CBS Corporation was a major American media and communications company from 2005 to 2019. It owned two national broadcast networks in the United States—CBS and CW. The CBS television network is one of the major networks in the United States.
Other holdings of the CBS Corporation included CBS Paramount Television, a TV production company; King World, a large distributor of syndicated programming; Showtime, a cable TV channel; CNET Networks, with a number of websites offering news and technology information; and CBS Radio. The corporation owned the book publisher Simon & Schuster. It also supplied video content to the internet search company Google.
The roots of the CBS Corporation extended back to radio broadcasting. In 1928, the American businessman William S. Paley acquired a network of 16 radio stations and renamed this network the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). The network gained a reputation for its strong programming. Legendary radio performers featured on CBS included George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, and Arthur Godfrey.
In 1931, CBS began broadcasting regularly scheduled television programming in addition to its radio broadcasts. Initially, CBS’s television programming was broadcast only in the New York City area. By 1947, CBS had expanded its network to include other cities on the East Coast. By 1948, CBS had added 30 affiliated stations to the CBS Television Network. And by the early 2000’s, CBS had more than 200 affiliated stations.
In 1995, Westinghouse Electric Corporation acquired CBS. Westinghouse decided to retire the Westinghouse name in 1997, and the company changed its name to CBS Corporation. In 2000, the media company Viacom acquired CBS Corporation. In 2005, Viacom split into two companies—Viacom and CBS Corporation. The two companies merged to form ViacomCBS Inc. in 2019. The CBS Corporation then ceased to exist.
See also Television (The national networks); Viacom Inc.; Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
