 | |
| 1886 | Westinghouse Electric Corporation is founded as Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company |
|---|---|
| 1912 | Famous Players Film Company is founded |
| 1913 | Lasky Feature Play Company is founded |
| 1914 | Paramount Pictures is founded |
| 1916 | Famous Players and Lasky merge as Famous Players–Lasky and acquire Paramount |
| 1927 | Famous Players–Lasky renamed to Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation; CBS is founded with investment from Columbia Records |
| 1929 | Paramount acquires 49% of CBS |
| 1930 | Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation renamed to Paramount Publix Corporation |
| 1932 | Paramount sells back its shares of CBS |
| 1934 | Gulf+Western is founded as the Michigan Bumper Corporation |
| 1935 | Paramount Publix Corporation renamed to Paramount Pictures |
| 1936 | National Amusements is founded as Northeast Theater Corporation |
| 1938 | CBS acquires Columbia Records |
| 1950 | Desilu is founded and CBS distributes its television programs |
| 1952 | CBS creates the CBS Television Film Sales division |
| 1958 | CBS Television Film Sales renamed to CBS Films |
| 1966 | Gulf+Western acquires Paramount |
| 1967 | Gulf+Western acquires Desilu and renames it Paramount Television (now CBS Studios) |
| 1968 | CBS Films renamed to CBS Enterprises |
| 1970 | CBS Enterprises renamed to Viacom |
| 1971 | Viacom is spun off from CBS |
| 1987 | National Amusements acquires Viacom |
| 1988 | CBS sells Columbia Records to Sony |
| 1989 | Gulf+Western renamed to Paramount Communications |
| 1994 | Viacom acquires Paramount Communications |
| 1995 | Westinghouse acquires CBS |
| 1997 | Westinghouse renamed to CBS Corporation |
| 2000 | Viacom acquires UPN and CBS Corporation |
| 2005 | Viacom splits into second CBS Corporation and Viacom |
| 2006 | CBS Corporation shuts down UPN and replaces it with The CW |
| 2017 | CBS Corporation sells CBS Radio to Entercom (now Audacy) |
| 2019 | CBS Corporation and Viacom re-merge as ViacomCBS |
| 2022 | ViacomCBS renamed to Paramount Global |
| 2024 | Skydance Media and Paramount Global agree to merge |
CBS Broadcasting, Inc. (CBS; originally the Columbia Broadcasting System) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network owned by Paramount Global through the CBS Entertainment Group. Along with ABC and NBC, CBS is one of the traditional "Big Three" American television networks.
CBS was founded as a radio network in 1927 and then expanded to television in the 1940s. Although it primarily remained an independent company throughout most of the 20th century, Paramount Pictures temporarily held a 49 percent ownership stake from 1929 to 1932. However, in 1995 the Westinghouse Electric Corporation acquired the company, becoming CBS Corporation (after selling certain assets). In 2000, CBS sold again to the original incarnation of Viacom (formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, which acquired Paramount Pictures in 1994). In 2005, Viacom split itself into two separate companies and re-established CBS Corporation. However, National Amusements controlled both CBS and the second incarnation of Viacom until 2019, when both companies agreed to re-merge to become ViacomCBS. In 2022, ViacomCBS changed its name to Paramount Global after Paramount Pictures.