: also stands for
Tokyo Broadcasting System , a Japanese television network.''
is an
American Cable TV Network that shows sports and variety programming with a focus on comedy. It is currently owned by
Time Warner .
TBS (which originally stood for
Turner Broadcasting System ) was originally , a
UHF Terrestrial Television Station owned by media mogul
Ted Turner that broadcast from
Atlanta, Georgia , during the late
1970s . WTCG reportedly stood for "'''W'''atch '''T'''his '''C'''hannel '''G'''row" (though the "TCG" officially stood for
Turner Communications Group , the forerunner to Turner Broadcasting System).
TBS is a national cable channel, but it is not available in the Atlanta market, due to
WTBS , which carries a nearly identical schedule, plus the required
Public Affairs programming and
E/I programming for children.
At 1 p.m. on
December 17 ,
1976 , WTCG Channel 17's signal was beamed via the
Satcom 1 Satellite to its four cable systems in
Grand Island, Nebraska ;
Newport News, Virginia ;
Troy, Alabama ; and
Newton, Kansas . All four cable systems started receiving the sleepy
1948 Dana Andrews –
Cesar Romero film ''Deep Waters'' that was already in progress. The movie had started 30 minutes earlier. WTCG went from being a little television station that was available only on
UHF in
Atlanta to a major
TV Network that every household outside of the 675,000 in Atlanta was receiving coast-to-coast. WTCG became a so-called
Superstation and set a precedent for today's basic
Cable Television .
HBO had moved to satellite transmissions to distribute its signal nationally in
1975 , but that was a service cable subscribers were made to pay extra to receive. Ted Turner's innovation signaled the start of the basic cable revolution.
WTCG was re-launched in
1979 as . The new call letters were acquired via a monetary donation to the
MIT Student Radio station, now
WMBR .
The channel 17 transmitter is located at 1018 West Peachtree Street NW, with antenna located on a large self-supporting tower. The building at this site was once home to the studios of
WAGA and later channel 17 as WJRJ. Soon after being purchased by Turner, the studios were moved to the former Progressive Club site a few blocks west.
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.
Currently, the focus of TBS is comedy-related, focusing mostly on
Sitcom reruns and originally produced
Reality series, using the slogan ''"Very Funny."'' It is intended as a direct contrast to sister network
TNT , which currently focuses on drama-related programs.
On September 1st, 2007, a high definition version of the "Superstation" feed of TBS will be launched. A digital version of WTBS can already be viewed over-the-air in Atlanta.
Initially WTCG Channel 17 was identified as Channel 17 both locally in Atlanta as well as on cable systems outside of Atlanta. Also the same exact shows that ran locally ran nationally. In
1979 , calls would be changed to WTBS and the station was known as Superstation WTBS with 17 as part of the logo.
In
1981 , it was decided that the same exact shows would continue to be shown both locally and nationally but feeds would be separate. The station would be known locally in Atlanta as "Superstation 17". They also would continue to air local commercials as well. Nationally, though, the station would not mention 17 and would strictly have logos identifying them as "Superstation WTBS". All local ads would be dropped on the national feed in favor of station promos, Public Service ads, Per Inquirery Spots, and maybe some national ads. This continues to this day. Programming on WTBS has always been
Syndex proof and TBS is licensed to run all programming not only for Atlanta but nationally. Most of these shows run nationally are also syndicated in local markets on respective local stations.
In late June 2007, Turner Broadcasting announced that WTBS would change call letters and become , and would be known as '''''Peachtree TV'''''. According to Turner, the new channel 17 would offer sitcoms and movies geared toward an Atlanta audience. The new station would also broadcast 45 Atlanta Braves baseball games next season. The change is set for October 1. In addition, the channel 17 change would allow Atlanta cable and satellite television viewers to receive the national TBS signal as of that date.
{Link without Title}
In Canada, most cable and satellite companies carry WTBS's local Atlanta signal. It is unknown whether Canadian systems will keep the station as Peachtree TV, switch to TBS, or even drop the channel entirely.
Over the years TBS has had several
Logo s and name changes. From
1979 the name was . In
1987 , the "W" from the "TBS" name was dropped to emphasize the network's national programming prominence, but on WTBS in Atlanta is called '''Superstation 17'''. By the fall of
1989 , SuperStation TBS was renamed to '''TBS Superstation''' to reflect the strong national standing of the network.
In
1990 , the word was removed from the on-air logos and ads and remained that way until
December 17 ,
1996 , when TBS celebrated its 20th
Anniversary the word Superstation was brought back.
In March 2007, TBS began using an on-air bug that began reading "TBS.com" advertising their website's features and original online videos.
TNT has also began using a bug reading "TNT.tv" to advertise its website. ".com" is removed on days when original programming is shown, notably
Mondays ,
Tuesdays , and
Wednesdays , to make room for a small, translucent, text only advertisement to the left of the bug, reading something along the lines of:
Tyler Perry's House of Payne
Back-to-back episodes
Tonight 9/8c
A shorter version is also used during at least one program that day:
Tyler Perry's House of Payne
Tonight 9/8c
On
June 29 ,
1981 , TBS began to use "Turner Time." http://cgi.superstation.com/about_us/milestone.htm While other television offerings generally began at the top and bottom of hours, TBS decided to begin airing programs five minutes later, at :05 and :35.
By using "Turner Time," TBS programs were listed under their own time entry in ''
TV Guide '', thus providing more exposure to the channel's programming. It also encouraged channel surfers who couldn't 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, it usually encouraged viewers to continue watching TBS rather than flip to watch another program already in progress.
TBS started to cut back Turner Time in '''s length and the fact that commercials didn't air on its original network
HBO ).
See Also: List of programs broadcast by TBS
One type of programming that TBS does not produce is news. Nevertheless, TBS did produce a twenty-minute newscast from between movies. Its format was similar to
NBC 's ''
Saturday Night Live '''s ''
Weekend Update '' and, to a certain extent,
Comedy Central 's ''
The Daily Show ''. The timeslot and the snide content was Turner's reaction to FCC's rules at the time requiring stations to carry some news and informational content -- TBS must carry them, but the FCC couldn't, and didn't, say when they must be carried, or that the news must have a serious tone. The news show was cancelled months before Turner began his serious news venture - CNN.
WTBS also began airing its own newscast called ''TBS Evening News'' which was produced by
CNN .
In the
Atlanta Metro area, WTBS/17 simulcasts 30-minutes of
CNN Headline News at 6:00 AM ET. This is only carried in Atlanta and cable systems receiving this feed.
TBS airs
Movies mostly of the comedy genre due to its format, and frequently airs them interspersed with other content and commentary. ''
Dinner And A Movie '' includes cooking, while ''
Movie And A Makeover '' adds fashion content.
Home Alone (1990) How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) The Wizard of Oz (1939)
See Also: Braves TBS Baseball
Major League Baseball on TBS
Coverage of the formerly-
Ted Turner -owned
Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball team is perhaps TBS' signature program. Turner once famously tried to get
Andy Messersmith to use his
Jersey , which was #17, to promote TBS in its early years. The back of the jersey read, "CHANNEL 17." Major League Baseball immediately stopped it because team jerseys are not supposed to have
Ads other than that of the jersey manufacturer.
At the
2006 MLB All-Star Game , it was announced that TBS will begin carrying
A Package That Includes All Major League Teams . It will premiere in two phases, as follows:
- Starting in 2007, TBS will carry all Division Series games and one of the two League Championship Series , taking them from FOX and ESPN . In addition, TBS will carry the announcements of the All-Star teams and any possible games to determine division winners and wild card teams. Those have also been carried on ESPN.
- The following year (2008), TBS will begin airing games every Sunday of the Regular Season for 26 weeks in all. No team may appear on the telecasts more than 13 times.
During the 2007 transitional year, TBS will air 70 regular-season Braves games. In 2008 and thereafter, only 45 games will be shown, and no more than 13 of them (the maximum number of times TBS may show any team) will air outside of the Braves' six-state primary market area (
Georgia ,
South Carolina ,
North Carolina ,
Mississippi ,
Alabama and
Tennessee ). Games will still be available in the Atlanta market on the separate WTBS channel (changing its name to WPCH), which may also carry the games in Canada (MLB has not usually ordered blackouts of U.S. Superstation broadcasts in Canada). http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060711&content_id=1552889&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl It is still unclear as to whether TBS will air the games outside Atlanta, or if the games will be sold to local over-the-air broadcast stations.
College Football 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.
See Also: College football on television
National Basketball Association games were aired before being moved entirely to
Turner Network Television ; some
Atlanta Hawks (also owned by Turner) games were shown on TBS 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).
See Also: NBA on TBS
NBA on TNT
Professional Wrestling aired on TBS from 1971-2001 under several different companies including
Jim Barnett -owned
Georgia Championship Wrestling (1971-1984), future rival
Vince McMahon owned
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).
See Also: WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Saturday Night
WCW Thunder
In addition, select
NASCAR Nextel Cup ,
Busch Series , and
Craftsman 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 races from
Lowe's Motor Speedway , and the July race at
Pocono Raceway . TBS was also the home of the post-season exhibition races held 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 to carry the races. Instead, Turner decided that NASCAR would better fit TNT's "We Know Drama" slogan.
See Also: NASCAR on TNT
