CBS
American broadcast television and radio network / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainment Group division of Paramount Global and is one of the company's three flagship subsidiaries, along with namesake Paramount Pictures and MTV.
.svg){kind=logo} Logo used since October 8, 2020[lower-alpha 1] | |
| Type | Radio and television broadcaster |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Affiliates | |
| Headquarters | CBS Building, Manhattan, New York City, New York |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Picture format | 1080i HDTV |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Paramount Global |
| Parent | CBS Entertainment Group |
| Key people |
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| History | |
| Founded | September 18, 1927 (96 years ago) (1927-09-18) |
| Launched |
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| Founder | |
| Former names |
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| Links | |
| Website | cbs.com |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| Affiliated Streaming Service(s) | Paramount+ |
 | |
| 1886 | Westinghouse Electric Corporation is founded |
|---|---|
| 1912 | Famous Players Film Company is founded |
| 1913 | Lasky Feature Play Company is founded |
| 1914 | Paramount Pictures is founded |
| 1916 | Famous Players and Lasky merge as Famous Players–Lasky and acquire Paramount |
| 1927 | CBS is founded; Famous Players–Lasky assumes Paramount's name |
| 1929 | Paramount buys 49% of CBS |
| 1932 | Paramount sells back shares of CBS |
| 1934 | Michigan Bumper Corporation is founded |
| 1950 | Desilu is founded and CBS distributes its television programs |
| 1952 | CBS creates the CBS Television Film Sales division |
| 1955 | Michigan Bumper Corporation renamed to Michigan Plating and Stamping Company |
| 1958 | CBS Television Film Sales renamed to CBS Films; Michigan Plating and Stamping Company renamed to Gulf+Western |
| 1966 | Gulf+Western buys Paramount |
| 1968 | Gulf+Western acquires Desilu and renames it Paramount Television; CBS Films renamed to CBS Enterprises |
| 1970 | CBS Enterprises renamed to Viacom |
| 1971 | Viacom is spun off from CBS |
| 1987 | National Amusements buys Viacom |
| 1989 | Gulf+Western renamed to Paramount Communications |
| 1994 | Viacom acquires Paramount Communications |
| 1995 | Westinghouse buys CBS |
| 1997 | Westinghouse renamed to CBS Corporation |
| 2000 | Viacom buys CBS Corporation |
| 2005 | Viacom splits into second CBS Corporation and Viacom |
| 2019 | CBS Corporation and Viacom re-merge as ViacomCBS |
| 2022 | ViacomCBS renamed to Paramount Global |
Headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City and being part of the "Big Three" television networks, CBS has major production facilities and operations at the CBS Broadcast Center and the headquarters of owner Paramount at One Astor Plaza (both also in that city) and Television City and the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles. It is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, after the company's trademark symbol of an eye (which has been in use since October 20, 1951),[1] and also the Tiffany Network, which alludes to the perceived high quality of its programming during the tenure of William S. Paley (and can also refer to some of CBS's first demonstrations of color television, which were held in the former Tiffany and Company Building in New York City in 1950).[2][3] Other than News and Sports, it owns the The CW (UPN merged with The WB) with Warner Bros. Discovery since 2006 (Nextstar Media owns 75% since 2022), Showtime (now under companion streaming service Paramount+), and used to own CBS Records (later Sony Music) until 1991, CBS Radio (later Audacy) until 2017, CBS Outdoor (later Outfront) until 2014, and Simon and Schuster until 2023.