Claim: The American Broadcasting Company is just beneath the Big Three television networks.

The American Broadcasting Company -LRB- ABC -RRB- is an American English language commercial broadcast television network that is owned by the Disney -- ABC Television Group , a subsidiary of the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company . The network is headquartered on Columbus Avenue and West 66th Street in Manhattan , New York City . There are additional major offices and production facilities elsewhere in New York City , as well as in Los Angeles and Burbank , California .   Since 2007 , when ABC Radio -LRB- also known as Cumulus Media Networks -RRB- was sold to Citadel Broadcasting , ABC has reduced its broadcasting operations almost exclusively to television . The fifth-oldest major broadcasting network in the world and the youngest of the Big Three television networks , ABC is often nicknamed as `` The Alphabet Network '' , as its initialism also represents the first three letters of the English alphabet , in order .   ABC originally launched on October 12 , 1943 , as a radio network , separated from and serving as the successor to the NBC Blue Network , which had been purchased by Edward J. Noble . It extended its operations to television in 1948 , following in the footsteps of established broadcast networks CBS and NBC . In the mid-1950s , ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres , a chain of movie theaters that formerly operated as a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures . Leonard Goldenson , who had been the head of UPT , made the new television network profitable by helping develop and greenlight many successful series . In the 1980s , after purchasing an 80 % interest in cable sports channel ESPN , the network 's corporate parent , American Broadcasting Companies , Inc. , merged with Capital Cities Communications , owner of several print publications , and television and radio stations . In 1996 , most of Capital Cities/ABC 's assets were purchased by The Walt Disney Company .   The television network has eight owned-and-operated and over 232 affiliated television stations throughout the United States and its territories . Most Canadians have access to at least one U.S.-based ABC affiliate , either over-the-air -LRB- in areas located within proximity to the Canada -- United States border -RRB- or through a cable , satellite or IPTV provider , although most ABC programs are subject to simultaneous substitution regulations imposed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that allow pay television providers to replace an American station 's signal with the feed of a Canadian broadcaster to protect domestic programming rights and advertising revenue . ABC News provides news and features content for select radio stations owned by Citadel Broadcasting , which purchased the ABC Radio properties in 2007 .