ABC

ABC started life in the 1920s as the second radio network - the "Blue Network" - of NBC. In 1941, the FCC believed that NBC was too powerful and required NBC to find a way to separate the two existing networks owned by NBC. One of these, the Blue Network, was reincorporated by RCA as The Blue Network, Inc. in 1942. Edward Noble (Lifesavers) purchased BNI in 1943 for approximately $8,000,000 and subsequently acquired the name "American Broadcasting Company", used by an earlier unsuccessful network, in 1945 in order to give the network a broader identity.