Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and

media conglomerate A media conglomerate, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music, television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, or the Internet. According to th ...

. Founded by

Ted Turner Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he fo ...

and based in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, it merged with

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

(later WarnerMedia) on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, its assets are now owned by

Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with Di ...

(WBD). The headquarters of Turner's properties are largely located at the

CNN Center The CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, is the international headquarters of the Cable News Network ( CNN). The main newsrooms and studios for several of CNN's news channels are located in the building. The facility's commercial office space is occ ...

Downtown Atlanta Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The larger of the city's two other commercial districts ( Midtown and Buckhead), it is the location of many corporate and regional headquarters; city, county ...

, and the Turner Broadcasting campus off Techwood Drive in

Midtown Atlanta Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown, is a high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used by the city, residents, and local business ...

, which also houses Turner Studios. Some of their operations are housed within WBD's corporate and global headquarters inside

30 Hudson Yards 30 Hudson Yards (also the North Tower) is a supertall skyscraper in the West Side of Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Located near Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, and the Penn Station area, the building is part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopmen ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

's West Side district, and at 230 Park Avenue South in Midtown Manhattan, both in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, respectively. Turner is known for several pioneering innovations in U.S. multichannel television, including its satellite uplink of local Atlanta independent station WTCG channel 17 as TBS—one of the first national " superstations", and its establishment of

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

—the first 24-hour

news channel News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or telev ...

. It later launched a sister cable network,

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

, the children's channel Cartoon Network, and the movie channel

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...

(TCM).

Turner South Turner South was an American cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner. At its peak, Turner South reached approximately eight million subscribers across a six-state region com ...

—a network devoted to regional sports and southern lifestyle programming—was launched by Turner in 1999, but was later sold to Fox Sports Networks in 2006 to form

SportSouth Bally Sports Southeast (BSSE) (originally named SportSouth from its inception until October 4, 2015, and Fox Sports Southeast (FSSE) until March 31, 2021) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture be ...

. The same year, it acquired Liberty Media's stake in their joint venture Court TV. On June 14, 2018, Time Warner, including Turner Broadcasting System, was acquired by telecom firm AT&T and re-branded WarnerMedia. After the purchase, "Turner" was phased out as a corporate brand, and on March 4, 2019, its properties were dispersed into either WarnerMedia Entertainment (TBS, TNT, and

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that fo ...

), WarnerMedia News & Sports (CNN,

Turner Sports Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (WBD Sports) is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) that is responsible for sports broadcasts on its parent company's various channels in the United States, including TBS, TNT, AT&T SportsNet, and TruTV. ...

, and AT&T SportsNet), or brought directly under

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

( Cartoon Network,

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

, and

). On August 10, 2020, the WarnerMedia Entertainment and Warner Bros. Entertainment assets were merged to form WarnerMedia Studios & Networks Group. As of 2020, AT&T reported the financial results for WarnerMedia's ad-supported cable networks under the Turner business unit, while also using the term "the TNets" to refer to the group of TBS, TNT, and TruTV in press releases. On April 8, 2022, WarnerMedia merged with Discovery, Inc. to form

, and almost all of both companies' ad-supported cable networks were brought under the unit Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks (though Turner International remained as the international company website until 2022 (due to result of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger)).

History

Early history

Turner Broadcasting System traces its roots to a billboard company in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

, purchased by Robert Edward Turner II in the late 1940s. Turner grew the business, which later became known as Turner Advertising Company. Robert Edward Turner's son,

, inherited the company when the elder Turner died in 1963. After taking over the company, Ted Turner expanded the business into radio and television. Turner Broadcasting System as a formal entity was incorporated in Georgia on May 12, 1965.

1970s

In 1970, Ted Turner purchased WJRJ-Atlanta, Channel 17, a small,

Ultra High Frequency Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ( ...

(UHF) station, and renamed it WTCG, for parent company Turner Communications Group. During December 1976, WTCG originated the "superstation" concept, transmitting via

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

to cable systems. On December 17, 1976, at 1:00 pm, WTCG Channel 17's signal was beamed via

to its four cable systems in Grand Island, Nebraska; Newport News, Virginia;

Troy, Alabama Troy is a city in and the county seat of Pike County, Alabama, United States. It was formally incorporated on February 4, 1843. Between 1763 and 1783, the area where Troy sits was part of the colony of British West Florida.The Economy of Bri ...

; 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 A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mi ...

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 Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

. HBO had gone to satellite transmissions to distribute its signal nationally in 1975, but that was a service that 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.

1980s

On June 1, 1980,

Cable News Network CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

(CNN) was launched at 5:00pm EDT becoming the first 24-hour

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. N ...

cable channel. The husband and wife team of Dave Walker and

Lois Hart Lois Hackbert Hart Walker (born February 5, 1950, in Atlanta, Georgia) is a retired journalist. She co-anchored the evening news in Sacramento on KCRA-TV with her husband, Dave Walker, from 1990 through 2008. Lois first joined KCRA in the 1970s and ...

news anchored the first newscast.

Burt Reinhardt Burton Reinhardt (April 19, 1920 – May 10, 2011) was an American journalist and news executive, who served as executive Vice President of CNN from 1980 to 1982 and the second President of CNN from 1982 to 1990. In his capacity as vice presiden ...

, then executive

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

of CNN, hired most of the channel's first 200 employees and 25-member staff including

Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, the network's first news anchor. In 1981, Turner Broadcasting System acquired

Brut Productions Brut Productions was a film production company that was an offshoot of Fabergé cosmetics under George Barrie. History Barrie began thinking about becoming involved in movie production when producer Mike Frankovich asked Fabergé to make a mock a ...

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 CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, Turner purchased the film studio

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

/ 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 TV library as well as the Associated Artists Productions library (the pre-1950''You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story,'' (2008) p. 255.

film library and the Fleischer Studios/ Famous Studios ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Paramount Pictures), and the U.S./Canadian distribution rights to the RKO Pictures library. Turner Entertainment Co. was founded on August 4, 1986. 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 U.S. The contractual "back-log" was caught up by the end of 1989, while still administering to all of a domestic TV station's syndication needs. In 1987, top-rated television network

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

was 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 (Ted's first company controller at the original, small TV station), 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 2 subsidiary music publishing companies to no less than sixteen. On October 3, 1988, the company launched

Turner Network Television TNT (originally an abbreviation for Turner Network Television) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery that launched on October 3, 1988. TNT's original purpose ...

(TNT).

1990s

Turner expanded its presence in movie production and distribution, first with the 1991 purchase of the Hanna-Barbera animation studio during a competitive bid with MCA/ Universal,

Hallmark Cards Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a private, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is the oldest and largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was award ...

, and several other corporations. On December 22, 1993, Turner acquired

Castle Rock Entertainment Castle Rock Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a label of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself a subsidia ...

. Turner purchased New Line Cinema a month later. Turner launched Cartoon Network on October 1, 1992, followed by

(TCM) on April 14, 1994. On October 10, 1996, Turner merged with

, a company formed in 1990 by the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications, and which had held 20% of Turner Broadcasting in the past. Through this merger, Warner Bros. had regained the rights to its pre-1950 library, while Turner gained access to the company's post-1950 library and other properties.

2000s

In 2002, the Indian division of Turner started a joint venture with

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Zee Entertainment Enterprises (formerly Zee Telefilms) is an Indian media conglomerate owned by Essel Group. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has interests in television, print, internet, film, businesses related to mobile contents, and operates 45 ...

known as Zee Turner for distribution. In 2003, Philip I. Kent succeeded

Jamie Kellner Jamie Kellner is an American former television executive. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a division of Time Warner which includes TBS, TNT, and Cartoon Network. Kellner took over the post in 2001 ...

as chairman. Operational duties for

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on terrestrial television, broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture be ...

were transferred by

from

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 TV in India as the sister channel to Cartoon Network India. The channel is exclusive to South Asia. On February 23, 2006, the company agreed to sell the regional entertainment channel

Fox Entertainment Group Fox Entertainment Group was an American entertainment company specialised in filmed entertainment owned by 21st Century Fox. Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the group's assets were folded into various Disney units. The ...

. Fox assumed control of the channel on May 1, and on October 13 relaunched it as

– 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

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 was followed by

WB India WB Channel (short for Warner Bros.) was an Indian pay television channel. It was launched on 15 March 2009 by Warner Bros. Discovery India (then TimeWarner) through its international division exclusively for the Indian subcontinent. The chann ...

, which launched on March 15, 2009. The channel shut down in March of 2010 after 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 New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...

, as the company's own channel, Real was struggling. NDTV Imagine Ltd. was previously a joint venture between

and

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primaril ...

. Turner then went on to acquire 100% of NDTV Imagine Ltd. which included NDTV Imagine, NDTV Lumiere, Imagine Showbiz and NDTV Imagine Pictures. 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 Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique OMCh (; born 1 December 1949) is a Chilean billionaire businessman and politician who served as president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022. The son of a Christian Democratic polit ...

. On September 8, 2011, Turner Broadcasting System acquired LazyTown Entertainment, the producer of the TV series '' LazyTown''. 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 An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributors ...

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 AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

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

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 Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any a ...

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 In the United States and Canada, a regional sports network (RSN) is a cable television channel (many of which are also distributed on direct broadcast satellite services) that presents sports programming to a local market or geographical region. ...

plus stakes in Game Show Network and

MLB Network The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox C ...

to Turner from

AT&T Communications AT&T Communications is a division of AT&T that focuses on mobile phone, broadband, fixed line telephone, home security, network security, and business services. The division houses AT&T Mobility, AT&T Internet, AT&T Phone, AT&T Labs, AT&T Di ...

. 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 TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that fo ...

in 2008) to

Katz Broadcasting Katz Broadcasting, LLC, doing business as Scripps Networks, is an American specialized digital multicasting network media company and a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. The company owns (as of 2022) nine television networks that each carry ...

, 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 to effectively dissolve 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

entertainment chief

Robert Greenblatt Robert Greenblatt (born 1959/1960) is an American television executive, former Chairman of NBC Entertainment and former Chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment. He has since launched his production company, The Green Room Early life and educatio ...

), 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 the new "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".

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. On April 8, 2022, WarnerMedia was divested by AT&T and merged with Discovery, Inc. to form

(WBD). All linear networks owned by the company, besides CNN, Turner Sports, HBO, and

Magnolia Network Magnolia Network is an American basic cable network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Chip and Joanna Gaines. It broadcasts personality-based lifestyle programs related to topics such as home construction, renovation, and cuisine. The channe ...

, are overseen by Kathleen Finch as head of Warner Bros. Discovery Networks U.S., 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 Global and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports divisions, with the latter also including Discovery's sports properties such as

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, ...

Assets

* TBS *

Former properties and assets

Transferred to
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

— A film production company * Hanna-Barbera Cartoons — An animation studio (Folded into

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 19 ...

in 2001) * New Line Cinema — A film production company * Turner Entertainment Co. — A film holding company **

Turner Pictures Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turni ...

— An defunct in-house production company ** Turner Pictures Worldwide Distribution — An international distribution sales unit **

Turner Feature Animation Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing th ...

— A defunct animation unit **

Turner Home Entertainment Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing th ...

— A defunct home video distributor (Merged into Warner Home Video) ** Turner Program Services — A former syndication arm − (Merged into Warner Bros' Telepictures Productions) *

— A defunct broadcast television network (with

Tribune Broadcasting Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television and radio stations throughout the United St ...

, 2001–2003; merged with

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

to form

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

in 2006) * Transferred to

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE; also known as Warner Bros. Games or WB Games) is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California, and part of the newly-formed Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment unit of ...

** Adult Swim Games ** Cartoon Network Games * Transferred to

Warner Bros. Television Studios Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

** Cartoon Network Studios ** Cartoon Network Productions (In conjunction with The Cartoon Network, Inc.) **

Williams Street Williams Street Productions, LLC, d/b/a Williams Street and formerly known as Ghost Planet Industries, is an American animation and live action television production studio owned by the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., ...

***

Williams Street Records Williams Street Records LLC is an American independent record company founded by Jason DeMarco, based in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a joint venture of Cartoon Network's Williams Street Productions and Warner Music Group ( Warner Bros. Discovery's ...

*** Williams Street West * Transferred to Warner Bros. Television Studios UK **

Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe Ltd. (HBSE, formerly Great Marlborough Productions and previously known as Cartoon Network Studios Europe and Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe) is a British animation studio based in London and owned by the ...

Transferred to Warner Bros. Discovery Networks

Note: These assets were temporarily part of Turner Entertainment Networks & Warner Bros. under WarnerMedia Studios & Networks within the WarnerMedia era. An (*) indicates the assets was once part of Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics.

The Cartoon Network, Inc.

* Cartoon Network* *

* *

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning ...

Entertainment Group

* TBS *

* ** ''Now Playing'' (magazine)

Shuttered

* Cable Music Channel — A defunct television channel *

CNN+ The Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news channel and website headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently ow ...

, a joint-venture between Turner (50%) and

Sogecable PRISA Televisión, S.A.U (PRISA TV) is a pay TV company in Spain. History and profile PRISA TV was established in 1989 and controlled (as of 2007) by PRISA. It was the first company to introduce interactive systems and specially digital tel ...

that is only aired in Spain, closed down in late 2010. * CNNfn — A defunct television channel *

CNN/SI CNN/Sports Illustrated (CNN/SI) was a 24-hour sports news network. It was created by Time Warner, merging together its CNN and ''Sports Illustrated'' brands and related resources. It was launched on December 12, 1996. Other news networks like ...

— A defunct television channel * FilmStruck — A defunct film streaming service *

HBO South Asia HBO Asia is the Asian division of HBO, based out of Singapore. It was originally launched on 1 May 1992 as MovieVision, later rebranding on 1 June 1995 to its current name after being purchased by Home Box Office, Inc. The Singapore-based broadc ...

* Mondo Mah-jong TV (Japan) * Studio T — a defunct production company. *

Super Deluxe Super Deluxe was an entertainment company owned by Turner Broadcasting. The company's main output was in online video, television series, and documentaries. History Turner Broadcasting System announced the launch of Super Deluxe, a digital com ...

— An defunct entertainment company * Tabi Tele (Japan) * TCM South East Asia * Toonami Channel (Asia) * Toonami India *

* Real (TV channel) (India) *

Imagine TV Imagine TV was a Hindi general entertainment channel owned by Turner Broadcasting System, and based in New Delhi. The channel was known for shows such as '' Ramayan (2008), Chandragupta Maurya, ''Swayamvar'', ''Baba Aiso Varr Dhoondo'', ' ...

(India)

Divested

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

, Atlanta Thrashers and Philips Arena – sold in 2004 to Atlanta Spirit Group, Thrashers resold in 2011 to

True North Sports and Entertainment True North Sports and Entertainment Limited (TNSE or TNS&E) is a Canadian company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that owns and operates Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League. The company also o ...

and now known as the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

. Hawks resold in 2015 to

Tony Ressler Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

Chilevisión Chilevisión (often abbreviated as CHV) is a Chilean free-to-air television channel. It is the third oldest Chilean television network, owned by Paramount Networks Americas, being founded by the University of Chile on November 4, 1960. Histo ...

— A Chilean Free-to-air television channel, sold to

Paramount Global Paramount Global ( doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. ...

* Game Show Network (42%) *

GameTap GameTap was an online video game service established by Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) in 2005. It provided users with classic arcade video games and game-related video content. The service was acquired by French online video game service Met ...

— sold to

Metaboli Metaboli is a French video game distributor, through their Gamesplanet properties. It is present in numerous countries including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and the United States and Canada (through Gametap). Some major pub ...

in 2008, later closed in 2010 * Hulu (10%) * Showtime Scandinavia through NonStop Television in the Scandinavian countries. *

Silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

, independent and international movies, through NonStop Television in the Scandinavian countries. *

— A regional sports network (Now owned by Diamond Sports Group as Bally Sports South) *

— A regional television channel (Now owned by Diamond Sports Group as Bally Sports Southeast) * Woohoo (Brazil) * Universal Wrestling Corporation — A professional wrestling promotion formerly known as World Championship Wrestling. Currently a non-operational company, select assets are now owned by

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...

through WCW, Inc. *

WCNC-TV WCNC-TV (channel 36) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with NBC. The station is owned by Tegna Inc. WCNC-TV's studios are located in the Wood Ridge Center office complex off Billy Graham Parkway ...

— A terrestrial broadcasting station in Charlotte (now owned by Tegna Inc.) * WPCH-TV — A terrestrial broadcasting station in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and a former superstation (now owned by Gray Television)

References

External links

Turner Broadcasting System
(Archive) * {{Authority control American companies established in 1965 Conglomerate companies established in 1965 Cable network groups in the United States Broadcasting companies of the United States Entertainment companies of the United States Mass media companies of the United States Multinational companies headquartered in the United States Companies based in Atlanta Mass media companies established in 1965 1965 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Former Time Warner subsidiaries 1996 mergers and acquisitions Television broadcasting companies of India Mass media companies of India American companies disestablished in 2019 Entertainment companies disestablished in 2019 Mass media companies disestablished in 2019 2019 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Predecessors of Warner Bros. Discovery