The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast (over the air) television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC. The United States' public television network, PBS, is not included.

Backgrounds

NBC and CBS were founded as radio networks in the 1920s. They gradually began experimental television stations in the 1940s. ABC was spun off from NBC in 1943 when the US government determined that NBC's two-network setup was anticompetitive.

All three networks began regular television broadcasts in the 1940s. NBC began operations in 1946, followed by CBS and ABC in 1948.Castleman, H. & Podrazik, W. (1982). Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. 314 pp. The three networks originally controlled only a few local television stations, but they swiftly affiliated with other stations to cover the entire United States.