A timeline of the Turner media empire
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
1970: Ted Turner buys Atlanta's Channel 17, a struggling UHF station.
1976: Turner transmits nationally via satellite to cable systems.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
1979: Turner renames the business Turner Broadcasting System.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
1980: Turner launches Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable new channel.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
1981: Turner creates the TBS Sports division, which would later be called Turner Sports.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
1982: Turner launches CNN2, which would later become Headline News, then HLN.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
1985: CNN International launches. CNN turns first profit.
1986: CNN is only channel showing live coverage of space shuttle Challenger when it explodes in flight.
1986: CNN moves downtown from original Midtown HQ.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
1986: Turner buys legacy film properties such as early Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer library, Gilligan’s Island, Bugs Bunny and others. Turner Entertainment starts.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
1988: Turner Network Television (TNT) is launched with an airing of "Gone With the Wind."
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
1991: CNN is the network to watch as Persian Gulf War begins. CourtTV is launched.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
1992: Turner starts Cartoon Network.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
1994: Turner launches Turner Classic Movies.
1995: CNN.com launches.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
1996: Turner Broadcasting sold to Time Warner. Fox News Channel launches.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
2000: Time Warner merges with AOL. The Boomerang channel -- a spin-off from Cartoon Network -- is launched.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
2001: Adult Swim -- an adult block of programming on Cartoon Network -- debuts.
2002: Fox News surpasses CNN in ratings.
2005: TNT launches “The Closer,” breaking records for most viewers for a basic cable show.
2006: The company sells Turner South to Fox Cable Networks, creating Fox Sports South.
2006: Ted Turner resigns from Time Warner board.
2008: Court TV becomes truTV and veers away from court programming in favor of reality shows.
2010: TBS launches "Conan" hosted by former "Tonight Show' host Conan O'Brien.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
2012: Turner Sports acquires Bleacher Report.
2013: Atlanta-based CEO Phil Kent turns leadership over to New York-based John Martin. Jeff Zucker takes over CNN, begins pushing more reality programming such as “Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown.”
2014: Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox offers to buy Time Warner, which rejects the deal.
2015: Turner launches Great Big Story, a streaming-video network.
2017: WPCH-TV sold to Meredith Corporation.
2018: John Martin exits as CEO after AT&T acquires Time Warner. Turner Broadcasting sells Court TV brand, programming to Katz.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
2019: Turner Broadcasting will be splintered off as part of AT&T's WarnerMedia restructuring plans, which will retire the Turner brand.
2021: AT&T sells the CNN Center building to CP Group, a Florida-based real estate company. AT&T announces plans to move CNN employees to the Turner midtown campus. CNN had occupied CNN Center since 1987.
Credit: Logopedia
Credit: Logopedia
2022: WarnerMedia merges with Discovery to become Warner Bros. Discovery.
2022: The subscription streaming service CNN+ launches just before WarnerMedia’s merger with Discovery. After only one month in operation, Warner Bros. Discovery announces that it’s killing the venture, in order to consolidate its streaming services.
—Logos taken from Logopedia
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