Big Three (American television)

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The "Big Four" major United States broadcast networks: NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox, arranged in order by the year each network began regular television broadcasting in the U.S.

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In the United States, there are four major traditional commercial broadcast television networks — NBC (the National Broadcasting Company, "the Peacock Network"), CBS (the Columbia Broadcasting System, "the Eye Network"), ABC (the American Broadcasting Company, "the Alphabet Network"), and Fox (the Fox Broadcasting Company, "the Searchlight Network") — that due to their longevity and ratings success are informally referred to as the "Big Four". They dominated American television until the 1990s^[1] (especially during the network era of the late 1950s to mid-1980s) and are still considered major U.S. broadcast companies to this day.