National Educational Television (NET) was the predecessor network to PBS, launching on May 16, 1954 and ceasing operations on October 4, 1970. Despite its closure, NET's production units carried the name over to shows they produced for PBS until 1972.
1954–1955[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Custom (NET) Franklin Gothic
Launched:
May 16, 1954
1955–1957[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Custom (initials) Futura
Launched:
1955
1957–1959[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Futura Bold
Launched:
October 24, 1957
1959–1960[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Unknown
Launched:
October 1959
In October 1959, the first iteration of the "NET House" logo was introduced, featuring a house with a new NET wordmark situated inside it, along with an antenna placed on the left of the roof. This was used in tandem with the next one until November 20, 1960.
1960–1970[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Venus Bold Extended (modified)
Launched:
April 17, 1960 June 1967 (relaunch)
On April 17, 1960, the "NET House" was updated into its since-familiar iteration, slightly updating the wordmark, spacing it out from the previous logo and releasing it from the bottom portion of the house. Additionally, the roof is now thicker, and now connects to the end of the "T".
Although replaced on-screen in 1964, this logo would be use in print ads throughout 1964–1967. in June 1967, the logo returned on-screen with a new, colorized variant (see below), running until its eventual replacement by PBS in late 1970.
1964–1967[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Unknown
Launched:
November 1964
In November 1964, the "NET House" was replaced on-screen by a globe with a flame inside it, with the wordmark now being rendered in a futuristic-looking wordmark, slightly resembling the 1959 one.
1967–1970[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Venus Bold Extended (modified)
Launched:
June 1967
The 1960 logo returned on-screen in June 1967, with the roof now appearing in blue, as well as the wordmark now being rendered in 3 colors: red for "N", yellow for "E", and blue for "T". This move was made as the network had at the time, just started broadcasting in color. On-screen, white "shadows" would appear behind the logo, making the logo appear "3D".
NET was deactivated as a public television network on October 4, 1970, and was replaced by PBS the following day.
1970–1972[]
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Burko
Launched:
October 5, 1970
Following NET's final day as a public television network, a new, separate identity for NET was introduced for the station's then-active shows produced in-house (including NET Journal and NET Playhouse). During that time, member station WNET (which had previously been known as WNDT before then) took over control of its programs.
The NET name was fully retired in March 1972, when NET was fully merged into PBS.
