Resources

CJR's guide to what the major media companies own.

Select a media company below to begin.

General Electric: www.ge.com

1878: Thomas Edison forms Edison Electric Light Company
1892: Edison General Electric Company merges with Thomson-Houston Electric Company to create General Electric Company
1897: Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company formed by Guglielmo Marconi
1901: Emile Berliner and Eldridge Johnson form the Victor Talking Machine Company
1906: David Sarnoff begins working at American Marconi
1917: U.S. Government begins using GE produced aircraft engines
1919: Radio Corporation of America (RCA) is created. RCA is formed after the U.S. Government gives control of the wireless industry back to the public sector following World War I. RCA gains the assets of American Marconi and becomes the controlling body of the patents belonging to General Electric, Westinghouse, United Fruit and AT&T
1926: National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) formed. Sarnoff sees the potential of a nationwide network of radio stations and gets RCA, GE and Westinghouse to invest in the acquisition of WEAF in New York City and WJZ in Newark; NBC's "Red" and "Blue" networks respectively -as the flagship stations for the new NBC Radio network
1927: NBC Radio broadcasts the Rose Bowl to nationwide audience
1929: RCA purchases Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, NJ for $154 million and begins manufacturing radios and phonographs
1932: Due to concerns of a growing monopoly, GE and Westinghouse sell off stake in RCA
1939: NBC introduces television broadcasting at the World's Fair in New York City
1941: Federal Communications Commission releases its Report on Chain Broadcasting. The report is critical of the growth of broadcast networks and proposes that NBC sell off one of its two networks; NBC Red & NBC Blue
1941: NBC receives first license for a commercial television station
1943: After losing court battles with the FCC over the demand to divest one off its networks, RCA sells of NBC Blue Network to Edward Noble, lifesavers candy creator. Network eventually becomes ABC
1954: NBC has first color telecast of Rose Bowl parade. Very few people actually see the telecast because there are not that many color sets in use
1966: RCA purchases Random House
1973: RCA purchases Ballantine Books; becomes part of Random House
1980: RCA sells of Random House to S. I. Newhouse's Advance Publications
1985: GE acquires NBC as part of a $6.3 billion for RCA
1986: - GE sells RCA's music division to Bertelsmann
1989: CNBC is formed
1996: MSNBC is launched. Cable news network is a joint partnership between GE and Microsoft
1997: CNBC Asia and Europe are formed.
1999: GE gains 32% stake in Paxson Communications and its PAX TV network
2002: Telemundo Communications Group is acquired for $2.7 billion in a deal with an investment group that includes Sony and Liberty Media. In a separate deal, Bravo Network is acquired from a deal with Cablevision and MGM for $1.25 billion
2003: Deal announced between GE and Vivendi Universal to create NBC Universal. In the deal, GE acquires Vivendi Universal's entertainment holdings which include theme parks and Universal Pictures' movie and television studios, and three cable channels (NYT 10/9/03)

Television: NBC Stations:; WNBC; New York; KNBC; Los Angeles; WMAQ; Chicago; WCAU; Philadelphia; KNTV; San Jose/San Francisco; KXAS; Dallas/Fort Worth; WRC; Washington; WTVJ; Miami; KNSD; San Diego; WVIT; Hartford; WNCN; Raleigh; WCMH; Columbus; WVTM; Birmingham; WJAR; Providence; Telemundo Stations:; KVEA/KWHY; Los Angeles; WNJU; New York; WSCV; Miami; KTMD; Houston; WSNS; Chicago; KXTX; Dallas/Fort Worth; KVDA; San Antonio; KSTS; San Jose/San Francisco; KDRX; Phoenix; KNSO; Fresno; KMAS; Denver; WNEU; Boston/Merrimack; KHRR; Tucson; WKAQ; Puerto Rico; NBC Universal Television Studio
NBC Universal Television Distribution; CNBC; MSNBC; Bravo; Mun2TV; Sci-Fi; USA; Sleuth; Oxygen
Film: Universal Pictures
Parks: Universal Parks & Resorts
Other General Electric Businesses: GE Aircraft Engines; GE Commercial Finance; GE Consumer Products; GE Industrial Systems; GE Insurance; GE Medical Systems; GE Plastics; GE Power Systems; GE Specialty Materials; GE Transportation Systems; last updated 08/13/08