TBS (TV channel)
Encyclopedia
TBS stylized in the logo as tbs, is an American
cable television
channel owned by Time Warner
that shows a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy
. TBS was originally known as WTCG, a UHF
terrestrial television
station
that broadcast from Atlanta, Georgia, during the late 1970s. WTCG reportedly stood for "watch this channel grow" (although the "TCG" officially stood for Turner Communications Group
, the forerunner to Turner Broadcasting System).
. Until October 1, 2007, the national TBS feed could not be viewed within its home media market
of the Atlanta metropolitan area, due to the over-the-air presence of WTBS, which carried a nearly identical schedule, plus the required public affairs programming
and E/I
programming for children.
The operations of WTBS (channel 17) and TBS Superstation were split in October 2007, with the over-the-air channel becoming WPCH-TV, a general-entertainment independent station focused on the Atlanta area only. For the first time, the national TBS feed is available to cable and satellite subscribers within channel 17's viewing area.
through WTBS. However, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; the Canadian equivalent of the FCC
) had only approved the Atlanta broadcast station, not the TBS cable feed, to be carried in that country. As a result, following the separation of TBS and WTBS/WPCH in 2007, Canadian viewers now have Peachtree TV, not TBS, in their cable and satellite lineups. Most flagship TBS programming, such as postseason baseball and original series including Conan, is not broadcast on Peachtree TV, but is instead available through other Canadian channels.
ed from that time to many areas of the Southeastern United States
via cable companies picking up the UHF channel 17 signal by off-air and microwaving (sometimes several times) the signal back to their headends
. Early programming included movies from the 1930s and 1940s; such old sitcoms as Father Knows Best
, Green Acres
, Hazel
, I Love Lucy
, and The Lucy Show
; and such Japanese animated shows as Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion
, Marine Boy
, The Space Giants
, Speed Racer
, and Ultraman
. The station also carried sports, such as Atlanta Braves
baseball, Atlanta Hawks
basketball, and Georgia Championship Wrestling
.
WTCG also bid very low on programming, causing network affiliates in the market to get the stronger shows. But, because of commitments that the affiliates had to their networks, they kept the shows only a few years and rarely renewed them, after which WTCG bought second-hand shows at much lower prices. By the mid 1970s, The Andy Griffith Show
, The Flintstones
, Leave It to Beaver
, The Little Rascals
, My Three Sons
, Star Trek
, The Three Stooges, and many others were added to the schedule.
In 1976, most markets below the top 20 lacked independent stations running general entertainment and generally had only ABC
, NBC
, CBS
, and an educational station. Cable systems in such areas carried stations from neighboring markets and if possible the independent station (often 60 to 200 miles away). In some markets, however, this was not an option. This left cable systems with three markets lacking an independent station and two to three affiliates from each major network.
decided to offer his station nationwide through satellite, enabling WTCG to be received nationwide, especially in markets lacking even a distant independent station. At 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
on December 17, 1976, WTCG's signal was beamed via the Satcom 1
satellite
aimed to all cable systems across the Americas
. The first broadcast was the sleepy 1948
Dana Andrews
and Cesar Romero
film Deep Waters
, which had been in progress 30 minutes. Instantly, WTCG went from its status as a small independent television station that was available only in Georgia
and neighboring states to a major coast-to-coast operation. WTCG became a so-called "superstation
" and set a precedent for today's basic cable television
. By 1978, WTCG was on cable systems in all 50 states.
HBO had moved to satellite transmissions to distribute its signal nationally in 1975, but that was a service cable subscribers were required to pay extra to receive. Ted Turner's innovation signaled the start of the basic cable revolution.
student radio
station, now WMBR
. In the late '70s, WTBS continued to acquire second hand programming such as Popeye
made for TV cartoons, The Brady Bunch
, The Munsters
, and others. They did manage to acquire reruns of All in the Family
and Sanford and Son
in 1979 as well as Little House on the Prairie
and CHiPs
in 1981. Other older shows would fall off the schedule. Movies from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s would also be mixed into the schedule more.
The channel 17 transmitter is located at 1018 West Peachtree Street Northwest, with the antenna located on a large self-supporting tower. The building at this site was once home to the studios of WAGA-TV
and, later, channel 17, during its first three years under the callsign WJRJ. Soon after being purchased by Turner, the studios were moved to the former Progressive Club site, a few blocks west.
Initially, WTCG was identified as "Channel 17" both locally in Atlanta and on cable systems outside of Atlanta. Also, the same exact shows that ran locally ran nationally. In 1979, Turner changed the callsign to WTBS, branding it "Superstation WTBS" with "17" as part of the logo. Many cable systems throughout the country even carried the channel on its customary channel 17 position.
In 1981, Turner decided to have all shows continue to air both locally and nationally, but to separate the feeds. The station would be known locally in Atlanta as "Superstation 17." The terrestrial signal would continue to air local commercials as well. Nationally, though, the station would not mention the channel number "17" and would have logos identifying it only as "Superstation WTBS". Separate national advertising or per inquiry ads
would air on the superstation feed.
as well as shows like Gilligan's Island
and The Addams Family
. WTBS began to run The Little Rascals, Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes
/Merrie Melodies
cartoons released prior to 8/1/1948, theatrical Popeye cartoons, and Three Stooges shorts under the banner Tom & Jerry and Friends between an hour and 90 minutes in the mornings and for an hour in the afternoons from 1986 to the mid 1990s. In the late 1980s, they decreased movies slightly during the day and began to add '70s sitcoms like Happy Days
, The Jeffersons
, Good Times
, One Day at a Time
, and others to the evening lineup. Little House on the Prairie ran late mornings continuously from 1986 to 2003.
s were also aired from 1983 to 1992 on its late night weekend lineup branded as Night Tracks
with up to 14 hours of programming (barring constant preemptions from sporting events running overtime).
Beginning in 1991, a handful of national shows (mostly movies) were pre-empted locally in order to broadcast FCC
-mandated news, public service, and children's programming. This continued until the switchover to Peachtree TV. Programming on WTBS has always been Syndex
proof. TBS was licensed to run all programming not only for the Atlanta market, but nationally. Most of these shows run nationally were also television syndication
in local markets on the respective local stations through additional agreements.
TBS was also the home of World Championship Wrestling
(WCW), with a weekly show airing on Saturdays, WCW Saturday Night
in 1992 (the promotion was formally owned by Jim Crockett Promotions
, which fell under the NWA
umbrella). That show would run until 2000, and was the flagship program for WCW before WCW Monday Nitro
launched on sister station TNT
. Also, in 1998, another WCW show, WCW Thunder
, debuted on Thursdays, and was moved to Wednesdays in 2000. The show would run up until 2001 when WWE
bought WCW.
Throughout the 1980s to the early 1990s, TBS also carried the Electra
teletext service on its VBI
. Electra was discontinued in 1993 due to a lack of funding.
In the early 1990s, shows like The Flintstones, Brady Bunch, Scooby-Doo
, The Jetsons, Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies, Gilligan's Island, and others remained on the schedule as other older shows such as Three Stooges, Little Rascals, Leave it to Beaver fell off and made way for more '80s sitcoms such as Three's Company
, Who's the Boss?
, Growing Pains
, The Cosby Show
, Family Ties
, Saved by the Bell
, and others. Original animated programming such as Captain Planet and the Planeteers
, 2 Stupid Dogs
, and SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron
were added as well.
In 1996, Turner was bought by Time Warner
. Among the programming changes instituted after the merger was the addition of later Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons, released no earlier than August 1, 1948.
. WTBS continued to run a mix of movies, sitcoms, and drama shows. By 2001, shows like Full House
, Family Matters, Cosby
, Friends
, Seinfeld
, Home Improvement, and other '90s sitcoms moved onto the schedule, many of them part of the afternoon "Non-Stop Comedy Block" by 2002. In 2003, WTBS dropped Little House on the Prairie and other dramatic programming as a part of its new focus on comedic programming, such as sitcom
reruns and originally-produced reality
series and comedy feature films. As part of this focus, TBS adopted the slogan "Very Funny" and its current logo in June 2004. It is intended as a direct contrast to sister channel TNT, which had focused on old movies initially but moved toward and now focuses on dramatic programming.
On September 1, 2007, a high definition version of the "Superstation" feed of TBS was launched. A digital version of WTBS could already be viewed over-the-air in Atlanta prior to September 1, which was replaced by the "Superstation" HD simulcast, instead of simulcasting Peachtree TV. At this time, TBS dropped its regular Braves coverage, but began airing Major League Baseball
postseason games. It also carries some of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
with other Turner networks and longtime tournament broadcaster CBS
as of 2011.
TBS currently airs a mix between original sitcoms such as Tyler Perry's House of Payne
, Meet the Browns
and Are We There Yet?
and reruns of Seinfeld
, Family Guy
, The Office, The Big Bang Theory
, and others.
, Lopez Tonight
, which was hosted by Mexican-American comedian George Lopez
. One year later, the network expanded its late-night offerings with the addition of Conan O'Brien
on the heels of the former Tonight Show
host's controversial exit
from NBC
. O'Brien's show, Conan, debuted on November 8, 2010. Lopez Tonight was canceled on August 10, 2011, due to a steep decline in ratings, and the final episode aired on August 12, 2011.
baseball games next season. The change occurred on October 1. In addition, the channel 17 change allowed Atlanta cable and satellite television viewers, for the first time since the early 1980s, to receive the national TBS signal as of that date.
Most cable and satellite companies previously carried WTBS's local Atlanta signal instead of the national TBS channel. Following the change, cable systems in Canada
were legally required to continue carrying the local Peachtree TV signal, instead of switching to the national TBS feed.
Over the years TBS has had several logo
s and name changes. From 1979 the name was SuperStation WTBS. In 1987, the "W" from the "TBS" name was dropped to emphasize the channel's national programming prominence, with WTBS in Atlanta assigned the brand Superstation 17. On September 28, 1989, SuperStation TBS was renamed to TBS Superstation to reflect the strong national standing of the channel.
In 1990, the word Superstation
was removed from the on-air logos and ads and remained that way until December 17, 1996, when TBS celebrated its 20th national anniversary
by bringing back the word "Superstation." This branding would last until early 2004, when "Superstation" was once again dropped months before the current TBS logo was adopted.
On May 24, 2011, TBS rebranded itself yet again, even though it kept its logo and slogan "very funny", with a new theme.
high definition
simulcast of TBS. Much like sister channel TNT, TBS airs a moderate amount of 4:3 standard definition content stretched to 16:9
through a nonlinear process similar to the "panorama" setting on many HDTVs that some viewers have nicknamed Stretch-o-Vision
after it was first used by TNT; though other simulcasted HD cable channels have also fallen into this practice. The nonlinear stretching process leaves objects in the center of the screen with approximately their original aspect ratio; objects at the left and right edges are distorted. Horizontal panning makes the distortion especially apparent. In addition to true HD content at 16:9, TBS HD also airs unstretched upconverted standard definition content in its original aspect ratio, but commercials are aired in either format without stretching for ads produced in 480i. TBS launched a West Coast feed on June 18, 2010.
By using "Turner Time," TBS Superstation programs were listed under their own time entry in TV Guide
during the log listings era, thus enabling the program listings to catch potential viewers' eyes more readily. It also encouraged channel surfers who could not find anything interesting to watch at the top of the hour to still be able to watch a TBS program without missing the first few minutes. Most importantly, since shows ended five minutes later than normal, from a strategic standpoint the off-time scheduling usually encouraged viewers to continue watching TBS rather than flip to watch another program already in progress.
TBS Superstation started to cut back "Turner Time" in 1997 and scrapped it completely by 2000. Currently, TBS usually schedules programs conventionally, at the top and bottom of the hour. However, movies that run anywhere between 2 and 2½ hours (or more, depending on the film's length with commercials added), will cause unconventional start times to be used (for example, such a movie that starts at 7 p.m. ET may cause subsequent programming to start within the half-hour, such as at :15 and :45 after the hour). This often causes major disruptions in the start times of programming. In some circumstances, conventional "top-and-bottom" start times would not be restored until the next day. While this is not exactly related to the "Turner Time" technique, it could strategically serve the same purposes due to the off-time scheduling.
A scheduling format similar to "Turner Time" has been used by Telemundo
since 2008, though in a different fashion as programs airing weeknights from 8-11 p.m. ET start a few minutes after its officially scheduled time, about 3–4 minutes after the hour, with shows bleeding into the next timeslot; the 11 p.m. national (or local, if an affiliate carries one) newscast starts at the conventional time. On weekends when a soccer match is scheduled, all programs airing before the game are aired five minutes before the hour/half-hour; otherwise, scheduled weekend programming will air in their conventional timeslots. Since 2010, some Viacom
-owned cable channels (such as Spike, TV Land
and Nick at Nite
) have used a variant in which commercial time is added to the breaks of certain programs, placing start times at irregular slots (e.g., 4:32 p.m. ET for a TV Land airing of Three's Company
, or 5:26 a.m. ET for a Nick at Nite airing of Family Matters).
segment on NBC
's Saturday Night Live
and was, to a certain extent, a forerunner to Comedy Central
's The Daily Show
. The time slot and the snide content were a reaction to FCC rules at the time requiring stations to carry some news and informational content—although TBS had to broadcast news, the FCC couldn't say when it aired or demand that the news have a serious tone. The news show was cancelled months before Turner began his serious news venture, CNN
.
TBS Superstation also began airing its own newscast called TBS Evening News, which was produced by CNN. The one-hour program ran usually at 10 p.m. Eastern on weeknights during the early 1980s.
WTBS also simulcast
30 minutes of programming from CNN's sister channel, Headline News (now known as HLN), at 6 a.m.; this was only carried in Atlanta and those cable systems receiving the local feed. Currently, as WPCH-TV, HLN programming is simulcast for one full hour at 6 a.m.
TBS SuperStation, along with TNT and various other networks, carried CNN coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks
. During sports blackouts in some areas (particularly in markets where a channel such as a local broadcast station or regional sports network
has the regional or local broadcast rights to a particular sporting event also scheduled to air on TBS), TBS carries rolling news coverage from HLN in its place.
mostly of the comedy genre due to its format, however some non-comedic films continue to air on the channel; these movies generally air during the overnight hours on a daily basis and during much of the day on weekends (except from mid-afternoon to early evening on Saturdays, when the channel airs a block of sitcoms, as well as between 5-9 a.m. ET on Saturdays and 5-10 a.m. ET on Sundays (with the start time subject to variation) as sitcoms also often air in those timeslots; though that slot airs sitcoms on a nightly basis). TBS will air movies from sister companies Warner Bros.
and New Line Cinema
. The channel also airs movies from Walt Disney Pictures
, Touchstone Pictures
, Columbia Pictures
, Universal Pictures
, and Paramount Pictures
.
In the recent past, TBS had frequently aired its primetime movies interspersed with other content and commentary (e.g., Dinner and a Movie
includes cooking, while Movie and a Makeover
adds fashion content); these wraparound segments have since moved to weekend afternoon film presentations. Every Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the 1983 film A Christmas Story
airs for 24 hours, which is also done by sister channel TNT at the same time as TBS. Once each weekend, TBS airs a movie in primetime with limited commercial interruption, branded in promo advertisements under the title "More Movie, Less Commercials" (sister channel TNT also runs a primetime movie each weekend, that is telecast with limited commercial interruption).
-owned Atlanta Braves
baseball team was perhaps TBS's signature program, due mainly to its high popularity in Georgia and neighboring states. Turner once famously tried to get Andy Messersmith
to use his jersey
, which was #17, to promote TBS Superstation in its early years. The back of the jersey read, "CHANNEL 17." Major League Baseball immediately stopped Turner from proceeding because team jerseys are not allowed to have advertising other than that of the jersey manufacturer.
At the 2006 MLB All-Star Game
, it was announced that TBS would begin carrying a package that includes all major league teams. It premiered in 2007 in two phases, as follows:
During the 2007 transitional year, TBS Superstation aired 70 regular-season Braves games. In 2008 and thereafter, only 45 games will be produced, and they will air on WPCH-TV in Atlanta. Turner sells the package to other stations or cable channels for broadcast in the remainder of the Braves' designated market.
The final Braves game aired on TBS on September 30, 2007. The first divisional playoff game (a tie-breaker) aired one day after, on October 1, 2007 (when the TBS/WPCH split occurred).
On October 18, 2008, a technical problem in Atlanta prevented the channel from showing the first inning of Game 6 of the American League Championship Series
between the Boston Red Sox
and Tampa Bay Rays
. The channel aired The Steve Harvey Show
instead.
. This will initially consist of early rounds to the Sweet Sixteen, but in 2016 will expand to include the regional finals, Final Four and national championship game on an alternating basis with CBS.
games from the Big 12
and Pac-10 aired for several years in a sublicensing agreement with FSN
. That agreement ended after the 2006 season.
games were aired before being moved entirely to TNT; some Atlanta Hawks
(also owned by Turner) games were shown on TBS Superstation until the TBS and TNT telecasts became subject to blackout within 35 miles of the home-team's arena (this restriction was dropped when TNT gained the right to be the exclusive broadcaster of any game it chose to carry).
aired on TBS from 1971 to 2001 under several different companies including Jim Barnett
-owned Georgia Championship Wrestling
(1971–1984), Vince McMahon
's World Wrestling Federation
(1984–1985), Bill Watts
' Mid-South Wrestling and Jim Crockett, Jr.
's Jim Crockett Promotions
(1985–1988), which eventually became Turner owned World Championship Wrestling
(1988–2001). Through the early 1990s, the wrestling programs were among basic cable's highest-rated offerings, due to, like Braves baseball coverage, heavy viewership in the Southeastern U.S.
Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series), Busch Series (now Nationwide Series), and Craftsman Truck Series (now Camping World Truck Series) races were aired on TBS up to the 2000 season. For several years in the late 1990s, the only Cup races aired on TBS were the two regular Cup series races from Lowe's Motor Speedway
(TBS did not have rights to The Winston
, which usually aired on TNN), and the July race at Pocono Raceway
. TBS was also the home of the post-season exhibition races held at Suzuka Circuit
and the Twin Ring Motegi
tracks in Japan from 1996–1998. Races were switched to TNT in 2001 as part of the then-new NASCAR TV deal, although the initial plans were for TBS Superstation to carry the races. Instead, Turner decided that NASCAR would better fit TNT's "We Know Drama" slogan.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
channel owned by Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
that shows a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy
Television comedy
Television comedy had a presence from the earliest days of broadcasting. Among the earliest BBC television programmes in the 1930s was Starlight, which offered a series of guests from the music hall era — singers and comedians amongst them...
. TBS was originally known as WTCG, a UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
terrestrial television
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...
station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
that broadcast from Atlanta, Georgia, during the late 1970s. WTCG reportedly stood for "watch this channel grow" (although the "TCG" officially stood for Turner Communications Group
Turner Communications Group
Turner Communications Group is the previous name of Turner Broadcasting System. The name was used from 1970 to 1979, when the company changed its name to Turner Broadcasting System. It was the parent company of WTCG which became WTBS with the Turner name change in 1979.In 1970, R. E...
, the forerunner to Turner Broadcasting System).
Availability
TBS is a national cable and satellite channel, available throughout the entire United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Until October 1, 2007, the national TBS feed could not be viewed within its home media market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
of the Atlanta metropolitan area, due to the over-the-air presence of WTBS, which carried a nearly identical schedule, plus the required public affairs programming
Public affairs (broadcasting)
Public affairs, a broadcasting industry term, refers to television programs which focuses on matters of politics and public policy. Among commercial broadcasters, such programs are often only to satisfy Federal Communications Commission regulatory expectations and are not scheduled in prime time...
and E/I
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...
programming for children.
The operations of WTBS (channel 17) and TBS Superstation were split in October 2007, with the over-the-air channel becoming WPCH-TV, a general-entertainment independent station focused on the Atlanta area only. For the first time, the national TBS feed is available to cable and satellite subscribers within channel 17's viewing area.
Internationally
TBS programming was previously made available to cable and satellite subscribers in CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
through WTBS. However, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; the Canadian equivalent of the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
) had only approved the Atlanta broadcast station, not the TBS cable feed, to be carried in that country. As a result, following the separation of TBS and WTBS/WPCH in 2007, Canadian viewers now have Peachtree TV, not TBS, in their cable and satellite lineups. Most flagship TBS programming, such as postseason baseball and original series including Conan, is not broadcast on Peachtree TV, but is instead available through other Canadian channels.
Early years
WTCG, which dated back to 1969 as a terrestrial station, had been microwave-linkStudio/transmitter link
A studio-transmitter link sends a radio station's or television station's audio and video from the broadcast studio to a radio transmitter or television transmitter in another location....
ed from that time to many areas of the Southeastern United States
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....
via cable companies picking up the UHF channel 17 signal by off-air and microwaving (sometimes several times) the signal back to their headends
Cable television headend
A cable television headend is a master facility for receiving television signals for processing and distribution over a cable television system. The headend facility is normally unstaffed and surrounded by some type of security fencing and is typically a building or large shed housing electronic...
. Early programming included movies from the 1930s and 1940s; such old sitcoms as Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
, Green Acres
Green Acres
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...
, Hazel
Hazel (TV series)
Hazel is a Screen Gems television series about a fictional live-in maid named Hazel Burke and her employers, the Baxters. The five-season, 154-episode series aired in primetime from September 1961 until April 1966...
, I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
, and The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show is an American situation comedy that aired on CBS from 1962 until 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy. A significant change in cast and premise for the 1965-66 season divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program...
; and such Japanese animated shows as Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion
Kimba the White Lion
, known in the United States as Kimba the White Lion, is an anime series from the 1960s. Created by Osamu Tezuka and based on his manga of the same title which began publication in 1950, it was the first color animated television series created in Japan. The manga was first published in serialized...
, Marine Boy
Marine Boy
Marine Boy was one of the first color anime cartoons to be shown in a dubbed form in the U.S., and later in Australia and the United Kingdom. It was originally produced in Japan as by Minoru Adachi and animation company Japan Tele-Cartoons. It was sold outside of Japan via K...
, The Space Giants
Ambassador Magma
is the title and protagonist of a manga and tokusatsu TV series created by Osamu Tezuka. The TV series, produced by P Productions, aired on Fuji TV from July 4, 1966 to September 25, 1967, with a total of 52 episodes. It is the first color tokusatsu TV series in Japan, beating Ultraman to the...
, Speed Racer
Speed Racer
Speed Racer is an English adaptation name of the Japanese manga and anime, which centered on automobile racing. Mach GoGoGo was originally serialized in print form in Shueisha's 1958 Shōnen Book, and was released in tankōbon book form by Sun Wide Comics, re-released in Japan by Fusosha...
, and Ultraman
Ultraman
is Japanese television series that first aired in 1966. Ultraman, the first and best-known of the "Ultra-Crusaders," made his debut in the tokusatsu SF/kaiju/superhero TV series, , a follow-up to the television series Ultra Q...
. The station also carried sports, such as Atlanta Braves
Braves TBS Baseball
Braves TBS Baseball or Braves Baseball on TBS is a Major League Baseball broadcast on the TBS cable network by Turner Sports, featuring Atlanta Braves regular season games...
baseball, Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association .-The first years:...
basketball, and Georgia Championship Wrestling
Georgia Championship Wrestling
Georgia Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion whose self-titled TV program aired in the 1970s and 1980s on Atlanta, U.S., superstation WTBS. Though based in Atlanta, the company also ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic "territory" of Georgia Georgia...
.
WTCG also bid very low on programming, causing network affiliates in the market to get the stronger shows. But, because of commitments that the affiliates had to their networks, they kept the shows only a few years and rarely renewed them, after which WTCG bought second-hand shows at much lower prices. By the mid 1970s, The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
, The Flintstones
The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
, Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
, The Little Rascals
Our Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...
, My Three Sons
My Three Sons
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...
, Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
, The Three Stooges, and many others were added to the schedule.
In 1976, most markets below the top 20 lacked independent stations running general entertainment and generally had only ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, and an educational station. Cable systems in such areas carried stations from neighboring markets and if possible the independent station (often 60 to 200 miles away). In some markets, however, this was not an option. This left cable systems with three markets lacking an independent station and two to three affiliates from each major network.
WTCG gets beamed via satellite
As a result, Ted TurnerTed Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
decided to offer his station nationwide through satellite, enabling WTCG to be received nationwide, especially in markets lacking even a distant independent station. At 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
on December 17, 1976, WTCG's signal was beamed via the Satcom 1
Satcom (satellite)
The Satcom series was a family of communications satellites originally developed and operated by RCA American Communications . Satcom was one of the early geostationary satellites; the first were the Syncom series, in 1964. The first Satcom satellite, Satcom 1, was launched on December 13, 1975...
satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
aimed to all cable systems across the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
. The first broadcast was the sleepy 1948
1948 in film
The year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :...
Dana Andrews
Dana Andrews
Dana Andrews was an American film actor. He was one of Hollywood's major stars of the 1940s, and continued acting, though generally in less prestigious roles, into the 1980s.-Early life:...
and Cesar Romero
Cesar Romero
Cesar Julio Romero, Jr. was an American film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years...
film Deep Waters
Deep Waters (film)
Deep Waters is a 1948 drama film directed by Henry King. The film is based on the 1946 novel Spoonhandle written by Ruth Moore and was nominated for an Academy Award.-Plot:...
, which had been in progress 30 minutes. Instantly, WTCG went from its status as a small independent television station that was available only in Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
and neighboring states to a major coast-to-coast operation. WTCG became a so-called "superstation
Superstation
Superstation in United States television can have several meanings. In its most precise meaning, a superstation is defined by the Federal Communications Commission as "A television broadcast station, other than a network station, licensed by the FCC that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite...
" and set a precedent for today's basic cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
. By 1978, WTCG was on cable systems in all 50 states.
HBO had moved to satellite transmissions to distribute its signal nationally in 1975, but that was a service cable subscribers were required to pay extra to receive. Ted Turner's innovation signaled the start of the basic cable revolution.
Initial change to WTBS
WTCG was renamed WTBS in 1979. The new call letters were acquired via a monetary donation to the MITMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
student radio
Campus radio
Campus radio is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively by students, or may include programmers from the wider community in which the radio station is based...
station, now WMBR
WMBR
WMBR is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology student-run college radio station, licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and broadcasting on 88.1 FM. It is all-volunteer and funded by listener donations and MIT funds...
. In the late '70s, WTBS continued to acquire second hand programming such as Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
made for TV cartoons, The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
, The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
, and others. They did manage to acquire reruns of All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
and Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son is an American sitcom, based on the BBC's Steptoe and Son, that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977....
in 1979 as well as Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...
and CHiPs
CHiPs
CHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol...
in 1981. Other older shows would fall off the schedule. Movies from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s would also be mixed into the schedule more.
The channel 17 transmitter is located at 1018 West Peachtree Street Northwest, with the antenna located on a large self-supporting tower. The building at this site was once home to the studios of WAGA-TV
WAGA-TV
WAGA-TV, virtual channel 5.1 is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Television Network and based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
and, later, channel 17, during its first three years under the callsign WJRJ. Soon after being purchased by Turner, the studios were moved to the former Progressive Club site, a few blocks west.
Initially, WTCG was identified as "Channel 17" both locally in Atlanta and on cable systems outside of Atlanta. Also, the same exact shows that ran locally ran nationally. In 1979, Turner changed the callsign to WTBS, branding it "Superstation WTBS" with "17" as part of the logo. Many cable systems throughout the country even carried the channel on its customary channel 17 position.
In 1981, Turner decided to have all shows continue to air both locally and nationally, but to separate the feeds. The station would be known locally in Atlanta as "Superstation 17." The terrestrial signal would continue to air local commercials as well. Nationally, though, the station would not mention the channel number "17" and would have logos identifying it only as "Superstation WTBS". Separate national advertising or per inquiry ads
Per inquiry advertising
Per-inquiry advertising – also known variously as cost per lead , pay per lead or cost per action- is a form of direct response marketing in which the advertiser receives free ad time and space while paying only for results...
would air on the superstation feed.
MGM library
In the 1980s, WTBS focused heavily on movies, running two during the day, and all movies after 8 p.m. with the exception of sports events. Other times, WTBS continued to run mostly classic sitcoms, and vintage cartoons. In 1986, with Ted Turner's purchase of MGM, WTBS now had the rights to the entire MGM library as well (including certain acquisitions by MGM). This gave WTBS many theatrical cartoons like Tom and JerryTom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
as well as shows like Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
and The Addams Family
The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. As named by Charles Addams, the Addams Family characters include Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, and Thing....
. WTBS began to run The Little Rascals, Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
/Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
cartoons released prior to 8/1/1948, theatrical Popeye cartoons, and Three Stooges shorts under the banner Tom & Jerry and Friends between an hour and 90 minutes in the mornings and for an hour in the afternoons from 1986 to the mid 1990s. In the late 1980s, they decreased movies slightly during the day and began to add '70s sitcoms like Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
, The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons is an American sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, through June 25, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes. The show was produced by the T.A.T. Communications Company from 1975–1982 and by Embassy Television from 1982-1985...
, Good Times
Good Times
Good Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Michael Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series' primary executive producer...
, One Day at a Time
One Day at a Time
One Day at a Time is an American situation comedy on the CBS network that aired from December 16, 1975 until May 28, 1984. It portrays Ann Romano, a divorced mother, played by Bonnie Franklin, her two teenage daughters Julie and Barbara Cooper and Schneider, their building superintendent .The show...
, and others to the evening lineup. Little House on the Prairie ran late mornings continuously from 1986 to 2003.
Other programming
Music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s were also aired from 1983 to 1992 on its late night weekend lineup branded as Night Tracks
Night Tracks
Night Tracks was an American television series which ran from 1983 to 1992 on SuperStation WTBS on late night weekends...
with up to 14 hours of programming (barring constant preemptions from sporting events running overtime).
Beginning in 1991, a handful of national shows (mostly movies) were pre-empted locally in order to broadcast FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
-mandated news, public service, and children's programming. This continued until the switchover to Peachtree TV. Programming on WTBS has always been Syndex
Syndication exclusivity
Syndication exclusivity is a federal law in the United States designed to protect a local television station's rights to syndicated television programs by granting exclusive rights to the station for that program in the local market, usually defined by a station's Nielsen DMA...
proof. TBS was licensed to run all programming not only for the Atlanta market, but nationally. Most of these shows run nationally were also television syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
in local markets on the respective local stations through additional agreements.
TBS was also the home of World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
(WCW), with a weekly show airing on Saturdays, WCW Saturday Night
WCW Saturday Night
WCW Saturday Night was a weekly Saturday night TV show on TBS produced by World Championship Wrestling. The program existed through various incarnations under different names before becoming WCW Saturday Night in 1992...
in 1992 (the promotion was formally owned by Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions was a professional wrestling promotion owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. until the late 1980s. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was the forerunner to World Championship Wrestling .-Early history:...
, which fell under the NWA
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
umbrella). That show would run until 2000, and was the flagship program for WCW before WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001...
launched on sister station TNT
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
. Also, in 1998, another WCW show, WCW Thunder
WCW Thunder
WCW Thunder was a professional wrestling show produced by World Championship Wrestling which aired on TBS from January 8, 1998 to March 21, 2001...
, debuted on Thursdays, and was moved to Wednesdays in 2000. The show would run up until 2001 when WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
bought WCW.
Throughout the 1980s to the early 1990s, TBS also carried the Electra
Electra (teletext)
Electra was a teletext service in the United States that was in operation from the early 1980s up until 1993, when it was shut down due to a lack of funding, and discontinuation of teletext-capable television sets by the only US television manufacturer offering teletext capability at the time, Zenith...
teletext service on its VBI
Vertical blanking interval
The vertical blanking interval , also known as the vertical interval or VBLANK, is the time difference between the last line of one frame or field of a raster display, and the beginning of the first line of the next frame. It is present in analog television, VGA, DVI and other signals. During the...
. Electra was discontinued in 1993 due to a lack of funding.
In the early 1990s, shows like The Flintstones, Brady Bunch, Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo is an American media franchise based around several animated television series and related works produced from 1969 to the present day. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, was created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears in 1969...
, The Jetsons, Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies, Gilligan's Island, and others remained on the schedule as other older shows such as Three Stooges, Little Rascals, Leave it to Beaver fell off and made way for more '80s sitcoms such as Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
, Who's the Boss?
Who's the Boss?
Who's the Boss? is an American sitcom created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, which aired on ABC from September 20, 1984 to April 25, 1992...
, Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...
, The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
, Family Ties
Family Ties
Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
, Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell is an American television sitcom that aired between 1989 and 1993. The series is a retooled version of the 1988 series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which was itself later folded into the history of Saved by the Bell...
, and others. Original animated programming such as Captain Planet and the Planeteers
Captain Planet and the Planeteers
Captain Planet is the title character of the series. In the beginning of the series, Gaia assembles a modern-day team of "Planeteers" from several nations...
, 2 Stupid Dogs
2 Stupid Dogs
2 Stupid Dogs was an American animated television series created by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera and Turner Program Services that originally ran from September 5, 1993 to February 13, 1995 on TBS. The main segments of the show featured two dogs, "Big Dog" and "Little Dog". The Big Dog...
, and SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron
SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron
SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron is an animated series for television created by Christian and Yvon Tremblay and produced by Hanna-Barbera and Turner Program Services. Every episode of the series was directed by Robert Alvarez. The bulk of the series was written by either Glenn Leopold or Lance Falk...
were added as well.
In 1996, Turner was bought by Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
. Among the programming changes instituted after the merger was the addition of later Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons, released no earlier than August 1, 1948.
Shift towards comedy
In 1997, TBS began to collect subscriber fees directly from cable operators, effectively making the national feed operating under the conventions of a basic cable network, though still technically a superstation. In exchange, TBS began to lease advertising slots to cable operators to carry local commercials; as a result the channel began to broadcast fewer Atlanta Braves season games to a national audience. In 1999, WTBS dropped all of its remaining cartoons (which at the time were running under the banner of the "Disaster Area"), several months later making those shows the core of a new TV channel devoted to classic cartoons, BoomerangBoomerang (TV channel)
Boomerang is a 24-hour American cable television channel owned by Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner. Boomerang specializes in reruns of animated programming from Time Warner's extensive archives, including pre-1986 MGM, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises...
. WTBS continued to run a mix of movies, sitcoms, and drama shows. By 2001, shows like Full House
Full House
Full House is an American sitcom television series. Set in San Francisco, the show chronicles widowed father Danny Tanner, who, after the death of his wife, enlists his best friend Joey Gladstone and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and...
, Family Matters, Cosby
Cosby
Cosby is a situation comedy television series broadcast on CBS from September 16, 1996 to April 28, 2000, loosely based on the British sitcom One Foot in the Grave. The program starred Bill Cosby, Phylicia Rashād...
, Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
, Home Improvement, and other '90s sitcoms moved onto the schedule, many of them part of the afternoon "Non-Stop Comedy Block" by 2002. In 2003, WTBS dropped Little House on the Prairie and other dramatic programming as a part of its new focus on comedic programming, such as sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
reruns and originally-produced reality
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
series and comedy feature films. As part of this focus, TBS adopted the slogan "Very Funny" and its current logo in June 2004. It is intended as a direct contrast to sister channel TNT, which had focused on old movies initially but moved toward and now focuses on dramatic programming.
On September 1, 2007, a high definition version of the "Superstation" feed of TBS was launched. A digital version of WTBS could already be viewed over-the-air in Atlanta prior to September 1, which was replaced by the "Superstation" HD simulcast, instead of simulcasting Peachtree TV. At this time, TBS dropped its regular Braves coverage, but began airing Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
postseason games. It also carries some of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
with other Turner networks and longtime tournament broadcaster CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
as of 2011.
TBS currently airs a mix between original sitcoms such as Tyler Perry's House of Payne
Tyler Perry's House of Payne
Tyler Perry's House of Payne is an American comedy-drama television series created and produced by playwright, director, and producer Tyler Perry. The show revolves around a multi-generational family living under one roof in Atlanta, Georgia led by patriarch Curtis Payne and his wife Ella...
, Meet the Browns
Meet the Browns (TV series)
Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns is an American sitcom created and produced by playwright, director, and producer Tyler Perry. The show revolves around a senior family living under one roof in Decatur, Georgia led by patriarch Mr. Brown and his daughter Cora Simmons. The show premiered on Wednesday,...
and Are We There Yet?
Are We There Yet? (TV series)
Are We There Yet? is an American television sitcom, which premiered on TBS on June 2, 2010. Based on the 2005 feature film of the same name, it revolves around a family adjusting to the new addition of the matriarch's new husband and trying to deal with normal family situations...
and reruns of Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
, Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, The Office, The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...
, and others.
Late-night talk shows
In November 2009, TBS debuted its first late-night talk showLate-night talk show
In American television, the late-night talk show is a specific kind of comedy-oriented talk and variety show that airs late at night. Characteristics of the genre include topical monologues in which the host makes fun of the day's news, comedy sketches, celebrity interviews, and musical performances...
, Lopez Tonight
Lopez Tonight
Lopez Tonight was an American late-night television talk show hosted by comedian George Lopez. The hour-long program premiered on November 9, 2009, on cable network TBS. Lopez was the first Mexican American to host a late-night talk show on an English-language network in the United States. The...
, which was hosted by Mexican-American comedian George Lopez
George Lopez
George Lopez is an American comedian, actor, and talk show host. He is mostly known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom George Lopez. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including the Mexican American culture...
. One year later, the network expanded its late-night offerings with the addition of Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
on the heels of the former Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
host's controversial exit
2010 Tonight Show conflict
In early 2010, American television network NBC and two of its late-night talk show hosts, Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno, engaged in a media and public relations conflict over the host and airtime of The Tonight Show, the network's long-running late night program...
from NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. O'Brien's show, Conan, debuted on November 8, 2010. Lopez Tonight was canceled on August 10, 2011, due to a steep decline in ratings, and the final episode aired on August 12, 2011.
Split
In late June 2007, Turner Broadcasting announced that WTBS would change call letters and become WPCH-TV, and would be rebranded as Peachtree TV. According to Turner, the new channel 17 would offer sitcoms and movies geared specifically toward an Atlanta audience. The new station would also broadcast 45 Atlanta BravesAtlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
baseball games next season. The change occurred on October 1. In addition, the channel 17 change allowed Atlanta cable and satellite television viewers, for the first time since the early 1980s, to receive the national TBS signal as of that date.
Most cable and satellite companies previously carried WTBS's local Atlanta signal instead of the national TBS channel. Following the change, cable systems in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
were legally required to continue carrying the local Peachtree TV signal, instead of switching to the national TBS feed.
Evolution of TBS branding
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
s and name changes. From 1979 the name was SuperStation WTBS. In 1987, the "W" from the "TBS" name was dropped to emphasize the channel's national programming prominence, with WTBS in Atlanta assigned the brand Superstation 17. On September 28, 1989, SuperStation TBS was renamed to TBS Superstation to reflect the strong national standing of the channel.
In 1990, the word Superstation
Superstation
Superstation in United States television can have several meanings. In its most precise meaning, a superstation is defined by the Federal Communications Commission as "A television broadcast station, other than a network station, licensed by the FCC that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite...
was removed from the on-air logos and ads and remained that way until December 17, 1996, when TBS celebrated its 20th national anniversary
Anniversary
An anniversary is a day that commemorates or celebrates a past event that occurred on the same day of the year as the initial event. For example, the first event is the initial occurrence or, if planned, the inaugural of the event. One year later would be the first anniversary of that event...
by bringing back the word "Superstation." This branding would last until early 2004, when "Superstation" was once again dropped months before the current TBS logo was adopted.
On May 24, 2011, TBS rebranded itself yet again, even though it kept its logo and slogan "very funny", with a new theme.
TBS HD
TBS HD is a 1080i1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
simulcast of TBS. Much like sister channel TNT, TBS airs a moderate amount of 4:3 standard definition content stretched to 16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
through a nonlinear process similar to the "panorama" setting on many HDTVs that some viewers have nicknamed Stretch-o-Vision
Stretch-o-Vision
Stretch-o-Vision is a neologism used to describe the practice of upconverting video from a standard aspect ratio to a widescreen aspect ratio. HDTV programming is broadcast in the 16:9 aspect ratio, a widescreen image. However, most SDTV programming is usually broadcast in the 4:3 aspect ratio....
after it was first used by TNT; though other simulcasted HD cable channels have also fallen into this practice. The nonlinear stretching process leaves objects in the center of the screen with approximately their original aspect ratio; objects at the left and right edges are distorted. Horizontal panning makes the distortion especially apparent. In addition to true HD content at 16:9, TBS HD also airs unstretched upconverted standard definition content in its original aspect ratio, but commercials are aired in either format without stretching for ads produced in 480i. TBS launched a West Coast feed on June 18, 2010.
Turner Time
On June 29, 1981, TBS Superstation began to use "Turner Time." While other television offerings generally began at the top and bottom of each hour, TBS decided to begin airing programs five minutes later, at :05 and :35.By using "Turner Time," TBS Superstation programs were listed under their own time entry in TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
during the log listings era, thus enabling the program listings to catch potential viewers' eyes more readily. It also encouraged channel surfers who could not find anything interesting to watch at the top of the hour to still be able to watch a TBS program without missing the first few minutes. Most importantly, since shows ended five minutes later than normal, from a strategic standpoint the off-time scheduling usually encouraged viewers to continue watching TBS rather than flip to watch another program already in progress.
TBS Superstation started to cut back "Turner Time" in 1997 and scrapped it completely by 2000. Currently, TBS usually schedules programs conventionally, at the top and bottom of the hour. However, movies that run anywhere between 2 and 2½ hours (or more, depending on the film's length with commercials added), will cause unconventional start times to be used (for example, such a movie that starts at 7 p.m. ET may cause subsequent programming to start within the half-hour, such as at :15 and :45 after the hour). This often causes major disruptions in the start times of programming. In some circumstances, conventional "top-and-bottom" start times would not be restored until the next day. While this is not exactly related to the "Turner Time" technique, it could strategically serve the same purposes due to the off-time scheduling.
A scheduling format similar to "Turner Time" has been used by Telemundo
Telemundo
Telemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision....
since 2008, though in a different fashion as programs airing weeknights from 8-11 p.m. ET start a few minutes after its officially scheduled time, about 3–4 minutes after the hour, with shows bleeding into the next timeslot; the 11 p.m. national (or local, if an affiliate carries one) newscast starts at the conventional time. On weekends when a soccer match is scheduled, all programs airing before the game are aired five minutes before the hour/half-hour; otherwise, scheduled weekend programming will air in their conventional timeslots. Since 2010, some Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
-owned cable channels (such as Spike, TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...
and Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite is the nighttime Cable network that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon on Sundays from 8.p.m.-7.am., Monday through Fridays from 9 p.m.-7 a.m. and Saturdays from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. . Though it shares channel space with Nickelodeon, A.C. Nielsen Co...
) have used a variant in which commercial time is added to the breaks of certain programs, placing start times at irregular slots (e.g., 4:32 p.m. ET for a TV Land airing of Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
, or 5:26 a.m. ET for a Nick at Nite airing of Family Matters).
News programming
One type of programming that TBS does not produce presently is news. Nevertheless, TBS Superstation did produce a twenty-minute newscast from 1976 to 1979. The program, entitled 17 Update Early in the Morning, was taped at the end of the workday and aired around 3 or 4 p.m. Eastern between movies. Its format was similar to the Weekend UpdateWeekend Update
Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance...
segment on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
and was, to a certain extent, a forerunner to Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
's The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
. The time slot and the snide content were a reaction to FCC rules at the time requiring stations to carry some news and informational content—although TBS had to broadcast news, the FCC couldn't say when it aired or demand that the news have a serious tone. The news show was cancelled months before Turner began his serious news venture, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
.
TBS Superstation also began airing its own newscast called TBS Evening News, which was produced by CNN. The one-hour program ran usually at 10 p.m. Eastern on weeknights during the early 1980s.
WTBS also simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
30 minutes of programming from CNN's sister channel, Headline News (now known as HLN), at 6 a.m.; this was only carried in Atlanta and those cable systems receiving the local feed. Currently, as WPCH-TV, HLN programming is simulcast for one full hour at 6 a.m.
TBS SuperStation, along with TNT and various other networks, carried CNN coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
. During sports blackouts in some areas (particularly in markets where a channel such as a local broadcast station or regional sports network
Regional sports network
In the United States of America and Canada, a regional sports network, or RSN, is a cable television station that presents sports programming to a local market. The most important programming on an RSN consists of live broadcasts of professional and college sporting events, as those games generate...
has the regional or local broadcast rights to a particular sporting event also scheduled to air on TBS), TBS carries rolling news coverage from HLN in its place.
Movies
TBS airs moviesFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
mostly of the comedy genre due to its format, however some non-comedic films continue to air on the channel; these movies generally air during the overnight hours on a daily basis and during much of the day on weekends (except from mid-afternoon to early evening on Saturdays, when the channel airs a block of sitcoms, as well as between 5-9 a.m. ET on Saturdays and 5-10 a.m. ET on Sundays (with the start time subject to variation) as sitcoms also often air in those timeslots; though that slot airs sitcoms on a nightly basis). TBS will air movies from sister companies Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
and New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
. The channel also airs movies from Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
, Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures is an American film production label and is one of several film labels of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Established in 1984, its releases typically feature more mature themes and darker tones than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.Touchstone...
, Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
, and Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
.
In the recent past, TBS had frequently aired its primetime movies interspersed with other content and commentary (e.g., Dinner and a Movie
Dinner and a Movie
Dinner and a Movie is a cooking and entertainment television program produced in the U.S. by TBS from 1995 to 2011.Each episode included a movie and the preparation of a creative dinner to go with the theme of the movie, generally via a pun...
includes cooking, while Movie and a Makeover
Movie and a Makeover
Movie and a Makeover is a television program produced in the U.S. by TBS. It is hosted by Mia Butler and is played on weekends. The official description is as follows:...
adds fashion content); these wraparound segments have since moved to weekend afternoon film presentations. Every Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the 1983 film A Christmas Story
A Christmas Story
A Christmas Story is a 1983 American Christmas comedy film based on the short stories and semi-fictional anecdotes of author and raconteur Jean Shepherd, including material from his books In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, and Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories. It was directed by Bob Clark...
airs for 24 hours, which is also done by sister channel TNT at the same time as TBS. Once each weekend, TBS airs a movie in primetime with limited commercial interruption, branded in promo advertisements under the title "More Movie, Less Commercials" (sister channel TNT also runs a primetime movie each weekend, that is telecast with limited commercial interruption).
Baseball
Coverage of the formerly-Ted TurnerTed Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
-owned Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
baseball team was perhaps TBS's signature program, due mainly to its high popularity in Georgia and neighboring states. Turner once famously tried to get Andy Messersmith
Andy Messersmith
John Alexander "Andy" Messersmith is a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He was the 12th overall pick of the 1966 amateur draft by the California Angels...
to use his jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
, which was #17, to promote TBS Superstation in its early years. The back of the jersey read, "CHANNEL 17." Major League Baseball immediately stopped Turner from proceeding because team jerseys are not allowed to have advertising other than that of the jersey manufacturer.
At the 2006 MLB All-Star Game
2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 77th playing of the midseason exhibition baseball game between the all-stars of the American League and National League , the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 11, 2006 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh,...
, it was announced that TBS would begin carrying a package that includes all major league teams. It premiered in 2007 in two phases, as follows:
- TBS carries all Division SeriesDivision SeriesIn baseball, the Division Series is the official name for the first round of the Major League Baseball playoffs. Currently, a total of four series are played in this opening round, two each for both the American League and the National League.-1981 season:...
games and one of the two League Championship SeriesLeague Championship SeriesThe League Championship Series is the official name for a round of postseason play in Major League Baseball which has been conducted since 1969...
, taking them from Fox and ESPNESPN Major League BaseballESPN Major League Baseball is a promotion of Major League Baseball on ESPN and ESPN2, with simulcasts on ESPNHD or ESPN2HD. ESPN's MLB coverage debuted on April 9, 1990 with three Opening Day telecasts. ESPN Major League Baseball is guaranteed to remain on air until 2013.The title is derived from...
. In addition, TBS carries the announcements of the All-Star teams and any possible games to determine division winners and wild card teams. Those were also carried previously on ESPN.
- The following year (2008), TBS began airing games every Sunday of the regular season for 26 weeks in all. No team may appear on the telecasts more than 162 times.
During the 2007 transitional year, TBS Superstation aired 70 regular-season Braves games. In 2008 and thereafter, only 45 games will be produced, and they will air on WPCH-TV in Atlanta. Turner sells the package to other stations or cable channels for broadcast in the remainder of the Braves' designated market.
The final Braves game aired on TBS on September 30, 2007. The first divisional playoff game (a tie-breaker) aired one day after, on October 1, 2007 (when the TBS/WPCH split occurred).
On October 18, 2008, a technical problem in Atlanta prevented the channel from showing the first inning of Game 6 of the American League Championship Series
2008 American League Championship Series
-Game 1:Friday, October 10, 2008 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FloridaBoston won a pitcher's duel on a sac fly by Jed Lowrie in the fifth and an RBI double by Kevin Youkilis in the eighth. Starter Daisuke Matsuzaka was nearly unhittable in Game 1 of the 2008 ALCS. He held the Rays hitless...
between the Boston Red Sox
2008 Boston Red Sox season
The Boston Red Sox' 2008 season began on March 25, in Tokyo, Japan for the MLB Japan Opening Day 2008. The Red Sox were attempting to become the first repeat World Series Champions since the 1999–2000 New York Yankees and also be the first repeat Champions of the 21st century. They also tried to...
and Tampa Bay Rays
2008 Tampa Bay Rays season
The Tampa Bay Rays' 2008 season, the 11th season in franchise history, marked the change of the team's name from the "Tampa Bay Devil Rays" to the "Tampa Bay Rays", as revealed on November 8, 2007. The change in name also came with a change in logo and uniforms, with new team colors of Columbia...
. The channel aired The Steve Harvey Show
The Steve Harvey Show
The Steve Harvey Show is an American sitcom that aired for six seasons from August 25, 1996 to February 17, 2002 on The WB Television Network. It was created by Winifred Hervey and directed by Stan Lathan.-Synopsis:...
instead.
College basketball
Beginning in 2011, TBS will share duties of broadcasting the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament with fellow Turner properties TNT and truTV, and with CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. This will initially consist of early rounds to the Sweet Sixteen, but in 2016 will expand to include the regional finals, Final Four and national championship game on an alternating basis with CBS.
College football
College footballCollege football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
games from the Big 12
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...
and Pac-10 aired for several years in a sublicensing agreement with FSN
Fox Sports Net
The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...
. That agreement ended after the 2006 season.
National Basketball Association
National Basketball AssociationNational Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
games were aired before being moved entirely to TNT; some Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association .-The first years:...
(also owned by Turner) games were shown on TBS Superstation until the TBS and TNT telecasts became subject to blackout within 35 miles of the home-team's arena (this restriction was dropped when TNT gained the right to be the exclusive broadcaster of any game it chose to carry).
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestlingProfessional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
aired on TBS from 1971 to 2001 under several different companies including Jim Barnett
Jim Barnett (wrestling)
James E. Barnett was an American professional wrestling promoter, and owner of Georgia Championship Wrestling and Australia's World Championship Wrestling.-Professional wrestling career:...
-owned Georgia Championship Wrestling
Georgia Championship Wrestling
Georgia Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion whose self-titled TV program aired in the 1970s and 1980s on Atlanta, U.S., superstation WTBS. Though based in Atlanta, the company also ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic "territory" of Georgia Georgia...
(1971–1984), Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...
's World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
(1984–1985), Bill Watts
Bill Watts
William F. "Bill" Watts is a former American professional wrestler and promoter. Watts was famous under his "Cowboy" gimmick in his wrestling career, and then as a tough, no-nonsense promoter in the Mid-South area of the United States, which grew to become the UWF.In 1992, he was the Executive...
' Mid-South Wrestling and Jim Crockett, Jr.
Jim Crockett, Jr.
Jim Crockett, Jr. is a former professional wrestling promoter. From 1973 to 1988, he owned Jim Crockett Promotions , a wrestling company affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance...
's Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions was a professional wrestling promotion owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. until the late 1980s. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was the forerunner to World Championship Wrestling .-Early history:...
(1985–1988), which eventually became Turner owned World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
(1988–2001). Through the early 1990s, the wrestling programs were among basic cable's highest-rated offerings, due to, like Braves baseball coverage, heavy viewership in the Southeastern U.S.
NASCAR
In addition, select NASCARNASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series), Busch Series (now Nationwide Series), and Craftsman Truck Series (now Camping World Truck Series) races were aired on TBS up to the 2000 season. For several years in the late 1990s, the only Cup races aired on TBS were the two regular Cup series races from Lowe's Motor Speedway
Lowe's Motor Speedway
Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the Sprint All-Star Race...
(TBS did not have rights to The Winston
NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race
The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, formerly known as The Winston until 2004, then the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge from 2004 until 2007, is a race open to race winners from the previous season as well as the current season, plus the past ten event winners and past decade's Cup Series champions...
, which usually aired on TNN), and the July race at Pocono Raceway
Pocono Raceway
Pocono Raceway also known as the Tricky Triangle, is a superspeedway located in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania at Long Pond...
. TBS was also the home of the post-season exhibition races held at Suzuka Circuit
Suzuka Circuit
, Suzuka Circuit for short, is a motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Mobilityland Corporation, the subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd..-Introduction:...
and the Twin Ring Motegi
Twin Ring Motegi
is an automobile racing track located at Motegi, Japan. Its name comes from the facility having two race tracks: a oval and a road course. It was built in 1997 by Honda, as part of Honda's effort to bring the IndyCar Series to Japan, helping to increase their knowledge of American open-wheel...
tracks in Japan from 1996–1998. Races were switched to TNT in 2001 as part of the then-new NASCAR TV deal, although the initial plans were for TBS Superstation to carry the races. Instead, Turner decided that NASCAR would better fit TNT's "We Know Drama" slogan.
External links
- Official Site of TBS
- Official Site of Turner Broadcasting
- Clips of 17 Update Early in the Morning maintained by former anchor Bill Tush
- http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?date=12/11/08&id=20081211turner01