ABC News ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company , a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company . Its flagship program is " World News with Diane Sawyer " ; other programs include morning show " Good Morning America " , " Nightline " , television news magazine shows " Primetime " & " 20 / 20 " , and Sunday morning political affairs program " This Week with George Stephanopoulos " . ABC began news broadcasts early in its independent existence as a radio network after the Federal Communications Commission ordered the former NBC Blue Network to be spun off as an independent company in 1943 . This was done to keep single or a few companies such as NBC and CBS from dominating radio broadcasting in the U . S . , and in particular , from dominating news and political broadcasting and projecting narrow points - of - view . Television broadcasting was suspended however , during World War II . Regular ABC television news broadcasts began soon after ABC started transmitting from its initial New York City television station and production center in late summer 1948 . ABC - TV news broadcasts have continued as the ABC television network spread across the country , a process that took many years , from that beginning in 1948 through today , but they have not always had the same level of success that they enjoy now . Throughout the 1950s , the 1960s , and the early 1970s , ABC News consistently ranked third in viewership behind CBS News and NBC News . Until the 1970s , the ABC - TV network had fewer affiliate stations , and also weaker prime - time programming lineups to support the network ' s news departments than the two larger networks had , each of which had established their radio news operations during the 1930s . Under Roone Arledge . Only after Roone Arledge , the head of ABC Sports at that time , became the president of ABC News in 1977 , at a time when this network ' s prime - time entertainment programs were achieving good ratings and drawing in advertising revenues and profits to the ABC corporation overall , was ABC able to invest the resources to make it a major source of news telecasting . Arledge , known for experimenting with the broadcast " model " , created many of ABC News ' s most popular and enduring programs , including " 20 / 20 " , " ABC World News " , " This Week " , " Nightline " , and " Primetime Live " . ABC News gained respect in the early 1980s by covering the Iran hostage crisis and , later , for covering the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area with live telecasts . The ABC News slogan , " More Americans get their news from ABC News than from any other source " , is a claim that refers to the number of people who watch , listen , and read ABC News programming on television , the radio , and the Internet , and not necessarily to the telecasts alone . Association with ESPN . ESPN , a sports - news organization with several cable and satellite television channels — and also owned by Disney — provides sports bulletins and video for some of ABC News ' s programs , especially the overnight programs . Univision - ABC News Network . Univision Communications and ABC News have agreed on a joint venture to launch a network for English speaking Latinos in 2013 . On February 11 , 2013 , the companies announced the dual network will be called " Fusion " . International broadcasts . ABC News programming is shown daily on the 24 - hour news network Orbit News in Europe and the Middle East . This includes several shows from ABC News . ' Orbit News is network of three 24 - hour satellite and cable channels offering exclusively American news programming from ABC , NBC , PBS , and MSNBC to U . S . expats and other viewers abroad , primarily geared towards an audience in the Arab countries . The network is available on digital satellite and cable in Europe , Middle East and North Africa , however , cable operators in Europe are currently unable to carry the channels due to unsolved rights issues . It is also available online at ABC News Now . In the United Kingdom , " ABC World News " appears regularly at 1 : 30 a . m . local time on the BBC News Channel , which itself may be simulcast on BBC One or BBC Two during the overnight period . No commercials are presented because the BBC ' s services in the U . K . are financed through license fee s . ABC and the BBC also share video segments and reporters as needed in producing their newscasts . In Australia , " ABC World News " is broadcast at 10 : 30 a . m . daily and " Nightline " is telecast at 1 : 30 a . m . daily on Sky News Australia . This can be confusing in Australia , where " ABC News " means the news broadcasts of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Also , " Primetime " is broadcast at 2 : 00 p . m . on Saturdays ( extended edition ) and at 1 : 30 p . m . on Thursdays . " 20 / 20 " is broadcast at 2 : 00 p . m . on Sundays ( extended edition ) and on Wednesdays at 1 : 30 p . m . In New Zealand , " ABC World News " was broadcast daily at 5 : 10 p . m . and at again at 11 : 35 p . m . Just as with the BBC in the U . K . , it was shown commercial - free on Television New Zealand ' s TVNZ 7 channel , until it was shutdown on the 30th of June 2012 . Other forms of broadcasting . ABC News Radio , a service syndicated by Cumulus Media Networks , broadcasts newscasts on the hour , live feeds and specialty news , sports and entertainment programming to approximately 2 , 000 radio affiliates nationwide . As part of Disney ' s sale of the ABC Radio division to Citadel Broadcasting in 2007 , ABC News entered into an exclusive agreement with Citadel to distribute its radio news service on terrestrial stations ( Citadel has since merged with Cumulus Media ) . ABC NewsOne is ABC News ' s affiliate news service . It gathers and feeds regional , national and international news material to ABC affiliates around the country and foreign networks . ABC News Now is the ABC ' s 24 - hour news channel available online and other sources such as mobile phones . A thirty - second " ABC News Brief " is broadcast weekdays at 2 : 58 p . m . ET following " The Revolution " , before the start of " General Hospital " ( though these newsbriefs are not aired on all ABC stations ) . A news brief containing information relevant to college students is shown every hour on mtvU , and ABC News segments are packaged or customized for broadcast over Wal - Mart ' s in - store television network .