Early history Turner Broadcasting System traces its roots to a billboard company in
Savannah, Georgia, purchased by Robert Edward Turner II in the late 1940s. Turner grew the business, which later became known as Turner Advertising Company.
1970s In 1970, Ted Turner purchased WJRJ-Atlanta, Channel 17, a small,
Ultra High Frequency (UHF) station, and renamed it WTCG, for parent company Turner Communications Group. During December 1976,
WTCG originated the
superstation concept, transmitting via
satellite to cable systems. Turner's innovation signaled the start of the basic cable revolution. On December 17, 1976, at 1:00 pm, WTCG Channel 17's signal was beamed via
satellite to its four cable systems in
Grand Island, Nebraska;
Newport News, Virginia;
Troy, Alabama; and
Newton, Kansas. All four cable systems started receiving the 1948 Dana Andrews – Cesar Romero film
Deep Waters already in progress. The movie had started 30 minutes earlier. WTCG went from being a little television station to a major
TV network that every one of the 24,000 households outside of the 675,000 in Atlanta was receiving coast-to-coast. WTCG became what Turner labeled a
superstation, the forerunner of today's basic
cable television.
1980s On June 1, 1980,
Cable News Network (CNN) was launched at 5:00 p.m.
EDT becoming the first 24-hour
news cable channel. The husband and wife team of
Dave Walker and
Lois Hart news anchored the first newscast.
Burt Reinhardt, then executive
vice president of CNN, hired most of the channel's first 200 employees and 25-member staff including
Bernard Shaw, the network's first
news anchor. In 1981, Turner Broadcasting System acquired
Brut Productions from
Faberge Inc. Also in 1981, WTBS began its usage of "Turner Time" in June 1981, in which programming began at five minutes after the top and bottom of each hour, instead of the broadcasting norm of beginning at the top and bottom of the hour. In 1984, Turner initiated
Cable Music Channel, his competition for
WASEC's
MTV. The channel was short-lived, but helped influence the original format of
VH1. In 1986, after a failed attempt to acquire
CBS, Turner purchased the film studio
MGM/
UA Entertainment Co. from
Kirk Kerkorian for $1.5 billion. Following the acquisition, Turner had an enormous debt and sold parts of the acquisition. MGM/UA Entertainment was sold back to Kirk Kerkorian. The
MGM/UA Studio lot in
Culver City was sold to
Lorimar-Telepictures. Turner kept MGM's pre-May 1986 film and television library as well as the
Associated Artists Productions library (the pre-1950
Warner Bros. film library and the
Fleischer Studios/
Famous Studios Popeye cartoons originally released by
Paramount Pictures), and the U.S./Canadian distribution rights to the
RKO Pictures library.
Turner Entertainment Co. was founded on August 4, 1986 to hold the copyrights of and overseeing the acquired library for worldwide distribution. Turner Program Services ("TPS"), a subsidiary under the Turner umbrella, began domestic syndication of all of the properties acquired under the final disposition of the MGM deal with Kerkorian. TPS inherited over 5,000 program orders (executed, letters of intent) to have domestic syndication agreements prepared and sent in order to "formally" contractually license films for airing on domestic, free-over-the-air television stations throughout the United States. The contractual "back-log" was caught up by the end of 1989, while still administering to all of a domestic television station's syndication needs. In 1987,
NBC considered bidding for a piece of the company in an effort to enter the cable business, but the deal was never materialized. In 1989, TBS Management Company, under the leadership of Charles Shultz, advanced the focus on the two music performing rights subsidiaries: one with Broadcast Music, Inc ("BMI") and ASCAP. In the space of 1989 to 1994, Turner went from two subsidiary music publishing companies to more than sixteen. On October 3, 1988, the company launched
Turner Network Television (TNT).
1990s Turner Broadcasting System expanded its presence in movie production and distribution, first with the 1991 purchase of the
Hanna-Barbera and
Ruby-Spears animation studios during a competitive bid with
MCA/
Universal,
Hallmark Cards, and several other corporations. On December 22, 1993, Turner Broadcasting System acquired
Castle Rock Entertainment. Turner Broadcasting System purchased
New Line Cinema a month later. Turner Broadcasting System launched
Cartoon Network on October 1, 1992, followed by
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) on April 14, 1994. In September 1995, Turner Broadcasting System began airing
World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s
Monday Nitro on TNT, beginning the
Monday Night War against the
World Wrestling Federation (WWF)'s
Monday Night Raw. Three years later, TBS Superstation began airing
WCW Thunder. On October 10, 1996, Turner Broadcasting System merged with
Time Warner, a company formed in 1990 by the merger of
Time Inc. and Warner Communications, and which had held 20% of Turner Broadcasting System in the past. Through this merger, Warner Bros. had regained the rights to its pre-1950 library, while Turner Broadcasting System gained access to the company's post-1950 library and other properties.
2000s On April 1, 2000, Turner Broadcasting System launched
Boomerang as a sister channel to Cartoon Network featuring the classic cartoons that originally aired on Cartoon Network as the channel was gradually shifting its focus to original cartoons. Time Warner Entertainment merged with
America Online (AOL) in 2001 to form AOL Time Warner, which was renamed back to the Time Warner name in 2004. In March 2001,
Jamie Kellner would officially succeed Ted Turner as head of Turner Broadcasting System. One of Kellner's most notable actions after succeeding Turner was his decision to cancel
WCW's television programs. In September 2001, Cartoon Network launched
Adult Swim as an adult-oriented programming block that would air at midnight when Cartoon Network's target demographic would be asleep. It would go on to be very successful. Since 2005, Adult Swim has been considered its own network according to
Nielsen due to Adult Swim and Cartoon Network's differing demographics. In 2002, Turner started a joint venture with
Zee Entertainment Enterprises known as Zee Turner for distribution of their channels in India. In 2003, Philip I. Kent succeeded
Jamie Kellner as chairman. Operational duties for
The WB were transferred by
Time Warner from
Warner Bros. to Turner Broadcasting during 2001, while Kellner was chairman, but were returned to Warner Bros. in 2003 with the departure of Kellner. On January 1, 2004, Turner launched
Pogo in India as a sister channel to
Cartoon Network India. The channel is exclusive to South Asia. On February 23, 2006, Turner agreed to sell the regional entertainment channel
Turner South to
Fox Entertainment Group. Fox assumed control of the channel on May 1, and on October 13 relaunched it as
SportSouth – coincidentally, the former name of
Fox Sports South when Turner owned this channel in partnership with
Liberty Media between 1990 and 1996. In May 2006, Time Warner, which had owned 50% of Court TV since 1998, purchased the remaining 50% from Liberty Media and began running the channel as part of Turner Broadcasting. The channel was relaunched as
TruTV on January 1, 2008. Also in May 2006, Ted Turner attended his last meeting as a board member of Time Warner and officially parted with the company. On October 5, 2007, Turner Broadcasting System completed the acquisition of Claxson Interactive Pay Television Networks in Latin America. On March 2, 2009, Turner launched
Real, the company's first Hindi GEC, in India as a joint venture between it and Alva Brothers Entertainment, which it had partnered with before for content on
Cartoon Network India and
Pogo TV. The joint venture was known as Real Global Broadcasting. The channel shut down in March 2010, lasting for a year due to low viewership. On December 8, 2009, it was announced that Turner had bought a majority stake in NDTV Imagine Ltd. from
NDTV, for $117 million, as the company's own channel, Real had failed. Turner dropped the NDTV branding from the channels. Turner sold
Imagine Showbiz to
Reliance Broadcast Network in 2011.
2010s On August 26, 2010, Turner Broadcasting took full control of Chilevisión, a television channel owned by the
President of Chile Sebastián Piñera. On September 8, 2011, Turner Broadcasting System acquired
LazyTown Entertainment, the producer of the TV series
LazyTown. On April 12, 2012, it was announced that Turner would shut down
Imagine TV, formerly NDTV Imagine, as the channel struggled for ratings amidst competition from rival Hindi entertainment channels. By 12 May 2012, Imagine TV was shut down in India.
Lumiere Movies, formerly NDTV Lumiere, was shut down in July along with
TCM India. On January 1, 2014, John K. Martin succeeded Phil Kent as chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting. In August 2014,
The Wrap reported that Turner was preparing to offer buy-outs to 550 employees as part of plans to restructure the company heading into 2015. The ratings performance of CNN and HLN were cited as a factor, while
CBSSports.com reported that the rising rights fees Turner pays for
its NBA broadcasts on TNT may have also been a factor. It was further reported in October 2014 that the company planned to reduce its workforce by 10% (1,475 people) through layoffs across a wide set of units including corporate positions. On August 14, 2015, it was announced that Turner Broadcasting had acquired a majority stake in
iStreamPlanet, a Las Vegas-based video streaming services company, in an effort to bolster its
over-the-top programming and shift its core technology infrastructure to the cloud. iStreamPlanet is a direct competitor of
Major League Baseball Advanced Media. The deal was reported to be in the neighborhood of $200 million. In October 2015, Turner launched a streaming-video network named
Great Big Story. In April 2017, in order to expedite the sale of Time Warner to
AT&T by shedding FCC-licensed properties,
WPCH-TV was sold to
Meredith Corporation, which had already been operating WPCH under a
local marketing agreement since 2011 as a sister to its local
CBS affiliate
WGCL-TV. Turner Podcast Network was formed within Turner's content distribution division in June 2017, with Tyler Moody being named general manager and vice president of the unit. On March 22, 2018,
Six Flags and Riverside Group announced a partnership with Turner Asia Pacific to bring attractions based on
Tuzki and other Turner-owned IPs to its theme parks in China. On June 15, 2018, it was announced that John Martin would be leaving as CEO following AT&T's completed acquisition of Time Warner. By September, AT&T had transferred its
Audience channel, a group of
regional sports networks plus stakes in
Game Show Network and
MLB Network to Turner from
AT&T Communications. In December 2018, Turner Broadcasting sold the rights to the brand and its pre-2008 original programming library of defunct cable network
Court TV (which relaunched as
truTV in 2008) to
Katz Broadcasting, with plans to re-launch it as an over-the-air digital network in May 2019. On March 4, 2019, AT&T announced a major reorganization of its broadcasting assets that would effectively break-up Turner Broadcasting System. Its assets are to be dispersed across multiple units of WarnerMedia, including the newly created WarnerMedia Entertainment and WarnerMedia News & Sports. WarnerMedia Entertainment would consist of
HBO, TBS, TNT, TruTV, and an
upcoming direct-to-consumer video service (led by former
NBC entertainment chief
Robert Greenblatt), while WarnerMedia News & Sports would consist of CNN, Turner Sports, and the
AT&T SportsNet regional networks (which would be led by CNN Worldwide president
Jeff Zucker). Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang, and Turner Classic Movies would be moved under Warner Bros. Entertainment via what would become the formerly operated "Global Kids & Young Adults" business unit. Although AT&T did not specify any timetable for the changes, WarnerMedia had already begun to remove references to Turner Broadcasting in corporate communications, with press releases referring to its networks as being "divisions of WarnerMedia". However, the Turner logo was still used at its building in
Atlanta,
Georgia until it was removed in October 2019.
2020s On August 10, 2020, WarnerMedia restructured several of its units in a major corporate revamp that resulted in TBS, TNT and TruTV being brought back under the same umbrella as Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Boomerang and TCM, under a consolidation of WarnerMedia Entertainment and Warner Bros. Entertainment's respective assets that formed the combined WarnerMedia Studios & Networks Group unit. Casey Bloys—who has been with WarnerMedia since 2004 (as director of development at HBO Independent Productions), and was eventually elevated to President of Programming at HBO and Cinemax in May 2016—added oversight of WarnerMedia's basic cable networks and HBO Max to his purview. Turner was subsequently
reincorporated in Delaware on December 30. On April 8, 2022, WarnerMedia was divested by AT&T and merged with
Discovery, Inc. to form
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). All linear networks owned by the company, besides CNN, Turner Sports, HBO, and
Magnolia Network, are overseen by Kathleen Finch as head of Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks, which resulted in Brett Weitz being removed as general manager of TBS, TNT, and TruTV after 14 years with the networks. The News and Sports division was also split up into separate CNN Worldwide and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports divisions, with the latter being renamed
TNT Sports in 2023, but also including Discovery's sports properties such as
Eurosport. Later on December 5, Netflix
announced that they would be buying the Warner Bros. streaming and studios company for $72 billion after the split closes in the third quarter, valuing WBD at $82.7 billion, while
Paramount Skydance and
Comcast launched bids of their own. Turner Broadcasting System's founder, Ted Turner, died at his home in
Lamont, Florida, on May 6, 2026, at the age of 87. == Former properties and assets ==