Leonard Goldenson
Goldenson orchestrated the merger of United Paramount Theatres with ABC in 1953 (after Paramount was ordered to spin it off in the wake of "United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.", a 1948 decree of the U.S. Supreme Court). ABC was originally formed in 1943 in the wake of an earlier Supreme Court decree effectively ordering the spinoff of the largely secondary-status "Blue Network" from its then-parent, NBC; its buyer, industrialist Edward J. Noble, tried to build ABC into a competitive Broadcasting company, but by 1951 was rumored to be on the verge of selling the nearly bankrupt operation to CBS, whose management apparently wanted ABC's critically important owned-and-operated television stations.
American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres
On December 7, 1965, Goldenson announced a merger proposal with IT&T to ABCs board. The two companies agreed to the deal on . The FCC approved the merger on ; however the previous day (December 20), Donald F. Turner, head antitrust regulator for the United States Department of Justice, expressed doubts related to such issues as the emerging cable television market, and concerns over the journalistic integrity of ABC and how it could be influenced by the overseas ownership of ITT. ITT management promised that the company would allow ABC to retain autonomy in the publishing business. The merger was suspended, and a complaint was filed by the Department of Justice in , with ITT going to trial in ; the merger was officially canceled after the trial's conclusion on .
By , ABCs formed the ABC Leisure Group consisting of its theaters, farm publishing operations (ABC Farm Publications) and music (ABC Records), Anchor Records and ABC Records and Tape Sales plus a new retail record store division. In , ABC Leisure Group started ABC Retail Records Division was started head by president Al Franklin. Three Wide World of Music locations in Seattle and Providence were opened by , when they announced expansion to add 4 more locations. In 1974 by August, ABC Records had acquired two additional record companies. Leisure Group I added ABC Leisure Magazines and ABC Entertainment Center, Center City by October 1974.