• Reuters , Thursday, December 3, 2009 10:54 PM

When General Electric sells its control of NBC Universal to Comcast Corp, it ends a union formed at the dawn of TV. In 1926, NBC was the first big U.S. radio broadcast network. Since then, it proved itself to be a radio and TV pioneer, home to some of the biggest names in news and sports, comedy and drama: Milton Berle, Johnny Carson, Tom Brokaw, Jane Pauley, and Jennifer Aniston.

GE was there at the beginning. It owned 30% of the National Broadcasting Company when the Radio Corporation of America launched the network. GE sold its stake in 1932, and 54 years later bought it back along with RCA. Dominating the airwaves in the 1980s and 1990s with "Cheers," "Friends" and "Frasier," NBC's ratings plummeted in this decade -- and GE came under pressure from shareholders.

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