ABC

The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is one of the four major television networks in the United States. (The other three are CBS, NBC, and Fox.)

History

Founding

ABC was established on October 12, 1943 by Edward J. Noble following his purchase of the NBC Blue Network.

Disney acquisition

It was acquired by the Walt Disney Company in 1996 through their acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. As of 2008, it is the most-watched television network in the United States.

In 1997, ABC picked up the rights to the Walt Disney anthology series and revamped it to The Wonderful World of Disney, which aired from then until 2008. The series aired various Disney films and even some non-Disney, such as The Mask.

On August 20, 2011, ABC showed Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension, notably the first Disney Channel Original Movie to air on the network.

On October 23, 2011, ABC premiered the popular show Once Upon a Time.

On December 12, 2015, The Wonderful World of Disney returned on ABC.

On October 5, 2018, ABC brought back the TGIF block (which aired in 1989-2000 and later 2003-2005) until it ended on September 27, 2019.

The channel has also run various animated television series by Disney on Saturday mornings from 1987 to 2011. In 1996, their Saturday morning lineup transitioned into a mostly-Disney-owned lineup, and became One Saturday Morning in 1997. ABC Kids replaced One Saturday Morning in 2002, but unlike the previous block, it eventually only aired reruns of Disney Channel series. The block was replaced by Litton's Weekend Adventure in 2011. In 2007, Touchstone Television was re-branded as ABC Studios, and became the main source for ABC's programming.

ABC also aired the Marvel Comics superhero television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the mini-series Agent Carter in January 2015.

In 2016, The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarded it, along with the other three major US networks, with a Cornerstone Award, to celebrate 70 years of television in America.

Those named Disney Legends, whose biggest contributions were to the Disney-owned ABC, include Leonard H. Goldenson (debatable as he helped finance Disneyland), Roone Arledge, Peter Jennings, Barbara Walters, Regis Philbin, Dick Clark, Diane Sawyer, and Robin Roberts.