Original 3 broadcast networks have corporate roots in National Broadcasting Co.

By The Associated Press, Associated Press

Last update: November 14, 2009 - 9:45 AM

The three original broadcast networks still around today can all be traced back to the National Broadcasting Co.

NBC began as a radio network in 1926, formed by General Electric Co., Westinghouse Electric Co. and Radio Corporation of America after buying broadcast assets from AT&T.

RCA became sole owner in 1932, until GE bought it back in 1986.

NBC initially ran two radio networks but had to shed one of them in 1943 under pressure from the government. The spinoff became ABC.

Decades later, in 1995, Westinghouse bought CBS and is now known as CBS Corp., after shedding energy and other businesses under the Westinghouse brand.

Recent Science + Technology stories

Judge: Army Corps' failure to maintain navigation channel led to massive flooding by Katrina - November 14, 2009

Judge: Army Corps' failure to maintain navigation channel led to massive flooding by Katrina - Judge: Army Corps' failure to maintain navigation channel led to massive flooding by Katrina. More

Comment on this story | Be the first to comment | Hide reader comments

Blog: Patent Pending

Lights out at U energy conference. Irony police notified.

Just as Lawrence Kazmerski, a top official at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was about to give the keynote address at the University of Minnesota's annual E3 conference at the RiverCentre in St. Paul, the lights went out, bathing the audience in darkness and a deep sense of irony.