American Broadcasting Company television. The fifth-oldest major broadcasting network in the world and the youngest of the Big Three television networks, ABC is often nicknamed as "The Alphabet Network", as its initialism also represents the first three letters of the English alphabet, in order. ABC launched as a radio network on October 12, 1943, serving as the successor to the NBC Blue Network, which had been purchased by Edward J. Noble. It extended its operations to television in 1948, following in the footsteps of established broadcast networks CBS and NBC. In the mid-1950s, ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres, a chain of movie
Broadcasting Company of America RCA's chairman of the board Owen D. Young and president James G. Harbord announced the formation of the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., to begin operations upon RCA's acquisition of WEAF on November 15. WEAF would go on to be the "key station" for the NBC radio "Red Network", which sometimes would still be referred to as the WEAF chain. The leased lines that figured so importantly in the acquisition of BCA would form the backbone for both NBC Red and its sister Blue Network for the next fifteen years. Broadcasting Company of America The Broadcasting Company of America (BCA) was