RIP Ted Turner

y_p_w

y_p_w

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Made it to age 87.

In his prime, Turner was one of the kings of broadcasting, a brash but savvy visionary. He turned the Turner Broadcasting System into a behemoth, establishing the “superstation” concept and launching channels such as TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies.​

He was extremely influential in the rise of cable TV. He also bought the MGM studios and kept the catalog after selling the studio.
 
y_p_w said:
Made it to age 87.

In his prime, Turner was one of the kings of broadcasting, a brash but savvy visionary. He turned the Turner Broadcasting System into a behemoth, establishing the “superstation” concept and launching channels such as TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies.​

He was extremely influential in the rise of cable TV. He also bought the MGM studios and kept the catalog after selling the studio.
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He created 24/7 news cycle. TBS, etc., were just a consequence of the success that CNN had.
He is literally responsible for the reintroduction of Bison to the public, being the largest landowner after the Federal government.
True industrial magnate, especially when you compare him to these feckless idiots in Silicon Valley today.
 
edyvw said:
He created 24/7 news cycle. TBS, etc., were just a consequence of the success that CNN had.
He is literally responsible for the reintroduction of Bison to the public, being the largest landowner after the Federal government.
True industrial magnate, especially when you compare him to these feckless idiots in Silicon Valley today.
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and TCM that I watch a lot...
 
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edyvw said:
TCM came later when he bought the MGM library for $1.5bln.
And yeah, it is a must-watch channel.
He was called "Mouth of the South" for a reason. When he spoke, people listened. I mean, not that they had a choice, considering how loud he was and aggressive, but smart at the same time.
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He effectively bought the MGM library, but technically he bought the studio and catalog and sold the studio right back to Kirk Kerkorian. I looked up some of the history, and it apparently didn't include the James Bond movies from Eon, but they did have a distribution agreement for home video through Turner.
 
A good man who was a philanthropist and an accomplished man. Rest in peace Mr. Turner.

WTBS was my favorite channel to watch back in the 80's.
 
TBS came before CNN. He owned an independent over the air TV station in Atlanta showing mostly old movies and reruns. His vision was to buy bandwidth on a satellite and uplink the same signal 24/7 so it was available nationwide. He let any cable system (as well as home dish owners) receive and show it for free. This increased viewership let him charge more for commercials.
 
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edyvw said:
He was called "Mouth of the South" for a reason. When he spoke, people listened. I mean, not that they had a choice, considering how loud he was and aggressive, but smart at the same time.
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And extremely annoying listening to him speak. Every third word he spoke was "OMMM".
He did own a LOT of land. As of early 2026, Ted Turner is ranked as the #4 largest private landowner in the United States, managing approximately 2 million acres of land across eight states.
 
mk378 said:
TBS came before CNN. He owned an independent over the air TV station in Atlanta showing mostly old movies and reruns. His vision was to buy bandwidth on a satellite and uplink the same signal 24/7 so it was available nationwide. He let any cable system (as well as home dish owners) receive and show it for free. This increased viewership let him charge more for commercials.
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And what's funny is how program licensing took a while to catch up with what he was doing. A local station thought they had an exclusive syndication deal for their market with a particular program only to find out that Ted had it too, on a C-band satellite dish.
 
wag123 said:
And extremely annoying listening to him speak. Every third word he spoke was "OMMM".
He did own a LOT of land. As of early 2026, Ted Turner is ranked as the #4 largest private landowner in the United States, managing approximately 2 million acres of land across eight states.
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He was second at one point, after federal government. Probably he got rid of some.
I mean he spoke like most southerners form there.
 
And of course the Braves home games on WTBS. Since Turner owned the team there was no licensing issue.
I think it was very shortly after that WGN did the same thing, and they had the Cubs. Battle of the "Superstations."
 
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