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 Pictures. 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.

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