NBCUniversal is marking the 100th anniversary of the NBC Network with a yearlong “NBC100: A Century Together” campaign that culminates in a live three-hour primetime special on Dec. 10 from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
The special, scheduled for 8–11 p.m. ET, is designed as a star-studded variety show honoring a century of radio, television, news, sports, and entertainment. Advertisers including Allstate, Capital One, Purina Dog Chow, Smucker’s, Volkswagen, and Xfinity have signed on as sponsors, part of a strategy NBCUniversal used after the Saturday Night Live 50th-anniversary special.
The network traces its founding to Nov. 15, 1926, when RCA launched NBC as the first major U.S. radio network with a four-hour broadcast from New York. Television followed in the late 1930s and 1940s. The centennial branding, unveiled during the 2026 Winter Olympics and Super Bowl, uses a special NBC100 logo and spots that begin with radio waves before moving through famous lines and scenes from later NBC hits.
In New York, the Paley Museum opened NBC100: A Century Together on Sept. 18. The three-floor exhibit features more than 75 costumes and artifacts from Friends, Seinfeld, The Office, Saturday Night Live, Law & Order, The Tonight Show, TODAY, NBC News, and NBC Sports, plus photo moments at replica sets. It is scheduled to run through Nov. 20, around the anniversary of the first broadcast.
NBCUniversal has framed 2026 as both a look back and a showcase of live events, saying it is carrying about 40 percent of the industry’s major tentpoles this year, including Super Bowl LX, the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, the FIFA World Cup on Telemundo, Sunday Night Football, the 100th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the Emmy Awards. TODAY and other NBC programs have been running archival segments and a countdown clock to the December special.Nbcuniversal
Company executives describe the anniversary as a chance to sell advertisers “bespoke” moments across sports and entertainment while reminding viewers that NBC helped invent national broadcasting—from early radio networks and the first televised World Series to Meet the Press, TODAY, The Tonight Show, and later hits that defined sitcoms, late night, and must-see TV. The official line of the campaign is that the next century starts now.