Turner South
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Turner South was a popular regional cable TV network that showed sports and variety programming.
Turner South began in 2000 as the Turner Broadcasting System attempted to return to its southern roots. Turner South broadcasts original series as well as Atlanta sports teams, including the Atlanta Thrashers, Atlanta Braves, and Atlanta Hawks.
The original series that the network broadcasts can be broadly termed "southern lifestyle". The network broadcasts cooking and gardening shows, among others.
From 2000-2006, the sitcoms and dramas the network broadcasted tended to appeal to southerners or are set in the South, such as Major Dad and In the Heat of the Night, as well as a live simulcast of The Rick and Bubba Show.
On February 23, 2006, Fox Cable Networks agreed to purchase Turner South, reportedly for $375 million. On May 1, 2006, Fox took over operation of the cable network. Most of Turner South's old programming, including Rick and Bubba and the movies shown were discontinued. Some of Turner South's lifestyle and 'how-to' programming (including 'Blue Ribbon', 'Home Plate', 'Home Makers', and 'Junkin') were retained, and aired in two weekday blocks: 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (Eastern time). Much of the remaining programming was repurposed from other Fox Sports Net properties, including (most notably) FSN South.
On October 13, 2006, the network changed its name officially to SportSouth. [1] Ironically, that was the name of Turner's original regional sports network before NewsCorp purchased it to become FSN South. The channels are operated as sister networks, much like FSN West and Prime Ticket are in southern California. The lifestyle shows were all canceled upon the channel's relaunch.
