Turner Broadcasting System

This article is about the company. For the channel owned by this company, see TBS (TV channel).
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
Subsidiary of Time Warner
Industry Entertainment
Cable television
Interactive media
Predecessor Turner Communications Group
Founded 1970
Founder Ted Turner
Headquarters CNN Center, Atlanta, United States
Key people
 John K. Martin (CEO & Chairman) [1]
David Levy (President)[2]
Products CNN
CNN International
HLN
TNT
TCM
Cartoon Network
Boomerang
Adult Swim
TruTV
TBS
CNN Airport
Parent Time Warner
Divisions Turner Broadcasting System Europe
Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific
Turner Broadcasting System Latin America
Subsidiaries Turner Entertainment Co.
Cartoon Network Studios
Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe
Williams Street Productions
CNN Films
Turner Sports
Bleacher Report
Turner Private Networks
Website www.turner.com
Aerial view of the CNN Center, which houses the headquarters of Turner Broadcasting System

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (often abbreviated Turner Broadcasting, TBS, Inc. or simply Turner) is an American media conglomerate and subsidiary of Time Warner, managing the collection of cable networks and properties initiated or acquired by Robert Edward "Ted" Turner starting during the 1970s. TBS, Inc. merged with Time Warner on October 10, 1996, and now operates as a semi-autonomous unit of Time Warner.

The company's current assets include CNN, HLN, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang, TruTV and Turner Classic Movies (TCM).

The current chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting is John K. Martin.[3] The Turner properties are located in both the CNN Center in Downtown Atlanta[4] and the Turner Broadcasting campus off Techwood Drive in Midtown Atlanta, which also houses Turner Studios.[5] Across Interstate 75/85 from the Techwood campus is the original home of Turner's WTBS superstation (now separated into the TBS cable network and Peachtree TV), which today houses Adult Swim, Williams Street Productions and Williams Street West.

History

1970s

In 1970, Ted Turner, then owner of a successful Atlanta-based outdoor advertising company, purchased WJRJ-Atlanta, Channel 17, a small, struggling Ultra High Frequency station, and renamed it WTCG, for parent company Turner Communications Group. By careful programming acquisitions, Turner guided the station to success. During December 1976, WTCG originated the "superstation" concept, transmitting via satellite to cable systems, and it was originally owned by Warner Communications until Warner formed a joint venture with American Express called Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment in 1975.

On December 17, 1976 at 1:00PM, 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 sleepy 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 no one was watching 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 a so-called Superstation and created a precedent of today's basic cable television.

HBO had gone to satellite transmissions to distribute its signal nationally in 1975, but that was a service cable subscribers were made to pay extra to receive. Ted Turner's innovation signaled the start of the basic cable revolution.

In 1979, the company changed its name to Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.) and the call letters of its main entertainment channel to WTBS, now TBS.

1980s

On June 1, 1980, CNN was launched at 17:00 EST 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 the then executive vice president of CNN, hired most of CNN's first 200 employees & 25-member staff including Bernard Shaw, the network's first news anchor.

In 1981, Turner Broadcasting System acquired Brut Productions from Faberge Inc.[6]

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 and pre-merger film and TV library, which included nearly all of MGM's material made before the merger, and a small portion of United Artists' film and TV properties which included few UA pictures, the TV series Gilligan's Island (as well as its animated spin-offs), the U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to the RKO Radio Pictures library, and the pre-1950[7][8] Warner Bros. library and the Fleischer Studios/Famous Studios Popeye cartoons that both were once the property of Associated Artists Productions, which merged with United Artists Television in 1958. Turner Entertainment Co. is founded on August 4, 1986.

On October 3, 1988, the company launched Turner Network Television (TNT).

1990s

Turner expanded its presence in movie production and distribution, first with the 1991 purchase of the Hanna-Barbera animation studio.[9] On December 22, 1993, Turner acquired Castle Rock Entertainment. Turner purchased New Line Cinema a month later.[10][11][12]

Turner launched Cartoon Network on October 1, 1992, followed by Turner Classic Movies (TCM) on April 14, 1994.

On October 10, 1996, Turner merged with Time Warner.

2000s

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 February 23, 2006, the company 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.[13]

2010s

On August 26, 2010 Turner Broadcasting took full control of Chilevisión, a TV channel owned by Chile's President Sebastián Piñera.[14]

On September 8, 2011 Turner Broadcasting System acquired LazyTown Entertainment, the producer of the TV series LazyTown[15]

On January 1, 2014, John K. Martin succeeded Phil Kent as chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting.[16]

On August 26, 2014, it was reported that Turner Broadcasting was preparing to fire 550 people before an NBA rights deal.[17] 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.[18]

Channels

U.S. domestic

News

Entertainment

Terrestrial Broadcasting

Animation, Young Adults & Kids Media

Interactive/broadband sites

Sports

International

Latin America

The channels in Latin America are controlled by Turner Broadcasting System Latin America, headquartered in Atlanta. It broadcasts Latin American versions of U.S. channels, and also channels that are exclusive for the region. TBS LA also handles advertising sales for Warner Channel (owned by fellow Time Warner division Warner Bros. Entertainment) and for the Brazilian action sports channel Woohoo.

General
News and Information
Kids and Teens
Lifestyle
Music
Movies
Sports

Other regions

Regional News
Entertainment
Animation
Movies

Former assets

* Now owned or absorbed by sister company, Warner Bros.

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "JOHN MARTIN BIO". Turner.
  4. ↑ "Contact Us." Turner Broadcasting System.
  5. ↑ http://www.turner.com/terms-of-use
  6. ↑ "Faberge Sells Brut's Assets". http://www.nytimes.com''. New York Times. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  7. ↑ You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story, (2008) p. 255.
  8. ↑ WB retained a pair of features from 1949 that they merely distributed, and all short subjects released on or after September 1, 1948; in addition to all cartoons released in August 1948.
  9. ↑ Lippman, John (October 30, 1991). "Turner Is Buying Hanna-Barbera Film Library". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
  10. ↑ Harris, Kathryn (August 7, 1993). "New Line Cinema holding merger talks with Turner".
  11. ↑ Citron, Alan (August 18, 1993). "Turner gets nod to buy New Line and Castle Rock".
  12. ↑ Turner Broadcasting Company Report. Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.C.
  13. ↑ Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. to Acquire Claxson Interactive Pay Television Networks in Latin America Timewarner.com
  14. ↑ Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. to Acquire Chilevisión Timewarner.com
  15. ↑ Turner, Mimi (8 September 2011). "'Lazytown' Founder Sells To Turner Broadcasting For $25 Million". The Hollywood Reporter.
  16. ↑ "Turner". John Martin Bio.
  17. ↑ "Report: Turner to fire 550 people in advance of rising NBA rights deal". CBS Sports. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  18. ↑ Friedman, Wayne (October 6, 2014). "Turner Broadcasting To Cut 10% Of Workforce". MediaDailyNews (New York: MediaPost Communications).
  19. ↑ "Turner Publishing".
  20. ↑ "WCW: How It Died, and How WWE and Vince McMahon Made Sure It Never Rose Again". Bleacher Report.

External links