CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network that is the flagship property of the CBS Entertainment Group division of Paramount Global. Headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City, it has major production facilities and operations at the CBS Broadcast Center and the headquarters of owner Paramount at One Astor Plaza (both also in that city) and Television City and the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles. The network is part of the "Big Three" television networks. It is also sometimes referred to as the Eye Network in reference to the company's trademark symbol which has been in use since 1951. It has also been called the Tiffany Network which alludes to the perceived high quality of its programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBS's first demonstrations of color television, which were held in the former Tiffany and Company Building in New York City in 1950. History of CBS The network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters, Inc., a radio network founded in Chicago by New York City talent agent Arthur Judson in January 1927. In April of that year, the Columbia Phonograph Company, parent of the Columbia record label, invested in the network, resulting in its rebranding as the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System (CPBS). In early 1928, Judson and Columbia sold the network to Isaac and Leon Levy, two brothers who owned WCAU, the network's Philadelphia affiliate, as well as their partner Jerome Louchheim. They installed William S. Paley, an in-law of the Levys, as president of the network. With the Columbia record label out of ownership, Paley rebranded the network as the Columbia Broadcasting System. By September 1928, Paley became the network's majority owner with 51 percent of the business. Paramount Pictures then acquired the other 49 percent of CBS in 1929, but the Great Depression eventually forced the studio to sell its shares back to the network in 1932.