As a result, WEAF began broadcasting entertainment material, drawing amateur talent found among its employees. The idea, however, did not take hold, because people would pay to broadcast messages only if they were sure that someone was listening. The original studio was the size of a telephone booth. AT&T could provide no programming, but anyone who wished to broadcast a message could pay a "toll" to AT&T and then air the message publicly. It established station WEAF in New York as what was termed a toll station. ĪT&T was involved mainly in the telephone business and, although it was a partner with RCA, was reluctant to see radio grow because such growth might diminish the demand for wired services. With this assets transfer at the very end of the 19th century, AT&T became the parent of both American Bell and the Bell System. On December 30, 1899, the assets of American Bell were transferred into its subsidiary American Telephone and Telegraph Company (formerly AT&T Long Lines) this was because Massachusetts corporate laws were very restrictive, and limited capitalization to ten million dollars, forestalling American Bell's further growth. Originating in New York City, its long-distance telephone network reached Chicago, Illinois, in 1892, with its multitudes of local exchanges continuing to stretch further and further yearly, eventually creating a continent-wide telephone system. The project was formally incorporated in New York as a separate company named American Telephone and Telegraph Company on March 3, 1885. The project was the first of its kind to create a nationwide long-distance network with a commercially viable cost-structure. In 1880 the management of American Bell had created what would become AT&T Long Lines. Originally a verbal agreement, it was formalized in writing in 1875 as Bell Telephone Company. December 1921ĪT&T started with Bell Patent Association, a legal entity established in 1874 to protect the patent rights of Alexander Graham Bell after he invented the telephone system. Share of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, issued 20. Today, AT&T Corporation continues to exist as the long distance subsidiary of AT&T Inc., and its name occasionally shows up in AT&T press releases. In 2005, AT&T was purchased by Baby Bell and former subsidiary SBC Communications for more than $16 billion ($21.2 billion in present-day terms ). At its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, it employed one million people and its revenue ranged between US$3 billion in 1950 ($35.1 billion in present-day terms ) and $12 billion in 1966 ($99.1 billion in present-day terms ).
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that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies.ĭuring the Bell System's long history, AT&T was at times the world's largest telephone company, the world's largest cable television operator, and a regulated monopoly. AT&T Corporation, originally the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc.