General Electric Company (GE), AT&T Inc. (T): The First Broadcaster and the Original Computer Bug

NBC and ABC have both found their way to new corporate homes in recent decades. In 1985, both networks were involved in major acquisitions: NBC rejoined General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) when the energy conglomerate acquired RCA, and ABC found itself acquired by a smaller broadcaster called Capital Cities in a leveraged buyout typical of the era. Today, NBC is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA), and ABC is a big part of the The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) entertainment empire. Neither network commands the same audience it once did, but both remain important parts of the American entertainment landscape.

Bugs in the machine
The first example of a computer “bug” was found between the relays of the Harvard Mark II electrical relay calculator on Sept. 9, 1947. It was an actual bug, which operators taped into the day’s log:

Source: U.S. Naval Historical Center, via Wikipedia.

Since this first example of “debugging,” computer hardware and software flaws have become a multibillion-dollar drain on the global economy. A Cambridge University study, released in 2013, found that the cost of fixing software bugs now exceeds $300 billion dollars a year. That’s more than was spent to deal with the costliest “bug” in human history: The cost of making the world’s computers Y2K-compliant was later estimated at roughly $200 billion. That’s a whole lot of bugs to zap.

The article The First Broadcaster and the Original Computer Bug originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Alex Planes.

Fool contributor Alex Planes has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of General Electric Company and Walt Disney.

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