NBC Sunday Night Football

Early NBC television logos (pre-1954)
In 1943-1953, four years after inaugurating television service, NBC television got its first official logo, a microphone surrounded by lightning bolts, a modification of an existing logo used by the NBC radio network. Lightning bolts were also part of corporate parent RCA's logo, as well as that of one-time sister company RKO Pictures. No video copy of this logo is currently known to exist. Also, at the beginning of telecasts, another card was used, depicting an NBC cameraman with his camera.

Early NBC television logos (1954–1956)
On January 1 1954, to coincide with the start of broadcasting in color, a stylized xylophone and mallet was introduced, accompanied by the three-tone NBC chimes, first heard on NBC radio in 1927. The tones are the notes G, E and C. There is some indication that the xylophone logo was used at 5:32 PM on December 17, 1953 to announce the FCC's approval of the new color standard, which would go into effect 30 days later. Special permission was apparently used on New Year's Day when the Tournament of Roses Parade was aired.

Original peacock logo (1956–1961)
1956-1961 In 1956, John J. Graham created an abstraction of an eleven-feathered peacock to indicate richness in color. This brightly hued peacock was adopted due to the increase in color programming. NBC's first color broadcasts showed only a still frame of the colorful peacock.

On September 7, 1957 on Your Hit Parade the peacock was animated and thereafter appeared at the beginning of every NBC color broadcast until a revamped animation appeared in 1961. Its musical backing was a gong while the peacock began its formup, then an announcer, MacDonald Carey saying "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC" while the music crescendoed and after that a bombastic nine-note flourish while the peacock's feathers changed color and finally "filled out". According to Game Show Network executive David Schwartz, the first announcer who spoke those famous words behind the Peacock graphic logo was Ben Grauer, a familiar voice on NBC since 1930.

NBC snake logo (1961–1976)
Beginning in 1961, an animated logo joined the Peacock, appearing at the end of broadcasts. Beginning with N, each letter would grow from the other, forming a stacked typographic logo ending with C, forming the base. This would be known as the "NBC snake". Several editions of this exist, the earliest being the snake formup in front of a multicolored background while a camera passed by to an orchestral version of the NBC chimes and the second consisting of the snake forming on top of a color-changing background, going from blue to green to red, on each note of the regular, automated NBC chimes.

Second peacock logo ("Laramie Peacock") (1962–1976)
On January 1, 1962, on the Laramie series, a second version of the Peacock opening was introduced in which the bird fanned its bright plumage against a kaleidoscopic color background. Like the 1956 Peacock, this logo only appeared at the start of NBC color broadcasts; as all NBC broadcasts eventually became color, it was generally used only to open those shows that had traditionally opened with the Peacock such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The "Laramie Peacock", named for the series which introduced it, used the same "living color" spiel as did the first peacock but its music piece was a soft, woodwind-based number and the announcer was Mel Brandt. It was revised further in November 1968; the music was slightly rearranged and the animation was shortened by a few seconds, and a second version, with Jerry Damon announcing, "Now, a special program in living color on NBC," was unveiled for airing on television specials during this same period. It was then dropped by the beginning of 1975. This peacock was retired on June 30, 1976.

Stylized "N" logo (1976–1979)
By 1975, NBC's visual trademark was updated as a stylized N was introduced, consisting of two trapezoids. The design was bold, bright and contemporary. One of the technological innovations of this logo was the first electronically animated ident for an American television network and being shown on-air for the 1st time on January 1, 1976 to celebrate the 35th Birthday of NBC Television for NBC: The Network of the United States of America. In February 1976, NBC was sued by the Nebraska ETV Network, Nebraska's chain of PBS affiliates, for trademark infringement, since the new NBC logo was virtually identical to the Nebraska ETV Network logo, except in the coloring. An out-of-court settlement was reached in which NBC gave Nebraska ETV Network new equipment and a mobile color unit, valued at over $800,000, in exchange for allowing NBC to retain their logo. In addition, NBC paid $55,000 to Nebraska ETV Network to cover the cost of designing and implementing a new logo.

Proud "N" logo (1979–1986)
The Peacock, still with eleven feathers, returned in the fall of 1979. It was married with the N to create a design called "the Proud N". This was the first time the Peacock was actually part of NBC's own logo. It was simplified in keeping with the letter's pared-down design. Although all eleven feathers were intact, the teardrop tips were gone, the feet were gone and the Peacock's body became a simple triangular shape. On several occasions, the new Peacock was used independently of the N, starting with the 1979 Proud as a Peacock advertising campaign that reintroduced the Peacock but the N and the Peacock were usually used together between 1979 and 1986.

Contrary to popular belief, the Peacock was not originally used as NBC's official primary logo; the 1956 and 1962 versions were used solely to identify the network's color broadcasts, while other logos, initially the xylophone logo but most commonly the NBC snake logo, identified NBC itself. Nonetheless, the Peacock became so identified with NBC that it was incorporated into the network logo in 1979 by Fred Silverman, then President of NBC, due to prior research from 1977 in NBC's corporate planning department by Peter H. Kliegman who recommended the station identification value of the Peacock and suggested the Peacock be utilized as a logo. The Peacock became the sole logo in 1986.