 | |
| Type | Basic cable network |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Broadcast area | United States |
| Headquarters | Atlanta,Georgia, U.S. |
| Programming | |
| Languages |
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| Picture format |
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| Ownership | |
| Parent | Warner Bros. Discovery Global Linear Networks |
| Sister channels | |
| History | |
| Launched |
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| Founder | Ted Turner |
| Former names |
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| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| Affiliated Streaming Service | HBO Max |
| Service(s) | DirecTV Stream,Hulu + Live TV,Sling TV,YouTube TV |
TBS (originally an initialism ofTurner Broadcasting System) is an Americanbasic cabletelevision network owned by theGlobal Linear Networks division ofWarner Bros. Discovery.[1] It carries avariety of programming, with a focus oncomedy, along with some sports events throughTNT Sports, includingMajor League Baseball,Stanley Cup playoffs, and theNCAA men's basketball tournament. As of September 2018, TBS was received by approximately 90.391 million households that subscribe to a pay television service throughout the United States.[2] By June 2023, this number has dropped to 71.3 million households.[3] TBS' sister networks areTNT,TruTV, andTurner Classic Movies, with the first two channels also providing sports coverage through TNT Sports.
TBS was originally established on December 17, 1976, as the national feed of Turner'sAtlanta, Georgia,independent television station,WTCG. The decision to begin offering WTCG viasatellite transmission tocable andsatellite subscribers throughout the United States expanded the small station into the first nationally distributed "superstation". With the assignment of WTBS as the broadcast station's callsign in 1979, the national feed became known as SuperStation WTBS, and later SuperStation TBS, TBS Superstation, or simply TBS. The channel broadcast a variety of programming during this era, including films, syndicated series, and sports (includingAtlanta Braves baseball, basketball games involving theAtlanta Hawks and otherNBA teams, andprofessional wrestling includingGeorgia Championship Wrestling,Jim Crockett Promotions,World Championship Wrestling andAll Elite Wrestling).
WTBS maintained a nearly identical program schedule as the national feed, aside from local commercials,FCC-mandated EAS alerts, legal IDs, public affairs andeducational programming that only aired on the local signal. By the early 2000s, TBS had begun to focus more intensively on comedic programming, includingsitcoms and other series. On October 1, 2007, TBS was converted by Turner into a conventional basic cable network, at which time it began to be carried within the Atlanta market on area cable providers alongside its existing local carriage onsatellite providersDirecTV andDish Network. The former parent station in Atlanta was concurrently relaunched asWPCH-TV (branded as "Peachtree TV", which Turner sold to theMeredith Corporation in 2017, and later acquired byGray Media in 2021) and reformatted as a traditional independent station with a separate schedule exclusively catering to the Atlanta market.
As of December 2023, TBS currently airs a mix of game shows and reality shows and reruns of live-action sitcoms that were originally broadcast on the major broadcast networks. The remaining original scripted first-run program currently seen on TBS isAmerican Dad!, which has now stopped airing new episodes, but will continue to air reruns.
The channel's daytime schedule is heavily dominated by reruns of current and former network comedies, with these shows also airing in the evening and sporadically during the overnight hours. As of 2023, these programs consist ofFamily Matters,Friends,The Big Bang Theory,Young Sheldon, andModern Family.[4] Most reruns shown on TBS are broadcast in a compressed format, with content sped up to accommodate additional time slots for advertising sales.[5][6]
On June 29, 1981, TBS (as SuperStation WTBS) began to use a specialized program scheduling format known informally as "Turner Time."[7] While program offerings on other broadcast and cable channels generally began at the top and bottom (:00 and :30 minutes) of each hour, TBS decided to begin airing programs—mainly original and off-network series, certain movies that followed blocks of series or maintained end times that did not fall within the half-hour, and sporting events—five minutes later, at :05 and :35 minutes past the hour.[8]
This scheduling concept resulted in programs seen on the channel being listed under their own time entry inTV Guide, during the period in which the magazine published its program listings in a time-prioritized "log" format, thus enabling the program listings to catch potential viewers' eyes more readily. along with its unique17A channel bullet (later changed toTBS in 1983). This scheduling caused issue with local newspaper listing supplements, which mainly blended TBS shows into each half hour logline with an additional (:05) or (:35) disclaimer. The use of "Turner Time" also encouragedchannel surfers who could not find anything interesting to watch at the top of the hour to still be able to watch a program on TBS 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 turning to another channel to watch a program that would already be airing in progress. (By 1991, the three major American broadcast networks also adopted the :05/:35 scheduling in a much more limited form for theirlate night programming schedules, mainly to allow their affiliates to sell additional ad inventory within their locallate newscast slots; this practice continues to the present day.)
TBS reduced its use of the "Turner Time" scheduling in 1997 and switched entirely to conventional start times at the top and bottom of the hour by 2000; by this point, log listings were being phased out in favor of agrid-based layout, eliminating one of the strategic advantages of the "Turner Time" concept (TV Guide would gradually minimize its use of the log format in its regional editions starting in 2003, and switched completely to grids when it converted to a national listings format in 2005). However, the channel continues to use unconventional start times for its movie presentations—which vary in their running times depending on the film's length with commercials added to pad the timeslot (for example, a movie that starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time and has an allotted airtime exceeding 125 minutes 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, and in some circumstances, conventional "top-and-bottom" start times would not be restored until early the next morning. While this is not exactly related to the "Turner Time" format, it may strategically serve the same purposes due to the off-time scheduling. The "Turner Time" format is similar to the scheduling applied by mostpremium channels and certain other movie-oriented services (which often schedule the start of programs in variable five-minute increments); other broadcast and subscription television channels have utilized similar off-time scheduling formats (such asTelemundo, which utilizes a "Turner Time"-style scheduling for programs during the first two hours of prime time, andParamount Global-owned channels such asNick at Nite,MTV andTV Land, which pad the runtimes of some programs by including longer commercial breaks to generate extra advertising revenue).
One type of programming that TBS does not produce presently is news. Nevertheless, TBS—during its existence as a superstation—produced a 20-minute-long satirical newscast,17 Update Early in the Morning, from 1976 to 1979; hosted byBill Tush and Tina Seldin, the program was taped at the end of the workday and aired between movies around 3:00 a.m. or 4:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Its format was similar to theSaturday Night Live news satire segmentWeekend Update and was, to a certain extent, a forerunner toThe Daily Show. The timeslot and the satirical content of the program were a reaction to FCC rules in effect at the time that required stations to carry some news and information content—although TBS had to broadcast news, the Federal Communications Commission could not dictatewhen it aired or demand that it have a serious tone.17 Update Early in the Morning was cancelled months before Ted Turner began his serious television news venture, CNN, amid aCongressional investigation concerning whether he was fulfilling FCC public service requirements. Standard, more serious news updates with the17 Update anchors—at first simply known asWTCG (News) Update, and later under the titleNewsWatch—also ran during the day in-between programs. Upon its launch in January 1982, CNN2 (later Headline News, now HLN) assumed production responsibilities for theTBS NewsWatch segments, which began to be presented by that network's anchors and were split into several topic-specific segments (under the titlesBusinessWatch for financial news,SportsWatch for sports news andFashionWatch for news on current and emerging fashion trends).
On July 21, 1980, CNN began producing an hour-long weeknight news program for WTBS, theTBS Evening News, which usually ran at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time (varying depending on the length of the movie or sports presentation that preceded it). Owing to WTBS's national superstation status, rather than focusing on local news as prime time newscasts that aired on other independent stations had been doing (including those distributed as regional or national superstations), the program—which was originally anchored weeknights byDavid Jensen[9] (who previously served as a host forBBC Radio 1, where he would rejoin less than a year after the program launched), Kevin Christopher and meteorologistDallas Raines—focused on national and international news headlines as well as national weather forecasts and sports headlines. TheTBS Evening News was discontinued after four years as a result of low ratings due to the frequent programming delays, with the program ending after the June 29, 1984, broadcast; the program was relaunched on CNN as theCNN Evening News on July 2, 1984. In addition, on July 31, 1980, WTBS also carried a 24-hoursimulcast of CNN in place of its regular programming schedule; the simulcast was intended to help encourage subscriber demand to force cable and C-band satellite providers to begin carrying the news channel.[10][11]
When the channel launched on January 1, 1982, WTBS also carried simulcasts of CNN's sister channel CNN2. The channel's launch was simulcast nationwide on WTBS as well as CNN starting at 11:45 p.m. on December 31, 1981, as a preview for cable and C-band providers throughout the U.S. that had not yet reached agreements to carry CNN2. Thereafter, initially to encourage viewers to ask for the network full-time, the station also ran a half-hour simulcast of CNN2/Headline News each morning at 6:00 a.m. in the Atlanta market and at 5:30 a.m. ET in the rest of the country. Abbreviated editions of Headline News newscasts would also occasionally be run as filler between daytime movie presentations and before the start of live sports telecasts. The Headline News simulcasts as well as theTBS NewsWatch segments were eventually phased out locally and nationally in 1996 following the relaxation of the FCC's public affairs programming requirements. (As WPCH-TV, the Atlanta station ran an hour-long simulcast block of HLN'sMorning Express daily at 6:00 a.m. until the 2017 sale to Meredith, when it was replaced by a simulcast of WGCL's morning newscast.)
On September 11, 2001, TBS (along with sister channels TNT, Court TV, Headline News and the now-defunctCNNfn andCNN/SI) carried CNN's coverage of theterrorist attacks on theWorld Trade Center andThe Pentagon. Until the early 2010s, duringsports blackouts in some areas (particularly in markets where a channel such as a local broadcast station orregional sports network has the regional or local broadcast rights to a particular sporting event that is scheduled to air elsewhere around the country on TBS), TBS carried rolling news coverage from HLN in their place.
Feature films have been a mainstay of TBS since its inception as a superstation, although the number of films featured on the channel's weekly schedule—which prior to that point, encompassed one to two films during the daytime and up to five at night on weekdays, and between eight and twelve features per day each weekend—has substantially declined since its 2007 conversion into a cable-exclusive channel.
In the present day, most of the films seen on TBS are of the comedy genre; however, somedrama andaction films continue to air on the channel periodically; movies on the channel generally air during the overnight hours on a daily basis and during much of the day on weekends (except from between 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturdays and 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Sunday mornings—with the start time subject to variation—due to sitcom blocks that typically air in those timeslots); this is in stark contrast to its existence as a superstation, when movies also filled late morning, early afternoon and prime time slots on weekdays. TBS broadcasts movies from sister companiesWarner Bros. Pictures andNew Line Cinema, along with films produced byWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures,Sony Pictures Entertainment,Lionsgate,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,Universal Pictures, andParamount Pictures.
Between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, TBS had frequently aired its prime time movies interspersed with other content and commentary (for example,Dinner and a Movie included cooking segments, whileMovie and a Makeover featured fashion content); these wraparound segments later moved to weekend afternoon film presentations, before being dropped entirely by 2011. Since December 2004, TBS has broadcast a 24-hour marathon ofA Christmas Story from Christmas Eve evening to Christmas Day evening; sister channel TNT has also run annual marathons of the 1983 film (airing concurrently with the TBS marathon event, but usually delayed by one hour) since 2014. Since November 2004, TBS has also run special prime time airings ofThe Wizard Of Oz in multiple showings aroundThanksgiving each year. Once each weekend, TBS airs a movie in prime time with limited commercial interruption, branded in promo advertisements under the title "More Movies, Less Commercials" (sister channel TNT also runs a prime time movie each weekend, that is telecast with limited commercial interruption).
Coverage of the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball team—which was formerly owned by Ted Turner from 1976 until the 1996 acquisition of Turner Broadcasting by Time Warner[12]—was perhaps TBS's signature program, mainly due to its viewer popularity in Georgia and neighboring states. Turner acquired the local television rights to the Braves for WTCG in July 1972, effective with the team's1973 season, assuming the contract from then-NBC affiliate WSB-TV, which had carried the franchise's games since the Braves relocated fromMilwaukee in1966. Turner's contractual agreement with the team reversed the standard of MLB franchises designating originating stations, arranging their own regional carrier networks and handling advertising sales for their game telecasts. It was also particularly striking given that WTCG had experienced major profit losses ever since Ted Turner assumed ownership of the station from Rice Broadcasting in 1970; WTCG had only then started to break even in revenue and was just beginning to become more competitive with the Atlanta market's other television stations in terms of viewership.[13][14]
Channel 17's Braves telecasts began airing nationally at the start of the1977 season, after Turner and Southern Satellite Systems uplinked the station's signal via satellite. As WTCG reached a significant cable penetration rate throughout the Southern U.S. during1978 and1979, Turner ceased syndicating the team's game broadcasts and relegated those telecasts to the WTCG/WTBS cable feed, making the Braves the first team that did not provide live game coverage to broadcast stations outside of those within the team's home market. Turner once famously tried to getAndy Messersmith to use his #17jersey to promote Superstation WTBS in its early years (the back of the jersey read, "CHANNEL 17"). The MLB organization immediately stopped Turner from proceeding with this plan due to league regulations barring team jerseys from incorporating advertising other than that of the jersey's manufacturer.
WTBS's broadcasts of Braves games helped expand the team's fanbase well outside of the Southern United States and earned them national prominence as "America's Team", even as the franchise's performance ranged from amiable to poor for much of the late 1970s and the 1980s. Some sportswriters even posited how such an awful team could have such broad availability via cable television, as with a 1990Los Angeles Times column in which sportswriterMike Downey jocularly lamented that TBS was short for "These Braves Stink." (During the aforementioned period, the team's only postseason appearance was in1982 and only three seasons,1980, 1982, and1983, had the Braves achieve a scoring average above .500.)[15][16]
At the2006 MLB All-Star Game, it was announced that TBS would begin carryinga television package that includes all major league teams beginning with the 2007 season. TBS began carrying allDivision Series games and one of the twoLeague Championship Series (assuming the rights fromFox andESPN) as well as 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).[17][18] In 2008, TBS began airing MLBregular season Sunday games, with the provision that no team may appear on the telecasts more than 13 times during the season.
During the 2007 transitional year, TBS aired 70 regular-season Braves games. In 2008, the number of Braves telecasts was reduced to only 45 games, with TBS's former Atlanta feed, WPCH-TV solely carrying the telecasts;[19] Turner syndicated the package to other television stations and local origination cable channels for broadcast in the remainder of the Braves' designated market area. The final Braves game to be broadcast on TBS aired on September 30, 2007, with the first divisional playoff game airing the following day on October 1, 2007 (when the TBS/WPCH split occurred).
On October 18, 2008, a technical problem at the channel'smaster control facility in Atlanta prevented TBS from showing the first inning of Game 6 of theAmerican League Championship Series between theBoston Red Sox andTampa Bay Rays; the channel aired a rerun episode ofThe Steve Harvey Show instead.[20]
In October 1972, WTCG obtained the broadcast rights to broadcastNBA games involving theAtlanta Hawks (which was also owned by Ted Turner at the time) under a ten-year agreement. WTCG/WTBS and its superstation feed aired an average of 55 Hawks regular season games per season.[21][22] TBS aired the games nationwide until the telecasts became subjected to NBAblackout restrictions within 35 miles (56 km) of the home team's arena, resulting in many Hawks away games televised by the TBS national feed being unavailable to cable providers within the designated market area of the opposing team. (This restriction was dropped when TNT gained the right to be the exclusive broadcaster of any game that it chose to carry, although it was still subjected to league restrictions first imposed in 1982 that limited the number of games that could air per season on national and regional superstations.)
In the spring of 1984, WTBS reached an agreement with the NBA to broadcast games from league teams other than the Hawks beginning with the1984–85 season; under the deal, WTBS/TBS maintained a package of approximately 55 regular season NBA games annually, with games airing on Tuesday and Friday nights.[23] From1985 until1989, WTBS/TBS also televised anywhere from 12 to 20 early roundconference playoff games beginning with the1985 NBA Playoffs as well as theNBA draft.[24][25] Under a joint broadcast contract signed between Turner Broadcasting and the NBA in the summer of 1987, the rights to NBA telecasts began to be split between TBS and upstart sister network TNT beginning with the league's1988-89 season, withTNT assuming rights to the NBA Draft and most NBA regular season and playoff games and TBS's NBA telecasts being relegated to a single game or a double-headers one night per week.[26][27] In 2001, Turner Sports signed a new television contract with the NBA, in which TNT would become Turner Broadcasting's exclusive rightsholder of NBA telecasts beginning with the2002–03 season. (ESPN assumed TBS's portion of the league's pay television contract, though TBS maintained the right to airNBA on TNT games which have had overflow feeds until NBA TV assumed those rights later on.)
Professional wrestling aired on WTCG/WTBS from 1971 to 2001 under several different wrestling promotions. In 1971, the station served as the flagship outlet for theJim Barnett-ownedGeorgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), acquiring the local rights to the program from WQXI-TV (now WXIA); the program concurrently began to be recorded in a soundstage at the channel 17's now-former West Peachtree Street studios in Midtown Atlanta. When WTBS became a national superstation in 1976, Georgia Championship Wrestling became the firstNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) promotion to maintain a nationally televised broadcast, a move which made many of the NWA's regional promoters unhappy; however, Barnett allayed any issues citing that he was only using Georgia-based wrestlers.
In July 1984, GCW and the promotion's television timeslot rights were acquired by theVince McMahon-owned World Wrestling Federation (WWF; now theWWE). The replacement show,WWF World Championship Wrestling (later retitledWWF Georgia Championship Wrestling in March 1985), mainly served as a recap of matches that had previously aired on the WWF's main programs, which angered Ted Turner, who hoped that the WWF would hold first-run matches originating from the WTBS studios. The WWF iteration of the show received much lowerviewership than its predecessor; this led McMahon to sell the promotion's Saturday night time slot toJim Crockett Promotions (owned byCharlotte-based wrestling promoterJim Crockett, Jr.), who assumed production responsibilities for the wrestling program and utilized the same set. (Crockett's program relocated to a new arena soundstage at the CNN Center in 1988.)
In 1985, Turner acquired the television rights toMid-South Wrestling (owned byShreveport-based promoterBill Watts) as a WWF alternative program. Although Mid-South quickly became the highest-rated program on WTBS, Watts lost out on acquiring the two-hour Saturday timeslot occupied by the WWF, when Barnett helped broker a deal that allowed Crockett to buy the slot from McMahon and become the superstation's exclusive wrestling promotion. Through the early 1990s, the wrestling programs and Braves baseball were among pay television's highest-rated offerings, due to heavy viewership in the Southeast.
In November 1988, TBS became the television home ofWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW), which Turner acquired from Jim Crockett Promotions; from 1992 to 2000, it carried the weekly show,WCW Saturday Night, which served as the WCW's flagship program prior to the launch ofMonday Nitro on sister channel TNT in 1995. Another WCW show,WCW Thunder, debuted in 1998 on Thursday nights; the program was moved to Wednesdays in 2000, before it was cancelled in 2001 when TBS executiveJamie Kellner determined that wrestling did not fit the demographics of either TBS or TNT and would not be favorable enough to get the "right" advertisers to buy airtime—even thoughThunder was the highest-rated show on TBS at the time.[28][29] In the bookNITRO: The Incredible Rise and Inevitable Collapse of Ted Turner's WCW by Guy Evans, it is said that a key condition in WCW's purchase deal with Fusient Media Ventures was that Fusient wanted control over time slots on TNT and TBS networks, regardless of whether these slots would show WCW programming or not. This influenced Kellner's decision to ultimately cancel WCW programming.[30]
On May 19, 2021,WarnerMedia announced thatAll Elite Wrestling's (AEW) flagship show,AEW Dynamite, would be moving from TNT to TBS in January 2022, marking the first time in over 20 years that TBS would air professional wrestling programming since airing the last episode ofWCW Thunder on March 21, 2001.[31] It was later announced that the show would start airing on TBS on January 5, 2022. It was also originally reported that AEW's secondary show,AEW Rampage, would be moving to TBS as well. However, it was later reported thatRampage would stay on TNT.[32]
In 2011, TBS obtained the television rights to theNCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, with broadcast rights shared withCBS, and fellow Turner properties TNT and TruTV. TBS and the other two Turner-owned networks presently broadcast games played in the second and third rounds of the tournament, with TBS alternating coverage with CBS for the regional semifinals (Sweet Sixteen).[33] In 2014 and 2015, TBS and CBS split coverage of theRegional Finals (Elite Eight), with TBS gaining the two Saturday evening games and CBS retaining the two Sunday afternoon games. Also in 2014 and 2015, TBS covered thenational semifinals (Final Four). In 2016, TBS televised the Final Four and the national championship game, beginning an alternating agreement with CBS through 2032. In even-numbered years, TBS now broadcasts the final three games, and in odd-numbered years, CBS televises the games.
In 1981, WTBS acquired the cable television rights to broadcastcollege football games under a special "supplemental" television contract with theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) beginning with the1981 season, limited to games which had already not been distributed for national broadcast by other networks. Beginning with the1982 season, under a $17.6-million deal reached between the NCAA and Turner on January 27 of that year, consisting of liveDivision I-AA games on Thursday nights and Division I-A games on Saturdays during the fall. With this, its national superstation feed became the first cable channel to broadcast live college football games nationwide.[34][35] Beginning in1984, WTBS's college football coverage shifted to primarily focus on games involving teams in theSoutheastern Conference (SEC). WTBS/TBS discontinued its college football contract after the1992 season.
WTBS/TBS resumed college football coverage in2002 through a sub-licensing agreement withFox Sports, which allowed the Atlanta station and superstation feed to carry college football games involving teams in theBig 12 andPac-10 conferences, to which Fox Sports held the national cable television rights, the network usually aired two games per week during the first four seasons of the contract, reduced to a single weekly game during some weeks in the2006 season. These rights were transferred exclusively to Fox Sports and itsregional sports networks beginning with the2007 season.
Beginning with the2024–25 season TBS simulcast TNT’s coverage of college football playoffs' first round games.
TBS first began carryingNASCARWinston Cup in 1983, when it acquired the rights to theWinston Western 500 (which was carried annually until 1987). It also broadcast theRichmond 400 spring race (later renamed the Miller High Life 400 and then the Pontiac Excitement 400) from 1983 to 1995, theAtlanta Journal 500 from 1983 to 1985, and theNationwise 500 (later renamed the AC Delco 500) from 1985 to 1987.
For most of the 1990s, the only Winston Cup Series races aired on TBS were the two races held atLowe's Motor Speedway (Coca-Cola 600 from 1988 to 2000,UAW-GM Quality 500 from 1989 to 2000) as well as theMiller Genuine Draft 500 (later the Miller 500 and then the Pennsylvania 500) each July from 1993 to 2000. (TBS did not have rights toThe Winston, which usually aired onTNN). TBS was also the home of the post-season exhibition races held atSuzuka Circuit andTwin Ring Motegi in Japan from1996 to1998. Select Winston Cup,Busch Series andCraftsman Truck Series races aired on TBS until the 2000 season. NASCAR events moved to TNT in 2001 as part of a deal between the organization, NBC and TNT, although the initial plans were for TBS to carry the races.[36] Instead, Turner Broadcasting decided that the NASCAR telecasts would better fit TNT's "We Know Drama" image campaign.
As part of a multi-year deal with Turner Sports, theNCAA Beach Volleyball Championship was televised by TBS in 2016 and 2017.[37][38]
WTCG carried coverage of theNational Hockey League (NHL)'sAtlanta Flames from 1977 to 1980, when the team moved toCalgary.[citation needed]
On April 27, 2021,Turner Sports agreed to a seven-year deal for rights to the NHL. While most regular season games air onTNT, select playoff games are broadcast on TBS instead.[39]
On September 23, 2015, Turner Broadcasting announced that plans to launch aCounter-Strike: Global Offensive esports league beginning in 2016.[40] Other video games would be added in future seasons, ranging fromFIFA to numerous fighting games.[40] ELEAGUE has been dormant since 2020, mainly due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
In 2024, TBS began airingThe Road to a Madden Millionaire, a documentary series on professionalMadden NFL Football esports player Henry Leverette.[41]
TBS is available on multichanneltelevision providers (including cable,satellite and selectover-the-top providers) throughout the entireUnited States. Until October 1, 2007, the national TBS feed could not be viewed within its homemarket in theAtlanta metropolitan area, due to the over-the-air presence of WTBS (channel 17), which carried a nearly identical schedule, with the only differing programming beingchildren's programs that meet the FCC'seducational programming guidelines andpublic affairs programming. The operations of WTBS and TBS Superstation were separated in October 2007, with the free-to-air Atlanta station becoming WPCH-TV, a generalentertainment independent station focused solely on the Atlanta area. The national TBS feed became available to pay-television subscribers within channel 17'sviewing area as a result.
In April 1985, theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)granted authorization for the WTBS Atlanta feed and three other American superstations (WGN-TV, WOR-TV, andWPIX in New York City) to be distributed to multichannel television providers within Canada. Under CRTC linkage rules first implemented in 1983 that include requirements for providers to offer U.S.-based program services indiscretionary tiers tied to Canadian services, TBS and other authorized U.S. superstations typically have been received mainly through a subscription to a domestic premium service—such as First Choice (later The Movie Network and nowCrave), Moviepix (later The Movie Network Encore and nowStarz),Super Channel,Super Écran,Movie Central (the original user of the Superchannel name, now defunct) andEncore Avenue (also now defunct)—although, beginning in 1997, many cable and satellite providers moved TBS to a basic specialty tier under a related rule that allows for one superstation of the provider's choice to be carried on a non-premium tier.[42][43] Because the CRTC had only approved the Atlanta station's broadcast signal for distribution to cable, satellite, and other domestic subscription television providers, following the separation of TBS and WTBS/WPCH in October 2007, Canadian subscribers continued to receive the re-called WPCH-TV, instead of the national TBS channel. As they are not shown on WPCH, most of TBS's flagship programs—such as Major League Baseball (both regular season and postseason games) and original series (such asConan)—are carried on other Canadianspecialty channels.[44][45]
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