
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television 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 flagship namesake properties, alongside Universal Studios. It is the first and oldest major broadcast network in the United States.
Edward J. NobleEdward John Noble (August 8, 1882 – December 28, 1958) was an American broadcasting and candy industrialist originally from Gouverneur, New York. He co-founded the Life Savers Corporation in 1913. He founded the American Broadcasting Company when he purchased the Blue Network in 1943 following the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) decree that RCA divest itself of one of its two radio networks.
Disney Entertainment TelevisionDisney Entertainment Television, formerly ABC Group, Disney–ABC Television Group, the second incarnation of Walt Disney Television and Disney General Entertainment Content, is a division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company that oversees its owned-and-operated television content, assets and sub-divisions.
Commercial broadcastingCommercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example.
AcronymAn acronym is an abbreviation formed using the initial letters of a multi-word name or phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial letter of each word in all caps with no punctuation. In English, the word is used in two ways. In the narrow sense, an acronym is a sequence of letters (representing the initial letters of words in a phrase) when pronounced together as a single word, like NASA, NATO, or laser.
English alphabetModern English is written with a Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 letters, with each having both uppercase and lowercase forms. The word alphabet is a compound of alpha and beta, the names of the first two letters in the Greek alphabet. The earliest Old English writing during the 5th century used a runic alphabet known as the futhorc.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.