ABC (United States)

The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American television network owned by The Walt Disney Company through its Walt Disney Television division. The fifth-oldest major broadcasting network in the world and the youngest of the Big Three television networks, ABC is nicknamed The Alphabet Network, as its initialism also represents the first three letters of the English alphabet (A, B, C), in order.

It was founded on January 1, 1927, as a radio service named NBC Blue Network and was spun out from NBC on January 9, 1942. It was subsequently renamed to the current name on June 15, 1945, and launched television service in 1948.

1953–1956


In March 1953, the network introduced a new logo, with the letters "ABC" enclosed in a "federal mirror" surmounted by the bald eagle.

1956–1962


In 1956, just before the television network began its first color broadcasts, the ABC logo consisted of a tiny lowercase "abc" in the center of a large lowercase letter a, a design known as the "ABC Circle A".

1962–2021


In the mid-1960s, graphic designer Paul Rand redesigned the ABC logo into its best-known (and current) form, with the lowercase letters "abc" enclosed in a single black circle. The new logo debuted on-air on October 19, 1962, but however, didn't appear until the spring of 1963. The logo's simplicity made it easier to redesign and duplicate, which conferred a benefit for ABC. A color version of this logo was also developed around 1963, and animated as a brief 10-second intro to be shown before the then-small handful of network programs broadcast in color. The "a" was rendered in red, the "b" in blue, and the "c" in green, with the same single black circle. A variant of this color logo, with the colored letters against a white circle, was also commonly used throughout the 1960s. This logo is currently being used on ABC Localish. In the reality show Holey Moley, this logo was seen on jackets of the hosts.

1988–present


The original Paul Rand logo was slightly modified in 1988. This version of the design was presumably meant to make the logo clearer at smaller sizes (as evidenced by the thinner strokes on the letters and the short ascender on the "b"), but was also frequently used at larger ones. Some ABC affiliates, along with the ABC Family cable channel continue to use the 1962 design in their logos. This logo was still used on the ABC Kids block on ABC until it was replaced with Litton's Weekend Adventure.

2007–2013


In time for the new television season in 2007, ABC rolled out a new identity package with a new tagline and a new interpretation of its logo. The new slogan, "Start here" (used until 2010), was presented at the upfronts in May. The slogan aimed to position ABC as a multi-platform brand, which can be watched on television, as well as on a computer or a mobile device.

In the new graphics package, the ABC logo would always appear in 3D as a shiny black disc, along with a thicker font similar to the 1962 logo. There were also multimedia icons developed were the ABC lettering was replaced symbols for mobile phones, computers, television screens, and portable media players. The new design created by Troika Design Group was used from September 22, 2007, until May 29, 2013. Despite this, it still remains in use by plenty of ABC affiliates' logos.

2018–2021


In 2013, ABC modified its 2007 logo. This logo first appeared on the all access website and in trailers for 2013–14 programs before premiering on May 30.


 * Loyalkaspar

2021–present


This logo was revealed on May 18, 2021 in promos of new series in ABC's fall 2021 lineup. It uses slightly-bold and smaller letters, a lowered ascender on the "b", similar to the 1988 logo, and a smaller gap in the "c", the typeface itself re-modified to be circular as the "c". An outlined version will be used alongside this, primarily as an on-screen bug. This logo was formally implemented on-air and on social media on August 9, 2021, while the previous logo is still used on local programming and on ESPN on ABC broadcasts.