ATLANTA — Ted Turner, the media maverick and philanthropist who based NCS, a pioneering 24-hour community that revolutionized tv information, died peacefully Wednesday, surrounded by his household, in response to a information launch from Turner Enterprises. He was 87.
The Ohio-born Atlanta businessman, nicknamed “The Mouth of the South” for his outspoken nature, constructed a media empire that encompassed cable’s first superstation and widespread channels for motion pictures and cartoons, plus skilled sports activities groups just like the Atlanta Braves.
Turner was additionally an internationally recognized yachtsman; a philanthropist who based the United Nations Foundation; an activist who sought the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons; and a conservationist who grew to become one of the foremost landowners within the United States. He performed a essential position in reintroducing bison to the American west. He even created the Captain Planet cartoon to coach youngsters in regards to the setting.
But it was his audacious imaginative and prescient to ship information from around the globe in actual time, at all hours, that actually made him well-known – as soon as his concept lastly took off.
“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement,” Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of NCS Worldwide, stated in a assertion. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of NCS. Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and the world.”
Just over a month earlier than his eightieth birthday in 2018, Turner revealed that he had Lewy physique dementia, a progressive mind dysfunction. In early 2025, Turner was hospitalized with a gentle case of pneumonia earlier than recovering at a rehabilitation facility.
Turner is survived by his 5 kids, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Launching a TV information revolution
Turner started his media profession at the age of 24 when he took over his father’s billboard firm, Turner (*87*) Advertising, within the wake of the elder Turner’s suicide. He buried his shock and grief in work – however Turner wasn’t content material to push different folks’s merchandise perpetually.
He purchased up radio stations, then branched into tv in 1970 by buying a struggling station in Atlanta often called Channel 17. He tried to spice up the scores by airing previous sitcoms and basic movies, at one level even internet hosting “Academy Award Theatre” himself.
Turner wasn’t fascinated with information but. He determined to spend money on sports activities as a substitute, buying the rights to Atlanta Braves baseball video games. Viewers and advertisers flocked to the channel, and as Turner turned a revenue, he began to suppose larger about TV.
In 1976 he beamed Channel 17’s sign as much as a satellite tv for pc and it grew to become cable TV’s first superstation, reaching cable subscribers throughout the nation.
He was and at all times would be the presiding spirit of NCS. Ted is the enormous on whose shoulders we stand, and we’ll all take a second immediately to acknowledge him and his affect on our lives and the world.
–Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of NCS Worldwide
Turner purchased the Braves, after which the Atlanta Hawks basketball crew, partly to maintain the long-term rights to the TV programming, and partly as a result of it was simply plain enjoyable.
As he constructed the Superstation WTBS, he set his sights even increased – a 24-hour information channel.
Turner was harshly crucial of broadcast TV and institution information judgments. “Part of the reason America had so many problems, he believed, was because his fellow Americans were so ill-informed,” former NCS journalist Lisa Napoli wrote in “Up All Night,” a guide in regards to the creation of NCS. Turner acknowledged “there was no better place to promote a variety of opinions than on almighty television. With a news channel, he could quite possibly help save the world.”
Rather a lot of folks thought Turner’s concept was loopy. But he noticed a big opening within the market.
On June 1, 1980, NCS – the primary 24-hour information channel – went stay and has been on the air ever since.
Turner shortly expanded, including a second 24-hour information community NCS2 (later renamed Headline News, then HLN) in 1982 and NCS International, which broadcast around the globe, in 1985. He later added non-news cable channels, together with Turner Network Television (TNT), Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and the Cartoon Network
Turner and his deputies knew they had been creating one thing revolutionary.
When the Persian Gulf War broke out in 1990, the significance of a 24-hour information channel grew to become clear. It was the primary time a struggle was broadcast stay – and it was solely on NCS.
“What Ted made happen was just as important as the internet revolution,” stated former Turner Broadcasting CEO Terry McGuirk.
Turner was hailed as a visionary and earned TIME Magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1991.
In 1996, Turner offered his networks to Time Warner for practically $7.5 billion. He stayed on as a vice-chairman of Time Warner, heading up the corporate’s cable TV networks.
A media mogul turned philanthropist
Turner at all times had a philanthropic streak, nevertheless it started to maneuver to the forefront in 1997, the 12 months after he offered Turner Broadcasting to Time Warner. That’s when he pledged $1 billion to the United Nations. Making good on that pledge took a whereas longer than he had anticipated – he made his last cost to the UN in 2015 – because of the beating his fortune took after the 2001 merger with AOL.
When it was over, he was nonetheless a billionaire, however simply barely.
Turner did not do something in a small approach, together with reinventing himself. He was the second-biggest landowner in North America, with 2 million acres unfold over 28 properties, together with 19 ranches in Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota, in addition to in Argentina. The first of his Ted’s Montana Grill eating places opened in 2002, and now there are greater than 40 in 16 states. He managed to convey bison again from the brink of extinction; he had the world’s largest non-public bison herd, with roughly 51,000 head.
His 5 kids – Rhett Turner, Laura Turner Seydel, Jennie Turner Garlington, Teddy Turner and Beau Turner – serve on the board of the Turner Foundation. His different foundations embody his United Nations Foundation, Nuclear Threat Initiative, Captain Planet Foundation and the Turner Endangered Species Fund.
Yet irrespective of how profitable he grew to become, Turner was usually nonetheless attempting to show himself.
Contributing: Elise Zeiger, Kimberly Arp Babbit and Dan Q. Tham
The Key Takeaways for this text had been generated with the help of massive language fashions and reviewed by our editorial crew. The article, itself, is solely human-written.