, NBC provides 87 hours of regularly scheduled network programming each week. The network provides 22 hours of prime-time programming to affiliated stations Monday through Saturdays from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time (7:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m. in all other U.S. time zones) and Sundays from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time (6:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m. in all other time zones). Daytime
NBC News programming includes the morning news/interview program
Today from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. weekdays, 7:00 a.m.–8:30 a.m. / 8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. on Saturdays and 7:00 a.m.–8:00 a.m. / 8:00 a.m. -9:00 a.m. on Sundays, it also airs
NBC News Daily at 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m. on weekdays, it includes nightly editions of
NBC Nightly News, the
Sunday political talk show Meet the Press, weekday early-morning news program
Early Today and primetime newsmagazine
Dateline NBC on Friday nights. Late nights feature the weeknight talk shows
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,
Late Night with Seth Meyers, and
overnight replays of
Nightly News and NBC News Now's primetime newscast
Top Story with Tom Llamas. NBC affiliates carrying it in syndication also have the option to substitute a same-day encore of
The Kelly Clarkson Show on weekdays. On Saturdays, the
LXTV-produced
1st Look and
Open House NYC air after
Saturday Night Live (replays of the previous week's
1st Look also air on Friday late nights on most stations), with a
Meet the Press encore a part of its Sunday overnight schedule. The network's weekend morning children's programming time slot is programmed by
Litton Entertainment under a time-lease agreement. The three-hour block of programming designed mainly for 14-16-year-old teenage viewers is under the umbrella branding of
The More You Know, based on the network's long-time strand of internally-produced
public service announcements of
the same name. It premiered on October 8, 2016, giving Litton control of all but Fox's Weekend morning
E/I programming among the five major broadcast networks. Live sports programming is also provided on weekends at any time between 7:00 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time, but most commonly between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern (and from 7 and 11 p.m. on some Saturdays and all Sundays since Fall 2025 as part of its Sunday Year round sports programming block). Due to the unpredictable length of sporting events, NBC will occasionally pre-empt scheduled programs (more common with the weekend editions of
NBC Nightly News, and local and syndicated programs carried by its owned-and-operated stations and affiliates). NBC has also held the American broadcasting rights to the
Summer Olympic Games since the 1988 games and the rights to the
Winter Olympic Games since the 2002 games. Coverage of the
Olympics on NBC has included pre-empting regularly scheduled programs during daytime, prime time, and late night. In July 2022, NBC announced that the Olympic Channel will be shut down on September 30. NBC stated they will be announcing the plans for Olympic content in the fall of 2022.
NBC News News coverage has long been an important part of NBC's operations and public image, dating to the network's radio days. Notable NBC News productions past and present include
Today,
NBC Nightly News (and its immediate predecessor,
The Huntley–Brinkley Report),
Meet the Press (which has the distinction of the longest continuously running program in the history of American television),
Dateline NBC,
Early Today,
NBC News at Sunrise,
NBC Nightside and
Rock Center with Brian Williams. In 1989, the news division began its expansion to cable with the launch of the business news channel
CNBC. The company eventually formed other
cable news services including
MSNBC (created in 1996 originally as a joint venture with
Microsoft, which now features a mix of general news and political discussion programs with a liberal stance), and the 2008 acquisition of
The Weather Channel in conjunction with
Blackstone Group and
Bain Capital. In addition,
NBCSN (operated as part of the NBC Sports Group, which became an NBC property through Comcast's acquisition of
NBCUniversal) carries sports news content alongside sports event telecasts. Key anchors from NBC News are also used during NBC Sports coverage of the
Olympic Games.
Former Daytime programming block While NBC has aired a variety of soap operas on its daytime schedule over its history,
Days of Our Lives (1965–2022) was the last soap opera on the network when it was taken off the air in 2022 (and moved to the
Peacock streaming service). Currently the network only offers
NBC News Daily on its afternoon schedule, with affiliates using the rest of the afternoon for syndicated or local programming. Long-running daytime dramas seen on NBC in the past include
The Doctors (1963–1982),
Another World (1964–1999),
Santa Barbara (1984–1993), and
Passions (1999–2007). NBC also aired the final 4 years of
Search for Tomorrow (1982–1986) after that series was initially cancelled by CBS, although many NBC affiliates did not clear the show during its tenure on the network. NBC has also aired numerous short-lived soap operas, including
Generations (1989–1991),
Sunset Beach (1997–1999), and the two
Another World spin-offs,
Somerset (1970–1976) and
Texas (1980–1982). Notable daytime game shows that once aired on NBC include
The Price Is Right (1956–1963),
Concentration (1958–1973; and 1987–1991 as
Classic Concentration),
The Match Game (1962–1969), ''
Let's Make a Deal (1963–1968 and 1990–1991, as well as a short-lived prime-time revival in 2003), Jeopardy! (1964–1975 and 1978–1979), The Hollywood Squares (1966–1980), Wheel of Fortune (1975–1989 and 1991), Password Plus/Super Password (1979–1982 and 1984–1989), Sale of the Century (1969–1973 and 1983–1989) and Scrabble'' (1984–1990 and 1993). The last game show ever to air as part of NBC's daytime schedule was the short-lived
Caesars Challenge, which ended in January 1994. Notable past daytime talk shows that have aired on NBC have included
Home (1954–1957),
The Ernie Kovacs Show (1955–1956),
The Merv Griffin Show (1962–1963),
Leeza (1994–1999) and
Later Today (1999–2000).
Children's programming Children's programming has played a part in NBC's programming since its initial roots in television. NBC's first major children's series,
Howdy Doody, debuted in 1947 and was one of the era's first breakthrough television shows. From the mid-1960s until 1992, the bulk of NBC's children's programming was composed of mainly animated programming including classic
Looney Tunes and
Woody Woodpecker shorts; reruns of prime time animated sitcoms such as
The Flintstones and
The Jetsons; foreign acquisitions like
Astro Boy and
Kimba the White Lion; animated adaptions of
Punky Brewster,
ALF and
Star Trek as well as animated vehicles for
Gary Coleman and
Mr. T; live-action programs like
The Banana Splits,
The Bugaloos and
H.R. Pufnstuf; and the original broadcasts of
Gumby,
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show,
Underdog,
The Smurfs,
Alvin and the Chipmunks and ''
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears. From 1984 to 1989, the network aired a series of public service announcements called One to Grow On'', which aired after the end credits of every program or every other children's program. In 1989, NBC premiered
Saved by the Bell, a live-action
teen sitcom which originated on
The Disney Channel the previous year as
Good Morning, Miss Bliss (which served as a starring vehicle for
Hayley Mills;
four cast members from that show were cast in the NBC series as the characters they originally played on
Miss Bliss).
Saved by the Bell, despite being given bad reviews from television critics, would become one of the most popular teen series in television history as well as the top-rated series on Saturday mornings, dethroning ABC's
The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show in its first season. The success of
Saved by the Bell led NBC to remove animated series from its Saturday morning lineup in August 1992 in favor of additional live-action series as part of a new block called
TNBC, along with the debut of a Saturday edition of
Today. Most of the series featured on the TNBC lineup were executive produced by
Peter Engel (such as
City Guys,
Hang Time,
California Dreams,
One World and the
Saved by the Bell sequel,
Saved by the Bell: The New Class), with the lineup being designed from the start to meet the earliest form of the FCC's
educational programming guidelines under the
Children's Television Act.
NBA Inside Stuff, an analysis and interview program aimed at teens that was hosted for most of its run by
Ahmad Rashad, was also a part of the TNBC lineup during the NBA season until 2002 (when the program moved to ABC as a result of that network taking the NBA rights from NBC). In 2002, NBC entered into an agreement with
Discovery Communications to carry educational children's programs from the
Discovery Kids cable channel. An endeavor originally operated as a joint venture between
NBCUniversal,
Ion Media Networks,
Scholastic Press,
Classic Media and
Corus Entertainment's
Nelvana unit (Ion acquired the other partners' shares in 2013), the Qubo venture also encompassed weekly blocks on Telemundo and
Ion Television, a 24-hour digital multicast network on Ion's owned-and-operated and affiliated stations, as well as
video on demand services and a branded website. Qubo launched on NBC on September 9, 2006, with six programs (
VeggieTales,
Dragon,
VeggieTales Presents: 3-2-1 Penguins!,
Babar,
Jane and the Dragon and
Jacob Two-Two). On March 28, 2012, it was announced that NBC would launch a new Saturday morning preschool block programmed by Sprout (originally jointly owned by NBCUniversal,
PBS,
Sesame Workshop and
Apax Partners, with the former acquiring the other's interests later that year). The block,
NBC Kids, premiered on July 7, 2012, replacing the "Qubo on NBC" block. On February 24, 2016, it was announced that NBC would launch a new Saturday morning block programmed by
Litton Entertainment under the Children's Television Act. It's called
The More You Know, inspired by the name of
brand extension of
The More You Know—a series of
public service campaigns first launched by NBC in 1989. The block premiered on October 8, 2016, replacing NBC Kids block (originally October 1, 2016, but postponed due to the
NBC network coverage of the
2016 Ryder Cup).
Specials NBC holds the broadcast rights to several annual specials and award show telecasts, including the
Golden Globe Awards and the
Primetime Emmy Awards (which are rotated across all four major networks each year). Since 1953, NBC has served as the official American broadcaster of the
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. CBS also carries unauthorized coverage of the Macy's parade as part of
The Thanksgiving Day Parade on CBS; however, as NBC holds rights to the parade, it has exclusivity over the broadcast of Broadway and music performances appearing in the parade (CBS airs live performances separate from those seen in the parade as a result), and Macy's chose to reroute the parade in 2012 out of the view of CBS' cameras, although it continues to cover the parade. NBC began airing a same-day rebroadcast of the parade telecast in 2009 (replacing its annual Thanksgiving afternoon airing of
Miracle on 34th Street). In 2007, NBC acquired the rights to the
National Dog Show, which airs following the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade each year. The network also broadcasts several live-action and animated specials during the
Christmas holiday season, including the 2014 debuts
How Murray Saved Christmas (an animated musical adaptation of the children's book of the same name) and ''
Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas (a stop-motion animated special based on the 2003 live-action film Elf''). Since 2013, the network has aired live musical adaptations with major stars in lead roles. Originally dismissed as a gimmick, they have proven to be rating successes, as well as a nostalgic tribute to the early days of television. Past adaptations include: •
The Sound of Music in 2013 (starring
Carrie Underwood as Maria Von Trapp) •
Peter Pan in 2014 (starring
Allison Williams in the titular role and
Christopher Walken as Captain Hook) •
The Wiz in 2015 (starring
Queen Latifah as the Wiz,
Mary J. Blige as the Wicked Witch and
Uzo Aduba as the Good Witch) •
Hairspray in 2016 (starring
Ariana Grande as Penny Pingleton,
Jennifer Hudson as Motormouth Maybelle,
Kristin Chenoweth as Velma von Tussle and
Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad, reprising his role in
the original Broadway production) •
Jesus Christ Superstar in 2018 (starring
John Legend as Jesus Christ,
Sara Bareilles as Mary Magdalene and
Alice Cooper as King Herod) •
Annie Live! in 2021 (starring
Taraji P. Henson as Miss Hannigan,
Harry Connick Jr. as Daddy Warbucks,
Nicole Scherzinger as Grace Farrell and
Tituss Burgess as Rooster Hannigan) From 2003 to 2014, NBC also held rights to two of the three pageants organized by the
Miss Universe Organization: the
Miss Universe and
Miss USA pageants (NBC also held rights to the
Miss Teen USA pageant from 2003, when NBC also assumed rights to the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants as part of a deal brokered by Miss Universe Organization owner
Donald Trump that gave the network half-ownership of the pageants, until 2007, when NBC declined to renew its contract to carry Miss Teen USA, effectively discontinuing televised broadcasts of that event until 2023). NBCUniversal relinquished the rights to Miss Universe and Miss USA on June 29, 2015, as part of its decision to cut business ties with Donald Trump and the Miss Universe Organization (which was half-owned by corporate parent NBCUniversal) in response to controversial remarks about Mexican immigrants made by Trump during the launch of his
2016 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
Programming library Through the years, NBC has produced many in-house programs, in addition to airing content from other producers such as
Revue Studios and its successor
Universal Television, as well as
Amazon's
MGM Television which previously held the international distribution rights of 1973-2004 NBC's in-house programming library, along with
CBS Studios and
Paramount Television Studios, both unit of
Paramount Skydance which currently owns the rights to the pre-1973 NBC's in-house programming library. Notable in-house productions by NBC have included
Bonanza,
Destination X,
Little House on the Prairie,
The Voice,
Dateline,
Yes, Chef! Las Vegas,
Crossing Jordan,
Transplant, the
Law & Order franchise (begun independently by Universal Television, and became in-house programming after the NBCUniversal deal),
The Office,
Deal or No Deal Island and the
Chicago franchise. ==Stations==