Network era

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History of television in the United States
Eras
Prewar and wartime broadcasting (1928–1947) First Golden Age (1947–1960) Network era (1950s–1980s) Multi-channel transition (1980s–1990s) Peak TV and the post-network era (1999–c. 2023) Streaming wars (2019–2022)
Histories
Sports broadcasting Public broadcasting Children's television TV animation (Network era · Modern era) History by decade

In television broadcasting, the network era, also known as the Silver Age of television,^[1] refers to the period in American television history from the end of the first Golden Age of Television in the late 1950s to the beginning of the multi-channel transition in the mid-1980s. During this era, the Big Three television networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—dominated American television. This determination is established by institutional aspects that regularized television for the majority of the country, including color television, made standard by the late 1960s. As the arrival of new technologies emerged, it offered television viewers more choice and control. This eventually ended the network era and forced viewers to move into the multi-channel transition, leading to the post-network era and second Golden Age of Television.