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Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System | |
Founded | 1970 |
Dissolved | March 4, 2019 |
President | |
Notable Works |
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Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was the holding company of one of three operative divisions of WarnerMedia.
History
Founded in 1970 as Turner Communications Group (TCG) by Ted Turner, the company owned local broadcast television station WTCG in Atlanta. Beginning with satellite transmission in 1976, WTCG became a Superstation, predating the concept of basic cable. When the company changed it's name into Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) in 1979, the television station became WTBS, the origin of basic cable channel TBS.
Ted Turner acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1986, but sold the company back shortly after, while retaining most of the MGM film library. The new subsidiary Turner Entertainment immediately assumed control of those assets. In 1991 TBS acquired animation company Hanna-Barbera, followed in 1994 by film companies Castle Rock Entertainment and New Line Cinema.
In 1996 TBS merged with new parent company Time Warner, leading to re-alignements of the TBS assets. Hanna-Barbera and Castle Rock became units of sister company Warner Bros. Entertainment, while New Line Cinema became itself another sister company. As one of then seven mostly autonomous divisions, TBS gets concentrated on its basic cable networks, Turner's sports assets and limited television production and distribution units, including full control of Turner Entertainment and new Cartoon Network Studios.
On June 14, 2018, AT&T acquired Time Warner (including TBS) and renamed it WarnerMedia,[1] two days after it won an antitrust lawsuit filed in 2017 by the United States Justice Department's Antitrust division to try to block the purchase.[2] On March 4, 2019, AT&T dissolved TBS and split its assets between several of its subsidiary companies:
- Cartoon Network (including its Adult Swim late-night block), Boomerang and Turner Classic Movies went to Warner Bros. Entertainment
- HBO, TBS, TNT and TruTV went to the newly-formed WarnerMedia Entertainment
- CNN, Turner Sports and the AT&T SportsNet regional channels went to the newly-formed WarnerMedia News & Sports
Former Networks
- TBS (1976)
- CNN (1980) / HLN (1982)
- TNT (1988)
- Cartoon Network (CN; 1992) / Adult Swim (2001)
- Turner Classic Movies (TCM; 1994)
- Boomerang (2000)
- truTV (formerly Court TV; 1991)