Primary Editor, All Movie Guide. Author of Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 through 2003 and From Beautiful Downtown Burbank: A Critical History of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in, 1968-1973.
David Schepp is a veteran financial journalist with more than two decades of experience in financial news editing and reporting for print, digital, and multimedia publications.
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The Walt Disney Company owns ABC. Disney acquired ABC in 1995 as part of its $19 billion acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC.
When was ABC founded?
ABC traces its origins to NBC’s Blue Network, which was sold in 1943 to businessman Edward J. Noble. Noble initially renamed it the American Broadcasting System before adopting the name American Broadcasting Company.
What is ABC known for?
ABC is one of the major U.S. television networks. Its notable programs have included Wide World of Sports, Monday Night Football, 20/20, Nightline, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, and Dancing with the Stars.
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ABC grew from a radio network into a television powerhouse before becoming part of the Walt Disney Company in 1995.
American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is a major American television network that is a division of the Disney Company (DIS). Its headquarters are in New York City.
Origins
ABC traces its history to 1926, when the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and two other companies founded the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) to operate a nationwide radio broadcasting network. NBC expanded so rapidly that by 1927 it found itself with an excess of affiliates in the same cities, so it split its programming into two separate networks, called the Red and the Blue networks.
After the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) declared in 1941 that no company could own more than one radio network, NBC in 1943 sold the less-lucrative Blue Network to Edward J. Noble, the millionaire maker of Life Savers candy, who initially renamed it the American Broadcasting System before settling on the name the American Broadcasting Company, Inc. (ABC).
ABC was the smallest of the major radio networks and distinguished itself by hiring popular singer Bing Crosby to perform on a weekly variety series. As a precondition for his employment, Crosby required that he be allowed to prerecord the program for later broadcast; as a result, ABC became a pioneer in the field of magnetic recording.
Focus on television
ABC turned its attention to television in 1948 but met with little success until it merged with United Paramount Theatres (UPT), formerly the movie-exhibition arm of Paramount Pictures. The $25 million sale of ABC to UPT, which was headed by Leonard Goldenson, was announced in 1951 but was not approved by the FCC until 1953. (In 1955 ABC also entered the recording business with the purchase of a subsidiary and, over the years, under the consolidated ABC Records Division, developed such labels as ABC, Westminster, Dot, and Impulse.)
Even though the merger provided ABC with a much-needed infusion of capital, the network still lacked the resources to match the expensive live programming offered by the Columbia Broadcast System (CBS) and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). ABC found a solution to its competitive disadvantage by entering into mutually beneficial deals with major Hollywood producers to provide top-quality filmed programs. The first such producer was Walt Disney, whose popular Disneyland anthology series premiered on ABC in 1954 and enabled the network to attract big-money advertisers and expand its roster of local affiliates. The network also forged a profitable alliance with Warner Brothers, which provided ABC with the popular western Maverick (1957–62), the private-eye series 77 Sunset Strip (1958–64), and other successful programs.
Specializing in offbeat programming calculated to set it apart from the other networks, ABC entered into such risky ventures as The Flintstones (1960–66), a prime-time animated cartoon series, and Batman (1966–68), a live-action spoof of comic-book superheroes, that paid off in huge ratings and profits. And after unsuccessfully trying to wrest away the major American sports events from NBC and CBS, ABC developed the omnibus series Wide World of Sports (1961–98), which, along with its groundbreaking weeknight telecast of the National Football League, Monday Night Football (1970–2005, and on cable subsidiary ESPN beginning in 2006), served as the cornerstone for the network’s long dominance in the field of televised athletic competition under the leadership of ABC Sports president Roone Arledge.
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(Clockwise from lower left) Anson Williams as Potsie, Don Most as Ralph, Henry Winkler as Fonzie, and Ron Howard as Richie in Happy Days (1974–84).
ABC’s golden era began with the arrival of programming executive Fred Silverman in 1975. Establishing a schedule of audience-pleasing situation comedies (Happy Days [1974–84], Laverne and Shirley [1976–83], and Three’s Company [1977–84]) and sexually charged dramatic series (Charlie’s Angels [1976–81], The Love Boat [1977– 86], and Fantasy Island [1978–84]), Silverman rapidly elevated ABC to the coveted number one slot.
Perhaps to counteract criticism of its lowbrow entertainment fare, the network offered a number of prestige projects during the Silverman years, notably the blockbuster miniseries Roots (1977). ABC also earned praise as the first network to hire a woman (Barbara Walters) to anchor its nightly newscast, although its news division did not fully blossom until the advent of the current-events series 20/20 (1978– ) and Nightline (1980– ).
ABC was purchased by Capital Cities Broadcasting for $5.5 billion in 1986 and was subsequently acquired by the Disney Company for $19 billion in 1995. The network continued to flourish into the 21st century with prime-time series such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (1999–2002, 2009), Lost (2004–10), Desperate Housewives (2004–12), Grey’s Anatomy (2005– ), and Dancing with the Stars (2005– ), along with long-running daytime dramas such as One Life to Live (1968–2012) and General Hospital (1963– ).
Dispute with the FCC
In 2025, the FCC, under Chair Brendan Carr, opened an investigation into diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices at Disney and ABC to determine whether they violated federal rules prohibiting unlawful discrimination. The dispute widened amid criticism from President Donald Trump and other administration officials of ABC programming, including the late-night talk showJimmy Kimmel Live! and the daytime talk show The View.
In April 2026, shortly after Trump called for Kimmel to be fired over a joke about first ladyMelania Trump, the FCC launched an early license-renewal process for eight ABC-owned television stations. ABC submitted the applications under protest, arguing that the early review was unconstitutional.
In August, ABC and Disney filed a lawsuit against the FCC in federal court in Washington, alleging that the agency had violated the First Amendment by retaliating against ABC for its news coverage and programming. The companies argued that the license proceedings were intended to pressure ABC over speech that the Trump administration opposed and asked the court to halt the early license-renewal process.
Days before the filing, Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro defended the company’s position, saying that Disney would stand up for “journalistic integrity” and would not “be told how to run that side of our business.”
The FCC maintained that its review concerned compliance with federal law rather than ABC’s programming or political viewpoints. Carr said that broadcasters using the public airwaves were required to operate in the public interest, and he linked the license review to the investigation of Disney’s diversity policies. The FCC also separately examined whether The View should retain an exemption from federal rules requiring broadcasters that give airtime to political candidates to provide comparable opportunities to their opponents.
