Turner South was an American

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

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.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

network that was owned by the

Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (later WarnerMedia) on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its asse ...

division of

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

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

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

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. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, 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. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

(roughly from Asheville to Charlotte).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, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

. Turner South's programming consisted of a mix of

movies A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

, drama series,

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

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 Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

, 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 NHL sea ...

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

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, also known as cookery or professionally as the culinary arts, is the art, science and craft of using heat to make food more palatable, digestible, nutritious, or Food safety, safe. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from ...

and

gardening Gardening is the process of growing plants for their vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, and appearances within a designated space. Gardens fulfill a wide assortment of purposes, notably the production of Aesthetics, aesthetically pleasing area ...

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. M ...

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

News Corporation lawsuit

News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...

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 In contract law, a non-compete clause (often NCC), restrictive covenant, or covenant not to compete (CNC), is a clause under which one party (usually an employee) agrees not to enter into or start a similar profession or trade in competition again ...

that the two companies signed as part of News Corporation's $65 million purchase of SportSouth (which would become Fox Sports South) 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, 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 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 M ...

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 was rebranded as Bally Sports Southeast, operated with Bally Sports South (now FanDuel Sports Network Southeast and FanDuel Sports Network South respectively).

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 TNT Sports (United States) Former Time Warner subsidiaries