The
National Broadcasting Company (
NBC) is an
American television network headquartered in the
GE Building in
New York City's Rockefeller Center. It is sometimes referred to as the
Peacock Network due to its stylized
peacock logo.
Formed in 1926 by the
Radio Corporation of America (RCA), NBC was the first major broadcast network in the United States. In 1986 control of NBC passed to
General Electric (GE), with GE's $6.4 billion purchase of RCA. After the acquisition, the chief executive of NBC was
Bob Wright, until he retired, giving his job to
Jeff Zucker. The network is currently part of the media company
NBC Universal, a unit of
General Electric and
Vivendi.
NBC is available in an estimated 112 million households, or 98.6% of the country. NBC has 10 owned-and-operated stations and nearly 200 affiliates in the United States and its territories.