 Although NBC in New York was known to have station @-@ to @-@ station television links as early as 1940 with <unk> ( now <unk> ) in Philadelphia and <unk> <unk> , NY , DuMont received its station licenses before NBC resumed its previously sporadic network broadcasts after the war . ABC had just come into existence as a radio network in 1943 and did not enter network television until 1948 , when it signed on a flagship station in New York City , <unk> @-@ TV ( now <unk> @-@ TV ) . CBS also waited until 1948 to begin network operations because it was waiting for the Federal Communications Commission to approve its color television system ( which it eventually did not ) . Other companies – including <unk> , the Yankee Network , and Paramount itself – were interested in starting television networks , but were prevented from successfully doing so by restrictive FCC regulations ; however , at least the Paramount Television Network actually did have some limited success in network operations in the late 1940s and early 1950s . 
