Turner South was an American cable and

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna com ...

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematic ...

that was owned by the

Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (lat ...

division of

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 ...

. At its peak, Turner South reached approximately eight million subscribers across a six-state region comprising

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, and portions of western

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

(roughly from

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous ci ...

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

).News Corporation Fox Cable Networks to Acquire Turner South
News Corporation press release, 2006-02-23.

History

The channel launched on October 1, 1999 as the first regional entertainment network developed especially for viewers in the

southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. Turner South's programming consisted of a mix of

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

, drama series,

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

s, regional news updates, and unique original programming. It also carried telecasts of professional sporting events from the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

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 ...

NBA, and

Atlanta Thrashers The Atlanta Thrashers were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta. Atlanta was granted a franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL) on June 25, 1997, and became the League's 28th franchise when it began play in the 1999–2000 seaso ...

NHL franchises, all of which were owned by the Turner Broadcasting System at the network's launch. Turner South's original programs could be broadly termed "southern lifestyle", including

cooking Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric stoves, to baking in vario ...

and

gardening Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, frui ...

shows. The sitcoms and dramas featured on the network (such as ''

Major Dad ''Major Dad'' is an American sitcom television series created by Richard C. Okie and John G. Stephens, developed by Earl Pomerantz, that originally ran from September 17, 1989, to May 17, 1993 on CBS, starring Gerald McRaney as Major John D. ...

'' and '' In the Heat of the Night'') also tended to appeal to Southerners, or were set in the South. Other series included ''Liars & Legends'' and ''Off The Menu'' which was based out of the

Commander's Palace Commander's Palace is a Louisiana Creole restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana. History Commander's Palace was established in 1893 in the Garden District of Uptown New Orleans at 1403 Washington Ave. Emile Commander established a small sal ...

restaurant in New Orleans. Beginning in 2002, the channel also aired a live simulcast of radio program ''The

Rick and Bubba ''The Rick and Bubba Show'' is an American comedy radio show based in Birmingham, Alabama. Nationally syndicated and produced at WZZK-FM, the show is live every weekday for five hours and is hosted by Rick Burgess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey. ...

Show''.

News Corporation lawsuit

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...

filed a lawsuit against Turner Broadcasting and its corporate parent Time Warner in a Georgia Superior Court on June 15, 1999, citing that the plans Turner had unveiled to carry sports events on Turner South violated a non-compete agreement that the two companies signed as part of News Corporation's $65 million purchase of SportSouth (now

Fox Sports South Bally Sports South (BSSO) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports Networks. The network carries regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events from across ...

) in 1996, which prohibited Turner from launching a regional sports network in the southeastern United States until 2008. The suit was settled out of court with undisclosed terms.

Sale to Fox

On February 23, 2006,

Fox Cable Networks Fox Networks Group (FNG) is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that oversees international television assets that were acquired from 21st Century Fox. It produces and distributes more than 300 entertainment, film, sports and factual channe ...

, a subsidiary of News Corporation, agreed to purchase Turner South, for a reported $375 million.Unstead, R. Thomas
Fox Cable Buys Turner South
Multichannel News, 2006-02-23. Retrieved April 19, 2009. On May 1, 2006, Fox took over operations of the cable network, and the bulk of the Turner South schedule, including ''Rick and Bubba'' and the movie blocks, was discontinued. During the brief transition period which followed, repeats of Turner South's lifestyle and

how-to The Linux Documentation Project (LDP) is a dormant an all-volunteer project that maintains a large collection of GNU and Linux-related documentation and publishes the collection online. It began as a way for hackers to share their documentation ...

programming (including ''Blue Ribbon'', ''Home Plate'', ''Home Makers'', and '' Junkin''') were aired in two weekday blocks (from 8:00-11:00 a.m. and 3:00-5:00 p.m. ET). Much of the remaining programming was repurposed from various

Fox Sports Networks Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Ma ...

properties, most notably Fox Sports South. On October 13, 2006, the network was officially relaunched as a second iteration of SportSouth, and was eventually renamed Fox Sports Southeast in October 2015. After Fox's sale of that property in 2019, it is now Bally Sports Southeast, operated with

Bally Sports South Bally Sports South (BSSO) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports Networks. The network carries regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events from across ...

References

{{NHL on TNT Sports television networks in the United States Defunct television networks in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1999 1999 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Television channels and stations disestablished in 2006 2006 disestablishments in the United States Sports in Atlanta Atlanta Braves announcers Atlanta Hawks announcers Atlanta Thrashers announcers Turner Sports Former Time Warner subsidiaries