History of ABC

The '''American Broadcasting Company''' (not to be confused with public broadcaster ''Australian Broadcasting Corporation'') is a broadcast television network in the United States of America, covering basically all of the United States with over-the-air broadcast stations and coverage on cable television providers.  The network was formed in 1948 after NBC was forced to sell its "NBC Blue" network radio stations.  The first television stations affiliated with ABC took to the air in 1948 and the network grew throughout the 1960s.  By 1977, it became the highest-rated network for the first time, later settling into second place throughout the 1980s and 1990s.  Like most other American broadcast television networks, ABC owns some of its biggest television stations, while the remainder are owned by third parties (such as Sinclair Broadcast Group and E.W. Scripps Broadcasting).  Though the network has no direct affiliates in Canada, the network is carried on basic cable throughout the country, and its CTV television network has aired the vast majority of ABC's Saturday Morning lineup for those too far from the border to receive american stations directly.

In 1985, ABC was purchased by a third-party owner of mostly ABC-affiliated television stations, Capital Cities Communications.  During this "CapCities/ABC" era, the network became its most conservative (not politically, but rather sticking to tried-and-true ideas of what worked for television shows), but maintained a very healthy audience.  In 1989, ABC launched the family-oriented ''[[wikipedia:TGIF (ABC)|TGIF]] programming block on Friday nights, which often had tie-ins (in the form of program bumpers during commercial breaks) to ABC's saturday morning block.  In 1993, ABC bought French-American animation house [[DiC Entertainment]].  Perhaps spurred on by the launch of the United Paramount Network and Warner Brothers launching their [[The WB Television Network|own network]] in 1995, [[Disney]] would buy the merged "CapCities/ABC" in 1996, becoming Disney-ABC Television Group and launching their own programming starting in 1997.  They would sell DiC in 2000.

Since coming under common ownership with other Disney properties, ABC's logo has seen cameo mentions, such as in the 2006 animated film ''[[The Wild (film)]]''.

Perhaps best known for its ABC Kids lineup in the 1980s and early 1990s, and for its "''[[One Saturday Morning]]''" block from 1997 to 2001, the network began gradually phasing out its animation in favour of "kidcoms" (kid-oriented sitcoms) from [[The Disney Channel]], before replacing those with [[E/I]] programming in 2009.

== List of ABC network programs featuring anthropomorphized characters ==
* [[101 Dalmatians: The Series]] (1997-1999) (ex-[[The Disney Afternoon]] show)
* [[ABC Weekend Special]]s (1977-1997)
* [[Adventures of the Gummi Bears]] (ex-NBC; 1989-1990; later [[The Disney Afternoon]] show)
* All of the Scooby-Doo series from [[The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour]] to [[A Pup Named Scooby Doo]] (1976-1986; 1988-1991)
* [[Beetlejuice]] (1989-1992; from Canada's [[Global Television Network|Canwest Global]])
* [[Bump in the Night]] (1994-1996)
* [[Cro]] (1993-1995)
* [[Darkwing Duck]] (1991-1993)
* [[DuckTales]] (1997) (ex-[[The Disney Afternoon]] show)
* [[Free Willy]] (1994-1996)
* [[Gargoyles|Gargoyles: The Goliath Chrtonicles]] (1996-1997) (ex-[[The Disney Afternoon]] show)
* [[Goof Troop]]  (later became a [[The Disney Afternoon]] show)
* [[Jungle Cubs]] (1996-1998)
* [[Lilo & Stitch: The Series]] (2003-2006)
* [[Linus the Lionhearted]] (ex-CBS; colour reruns, 1966-1969)
* [[Mickey Mouse Works]] (1998-2001)
* [[Mighty Ducks]] (1996-1997)
* [[My Pet Monster]] (1987-1988; from Canada's [[Global Television Network|Canwest Global]])
* [[One Saturday Morning]] (1997-2002)
* [[Pac-Man]] (1982-1983)
* [[Pound Puppies]] (1986-1987)
* [[Quack Pack]] (1996-1997)
* [[ReBoot]] (1994-1995)
* [[Rocky and Bullwinkle]] (1959-1961; 1964-1973)
* [[Sabrina: The Animated Series]] (1999-2001)
* [[Schoolhouse Rock!]] (1973-1986; 1992-2000)
* [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] (1993-1994; reruns to 1995)
* [[Star Wars: Ewoks]] (1985-1987)
* [[Tales from the Cryptkeeper]] (1993-1994; from Canada's [[YTV]])
* [[The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo]] (1985)
* [[The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show]] (various incarnations, 1962-1968; 1973-1975; 1985-2000)
* [[The Care Bear Family]] (1986-1988; from Canada's [[Global Television Network|Canwest Global]])
* [[The Cattanooga Cats]] (1969-1971)
* [[The Great Grape Ape Show]] (1975-1976)
* [[The King Kong Show]] (1966-1969)
* [[The Littles]] (1983-1986)
* [[The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh]] (1988-2002)
* [[The Puppy's New Adventures]] (1982-1984)
* [[The Wizard of Oz]] (1990)
* [[The Wuzzles]] (1986-1987)
* [[Top Cat]] (1962-1963)
* [[Uncle Croc's Block]] (1975-1976)
* [[What-a-Mess]] (1995-1996)
* [[Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa]] (1992–1994)
* [[Yogi's Gang]] (1973-1975)

The Wonderful World of Disney aired on ABC from 1954, with occasional stints on NBC, CBS, and The Disney Channel, though has aired on ABC since 1997 (and on Disney Junior since 2012).

While not ''directly'' related to [[The Disney Afternoon]], there was some overlap with shows moving between The Disney Afternoon (which was syndicated mostly to independent and occasionally network-affiliated stations), and the ABC network's Saturday morning offerings itself.

== List of television stations owned by ABC ==
In addition to its television network, ABC directly operates eight television stations through its subsidiary, [[wikipedia:ABC Owned Television Stations|ABC Owned Television Stations]]:
* KABC-TV 7 Los Angeles, California
* KFSN-TV 30 Fresno, California
* KGO-TV 7 San Francisco, California
* KTRK-TV 13 Houston, Texas
* WABC-TV 7 New York City, New York
* WLS-TV 7 Chicago, Illinois
* WPVI-TV 6 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
* WTVD 11 Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

The network used to own ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV 7 Detroit, Michigan from its launch in 1948, until 1986, when it had to be sold by Capital Cities (since the network would have owned more stations than was allowed at the time).

== Further reading ==
* [https://www.flayrah.com/5877/after-these-messages%E2%80%A6-well-be-gone-forever Flayrah.com:  After These Messages... We'll Be Gone, Forever]

== External links ==
* [http://www.abc.go.com/ ABC Network Official Website]
* [[wikipedia:American Broadcasting Company|American Broadcasting Company on English Wikipedia]]

[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:Television]]