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158-579: Reruns of California Dreams briefly aired on TBS in the late 1990s. The show aired on The Children's Channel and later Trouble in the UK in the 1990s. Shout! Factory released the first four seasons of California Dreams on DVD in Region 1 between 2009 and 2011. Seasons 3 and 4 were released as Shout! Factory Exclusives titles, available exclusively through their online store. As of 2016, Seasons 1-4 and The Best of... DVDs can be purchased on Amazon. It

316-528: A main street setting flocking to a TBS-branded theater, which transitions to a panning shot stopping at a couch in the front row of the theater's seating area where either a family or a couple (depending on the daypart presentation, as identified at the end of the sequence) sit down in time for the start of the film. On September 10, 1990, the word "Superstation" was removed from the cable channel's on-air branding and promotions, rebranding it as simply " TBS ", which had been used verbally in on-air promotions since

474-591: A natural monopoly . The FCC controlled telephone rates and imposed other restrictions under Title II to limit the profits of AT&T and ensure nondiscriminatory pricing. In the 1960s, the FCC began allowing other long-distance companies, namely MCI, to offer specialized services. In the 1970s, the FCC allowed other companies to expand offerings to the public. A lawsuit in 1982 led by the Justice Department after AT&T underpriced other companies, resulted in

632-567: A 15-minute news program. In July 1969, Rice Broadcasting reached an agreement to merge with the Turner Communications Corporation—an Atlanta-based group owned by entrepreneur Robert E. "Ted" Turner III , who ran his late father's billboard advertising business and had also expanded his interests to include radio stations in Chattanooga, Tennessee ( WGOW ), Charleston, South Carolina ( WTMA-AM-FM ,

790-582: A 200-mile (320 km) radius. Further changes to signal importation regulations occurred with the August 1975 passage of a policy allowing unlimited importation of distant signals either following a local " must carry " station's final daily sign-off or at 1:00 a.m. ( Eastern and Pacific Time ) and 12:00 a.m. (in all other time zones), and the December 1975 repeal of the agency's 1972 "leapfrogging" rules (which restricted cable systems from selecting

948-727: A CBS owned-and-operated station) in Dallas , KTVU (now a Fox owned-and-operated station) in San Francisco and KTLA (now a CW affiliate) in Los Angeles were uplinked to satellite as well, primarily being carried on a regional basis. The expansion of WTCG into a superstation would serve as the linchpin for what would later be renamed the Turner Broadcasting System to eventually launch or acquire other cable-originated channels in subsequent years, including

1106-440: A cast member on Saturday Night Live ) among its repertory cast. Starcade , a game show that ran from 1982 to 1983 (with a further run in syndication via Turner Program Services until 1984), featured contestants competing to win their very own arcade cabinet by playing various games. Other programming efforts included The Catlins (a Dynasty -style prime time soap opera which ran for two seasons from 1983 to 1985, and

1264-582: A common carrier from having involvement in program origination, Turner decided to sell SSS to former Western Union vice president of marketing Edward L. Taylor for $ 1 and sold the transmitting station to RCA American Communications . Upon the sale's consummation in March 1976, Turner reached an agreement with Taylor to have the firm uplink the WTCG signal to the Satcom 1 satellite. Turner's plans to turn WTCG into

1422-500: A compressed format, with content sped up to accommodate additional time slots for advertising sales. From 2004 to 2023, programming from sister network Adult Swim also appeared on TBS. Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio , television , wire, satellite , and cable across

1580-594: A cost of $ 17.3 million per year in 1996 dollars. Prior to the Portals, the FCC had space in six buildings at and around 19th Street NW and M Street NW. The FCC first solicited bids for a new headquarters complex in 1989. In 1991 the GSA selected the Portals site. The FCC had wanted to move into a more expensive area along Pennsylvania Avenue . In 1934, Congress passed the Communications Act , which abolished

1738-598: A distant signal from among stations in the top-25 media markets beyond those closest to the licensed system). Furthermore, the Congressional passage of the Copyright Act of 1976 on October 1 of that year provided compulsory licenses to cable systems and "passive" satellite carriers, allowing them to retransmit any broadcast television station throughout the country, regardless of prior consent, without incurring copyright liability; this legislation also granted

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1896-478: A distinctive monotone; he would become the voice heard during Headline News' half-hourly network IDs by the mid-1980s. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, WTBS continued to acquire second-hand programming such as made-for-TV Popeye cartoons, The Brady Bunch , The Munsters , and other programs. The station acquired reruns of All in the Family and Sanford and Son in 1979, as well as Little House on

2054-454: A focus on comedy , along with some sports events through TNT Sports , including Major League Baseball , Stanley Cup playoffs , and the NCAA 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. By June 2023, this number has dropped to 71.3 million households. TBS

2212-559: A lack of funding and interest. (The other partners in the venture, Zenith Electronics and Taft Broadcasting [formerly known as Taft Television & Radio Company during its earlier existence as both an electronics manufacturer and broadcaster] had respectively stopped manufacturing TV sets with teletext capability and had undergone several corporate buyouts). In the early 1990s, shows such as The Flintstones , The Brady Bunch , Scooby-Doo , The Jetsons , Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts, Gilligan's Island , and others remained on

2370-485: A large rotating glass pane, which could display the TBS logo, change to or from a slogan (depending on the promotional spot) to the logo, or be used to show the airtime of programs mentioned in a specific promotion or summarize the next three programs set to air. Title sequences for movies and special presentations—which were accompanied by music incorporating variants of the "TBYes" promotional theme's signature —showed people in

2528-609: A massive new self-supporting transmission tower (later known as the Turner Broadcasting tower ), which, at a height of 1,031 feet (314 m), was the tallest freestanding structure ever built in Atlanta and provided Channel 17 a stronger signal than other UHF stations, which was particularly beneficial as television sets of that era were often equipped with low-sensitivity tuners and substandard antennas. Under Rice, WJRJ—the first independent station to begin operation in

2686-720: A mix of movies, sitcoms and drama series—removed all of its remaining cartoon shorts and animated series (which at the time were running under the Disaster Area banner), migrating those shows exclusively to Cartoon Network . (Many of these series also later became the core of a new channel devoted to classic cartoons, Boomerang , which launched in April 2000.) In 1999, TBS Superstation also refocused its original program offerings, removing documentaries and National Geographic specials—which were shifted over to CNN—in favor of carrying original made-for-TV movies and weekly series such as

2844-530: A national cable service were made possible through various FCC deregulatory actions on signal importation during the 1970s, among them was a cable rules package passed in March 1972 that allowed cable systems in the 100 largest markets the right to carry imported signals (including the addition of two distant signals not already available in the market), restricted cable systems in smaller markets to carrying only three network stations and one independent station (except for undefinable markets that would not be limited in

3002-420: A nearly identical program schedule as the national feed, aside from FCC -mandated public affairs and educational programming that only aired on the local signal. By the early 2000s, TBS had begun to focus more intensively on comedic programming, including sitcoms 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

3160-714: A precedent for today's basic cable television and signaled the start of the revolution of basic cable programming in the United States. Soon after, an increasing number of cable television providers throughout the United States sought to carry WTCG on their systems. Within three years of WTCG achieving national status, the signals of fellow independent stations WOR-TV (now MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station WWOR-TV ) in New York City and WGN-TV in Chicago were also uplinked to satellite for distribution as national superstations; eventually, other independents such as KTVT (now

3318-454: A purchase option that Time Warner chose to exercise on September 16. Time Warner held out on an option to acquire SSS through a common stock buyout and instead chose a cash payment citing the "strong overall financial performance of its businesses and its belief that its stock remains undervalued" in spite of price appreciation having been appreciated. The purchase gave Time Warner control over uplink responsibilities for TBS. On January 1, 1998,

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3476-506: A separate cable/satellite channel that retained the TBS name. In addition, the channel 17 changeover allowed Atlanta-area cable and IPTV subscribers—including those of Comcast and Charter Communications —that previously were only able to receive WTBS's local Atlanta signal to begin receiving the national TBS feed for the first time since the early 1980s. (Despite the separation of TBS and its former Atlanta parent station, some local television listings publications have continued to refer to

3634-767: A separate schedule exclusively catering to the Atlanta market. TBS originated as a terrestrial television station in Atlanta , Georgia that began operating on UHF channel 17 on September 1, 1967, under the WJRJ-TV call letters . That station—which its original parent originally filed to transmit UHF channel 46, before modifying it to assign channel 17 as its frequency in February 1966—was founded by Rice Broadcasting Inc. (owned by Atlanta entrepreneur Jack M. Rice, Jr., owner of locally based pay television firms Atlanta Telemeter Inc. and Home Theaters of Georgia Inc.). Rice built

3792-801: A show among the 50 highest-rated cable programs. The channel's third late-night talk show, The Pete Holmes Show , debuted on October 28, 2013, hosted by comedian Pete Holmes (like Lopez Tonight , it could not capitalize on Conan as its lead-in and was cancelled in May 2014). On May 14, 2015, at the Turner Upfront presentation, president Kevin Reilly announced a major shift within the next few years for TBS and TNT. The expanded development slate would see TBS feature more original live-action comedies, original animated series, more late-night talk shows, and lots more of "big unscripted ideas with attitude". One of

3950-410: A situation he found "perplexing". These efforts later were documented in a 2015 Harvard Case Study. In 2017, Christine Calvosa replaced Bray as the acting CIO of FCC. On January 4, 2023, the FCC voted unanimously to create a newly formed Space Bureau and Office of International Affairs within the agency, replacing the existing International Bureau. FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel explained that

4108-454: A small independent television station that regularly placed near the bottom of the ratings among Atlanta's television stations well into the 1970s and was available only in Georgia and neighboring states to a major coast-to-coast operation, pioneering the distribution of broadcast television stations via satellite transmission to pay television subscribers nationwide. Ted Turner's innovation set

4266-441: A time and rarely renewed their contractual rights to continue airing them, after which WTCG bought the syndicated programs second-hand at much lower rates. 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 station's schedule. By the time Turner acquired WTCG, most U.S. cities below

4424-401: Is organized into seven bureaus, each headed by a "chief" that is appointed by the chair of the commission. Bureaus process applications for licenses and other filings, analyze complaints, conduct investigations, develop and implement regulations, and participate in hearings . The FCC has twelve staff offices. The FCC's offices provide support services to the bureaus. The FCC leases space in

4582-417: Is shared with sister network Adult Swim . 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 of Family Matters , Friends , The Big Bang Theory , Young Sheldon , and Modern Family . Most reruns shown on TBS are broadcast in

4740-420: Is unknown if season 5 will be released. On July 19, 2011, Mill Creek Entertainment released a ten-episode best-of set, The Best of California Dreams , a single-disc set that features episodes from the first three seasons. ♦ - Shout! Factory Exclusives title, sold exclusively through Shout's online store California Dreams was not well received critically. Rebecca Ascher-Walsh of Entertainment Weekly gave

4898-711: The Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 sponsored by then-Senator Sam Brownback , a former broadcaster himself, and endorsed by Congressman Fred Upton of Michigan who authored a similar bill in the United States House of Representatives . The new law stiffens the penalties for each violation of the Act. The Federal Communications Commission will be able to impose fines in the amount of $ 325,000 for each violation by each station that violates decency standards. The legislation raised

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5056-544: The Cable News Network (CNN) (launched on June 1, 1980), HLN (launched as CNN2 on January 1, 1982, and later known as CNN Headline News from 1983 to 2007), Turner Network Television (TNT) (launched on October 3, 1988), Cartoon Network (launched on October 1, 1992), Turner Classic Movies (TCM) (launched on April 14, 1994), and TruTV (folded into Turner, as Court TV , following the closure of parent Time Warner's acquisition of Liberty Media 's 50% interest in

5214-532: The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). The report limited the amount of time during the day and at what times the networks may broadcast. Previously a network could demand any time it wanted from a Network affiliate . The second concerned artist bureaus. The networks served as both agents and employers of artists, which was a conflict of interest the report rectified. In assigning television stations to various cities after World War II ,

5372-526: The Communications Act of 1934 and amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (amendment to 47 U.S.C. §151), is to "make available so far as possible, to all the people of the United States, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, rapid, efficient, nationwide, and world-wide wire and radio communication services with adequate facilities at reasonable charges." The act furthermore provides that

5530-644: The Federal Radio Commission and transferred jurisdiction over radio licensing to a new Federal Communications Commission, including in it also the telecommunications jurisdiction previously handled by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Title II of the Communications Act focused on telecommunications using many concepts borrowed from railroad legislation and Title III contained provisions very similar to

5688-816: The Midwestern and Southeastern United States : Multi-Vue TV in Grand Island, Nebraska , Hampton Roads Cablevision in Newport News, Virginia , Troy Cablevision in Troy, Alabama , and Newton Cable TV in Newton, Kansas . At that moment, approximately 24,000 additional households began receiving the WTCG signal. The station's first national broadcast was the 1948 Dana Andrews – Cesar Romero film Deep Waters , which had been in progress for 30 minutes on channel 17 in Atlanta. With this move, WTCG would become one of

5846-486: The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship —which it shares with Turner-owned sister channels TNT and TruTV, along with the tournament's longtime over-the-air broadcaster, CBS . During the first quarter of 2012, TBS's viewership in the 18-49 adult demographic beat all other advertiser-supported channels, in spite of the fact that TBS did not air any original programs in prime time during that period nor had it aired

6004-566: The Radio Act of 1927 . The initial organization of the FCC was effected July 17, 1934, in three divisions, Broadcasting, Telegraph, and Telephone. Each division was led by two of the seven commissioners, with the FCC chairman being a member of each division. The organizing meeting directed the divisions to meet on July 18, July 19, and July 20, respectively. In 1940, the Federal Communications Commission issued

6162-639: The U.S. Copyright Office the ability to charge cable systems royalty fees to be compensated to the owners of a copyrighted program. The station would still be subjected to program duplication restrictions covered under the original 1972 incarnation of the Syndication Exclusivity Rules (or "SyndEx"), which—prior to its repeal in July 1980—allowed television stations to claim local exclusivity over syndicated programs and required cable systems to either black out or secure an agreement with

6320-494: The breakup of the Bell System from AT&T. Beginning in 1984, the FCC implemented a new goal that all long-distance companies had equal access to the local phone companies' customers. Effective January 1, 1984, the Bell System's many member-companies were variously merged into seven independent "Regional Holding Companies", also known as Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), or "Baby Bells". This divestiture reduced

6478-558: The " Thrilla in Manila " boxing match. In December 1975, Ted Turner unveiled plans to distribute his station over communications satellite, enabling WTCG to extend distribution of its programming to cable and C-band satellite subscribers throughout the United States, especially in markets lacking even a distant independent station. With a more cost-effective and expeditious distribution method in place than would be capable through setting up microwave and coaxial telephone relay systems across

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6636-521: The "Non-Stop Comedy Block", a late-afternoon block of mostly adult-targeted comedy series that debuted in January 2002. In September 2003, TBS Superstation dropped Little House on the Prairie and other dramatic programming as a part of a format shift toward comedic programs, such as sitcom reruns, original reality television series, and theatrically released comedy films. As part of this refocusing,

6794-631: The "Report on Chain Broadcasting " which was led by new FCC chairman James Lawrence Fly (and Telford Taylor as general counsel). The major point in the report was the breakup of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which ultimately led to the creation of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), but there were two other important points. One was network option time, the culprit here being

6952-485: The "Sunday Morning In Front of the TV" block. Following Turner's acquisition by Time Warner, among the programming changes instituted after the merger was the addition of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons that were released after August 1, 1948, which began airing on TBS as well as sister channel Cartoon Network in April 1997. On September 22, 1995, Time Warner —a New York City -based media company formed in 1990 through

7110-415: The "Superstation" sub-brand was once again dropped in February 2004, with the channel reverting to being branded as simply TBS . Subsequently, on June 4, 2004, to signify the channel's new comedy programming focus, TBS introduced a new logo (designed by Publicis New York) that rendered the channel's name in lowercase and incorporated a semicircle made to resemble a mouth open as if it were laughing and adopted

7268-544: The 1930s and 1940s, sitcoms (such as Father Knows Best , Green Acres , Hazel , I Love Lucy , and The Lucy Show ), and Japanese animated series (such 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, Atlanta Flames hockey, and Georgia Championship Wrestling . WTCG also made very low bids to acquire

7426-457: The 1960s All-Channel Receiver Act ), to make UHF viable against entrenched VHF stations. In markets where there were no VHF stations and UHF was the only TV service available, UHF survived. In other markets, which were too small to financially support a television station, too close to VHF outlets in nearby cities, or where UHF was forced to compete with more than one well-established VHF station, UHF had little chance for success. Denver had been

7584-523: The 1989 revamp of Headline News and the 1991 redesign of WTBS itself (handled by Burns' brother James). John Young, an Atlanta-area radio DJ at WZGC , became the voice of SuperStation WTBS during this time and would go on to provide promotional voiceover services for other local and national clients as a direct result of his work for the channel. Other voiceovers were handled by Turner employees, most notably music director Bill "Troll" Tullis, who generally voiced station IDs and other miscellaneous work with

7742-621: The 50 states, the District of Columbia , and the territories of the United States . The FCC also provides varied degrees of cooperation, oversight, and leadership for similar communications bodies in other countries in North America. The FCC is funded entirely by regulatory fees. It has an estimated fiscal-2022 budget of US $ 388 million. It has 1,482 federal employees as of July 2020. The FCC's mission, specified in Section One of

7900-535: The AT&;T–Time Warner merger, when on February 20, 2017, the Meredith Corporation —which had assumed operational responsibilities for WPCH from Turner/Time Warner in January 2011 to form a virtual duopoly with CBS affiliate WGCL-TV (channel 46)—announced that it would acquire WPCH-TV's license assets from Turner for $ 70 million. (The sale of WPCH to Meredith received FCC approval on April 17, 2017, and

8058-548: The Atlanta area on channel 17. (Promos for WTCG/WTBS programs referenced airtimes for both the Eastern and Central Time Zones until 1987, and the Eastern and Pacific time zones thereafter until 1992 and occasionally beforehand for certain scheduled live sports and event telecasts). In May 1979, Turner made a $ 25,000 donation to a group associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to fund

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8216-405: The Atlanta market on area cable providers alongside its existing local carriage on satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network . The former parent station in Atlanta was concurrently relaunched as WPCH-TV (branded as "Peachtree TV", which Turner sold to the Meredith Corporation in 2017, and later acquired by Gray Television in 2021) and reformatted as a traditional independent station with

8374-413: The Atlanta market since WQXI-TV (channel 36, allocation now occupied by MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL ) ceased operations on May 31, 1955—operated on a shoestring budget, general entertainment format with a schedule consisting of a few off-network reruns (such as Father Knows Best , The Danny Thomas Show , The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and The Rifleman ) and older feature films as well as

8532-524: The Atlanta parent station changed its call letters to WTBS (for "Turner Broadcasting System", the name its parent company adopted in accordance with the callsign change). Concurrently, Turner began branding the station as " SuperStation WTBS "—the prefix word was re-rendered in mixed case in October 1980, with both "S"s capitalized—with occasional references within the logo to the channel 17 frequency in Atlanta. (Accordingly, many cable providers throughout

8690-520: The Bell clone set in an upscale beach town". The main cast members from the first two seasons of California Dreams reunited on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on March 4, 2010, and played the show's theme song. The version they sang was a unique mash-up that featured both Heidi Noelle Lenhart and Jennie Kwan, who replaced Lenhart in Season 2. While present, Jay Anthony Franke was not a featured vocalist in

8848-762: The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, and made substantial modifications to Title VI in the Cable Television and Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. Further modifications to promote cross-modal competition (telephone, video, etc.) were made in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, leading to the current regulatory structure. Broadcast television and radio stations are subject to FCC regulations including restrictions against indecency or obscenity. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held, beginning soon after

9006-623: The DOJ's antitrust claims in the lawsuit. The merger closed two days later on June 14, with the company becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T under the renamed parent company WarnerMedia . The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington unanimously upheld the lower court's ruling in favor of AT&T on February 26, 2019. On March 4, 2019, AT&T announced a major reorganization of its broadcasting assets, in which WarnerMedia's television properties would be divided among three divisions within

9164-522: The FCC a legal basis for imposing net neutrality rules (see below), after earlier attempts to impose such rules on an "information service" had been overturned in court. In 2005, the FCC formally established the following principles: To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice; Consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to

9322-429: The FCC found that it placed many stations too close to each other, resulting in interference. At the same time, it became clear that the designated VHF channels, 2 through 13, were inadequate for nationwide television service. As a result, the FCC stopped giving out construction permits for new licenses in October 1948, under the direction of Chairman Rosel H. Hyde . Most expected this "Freeze" to last six months, but as

9480-587: The FCC in the newly created post of associate general counsel/chief diversity officer. Numerous controversies have surrounded the city of license concept as the internet has made it possible to broadcast a single signal to every owned station in the nation at once, particularly when Clear Channel, now IHeartMedia , became the largest FM broadcasting corporation in the US after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 became law - owning over 1,200 stations at its peak. As part of its license to buy more radio stations, Clear Channel

9638-437: The FCC indicated that the public largely believed that the severe consolidation of media ownership had resulted in harm to diversity, localism, and competition in media, and was harmful to the public interest. David A. Bray joined the commission in 2013 as chief information officer and quickly announced goals of modernizing the FCC's legacy information technology (IT) systems, citing 200 different systems for only 1750 people

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9796-403: The FCC said that nearly 55 million Americans did not have access to broadband capable of delivering high-quality voice, data, graphics and video offerings. On February 26, 2015, the FCC reclassified broadband Internet access as a telecommunications service, thus subjecting it to Title II regulation, although several exemptions were also created. The reclassification was done in order to give

9954-534: The FCC was created "for the purpose of the national defense" and "for the purpose of promoting safety of life and property through the use of wire and radio communications." Consistent with the objectives of the act as well as the 1999 Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), the FCC has identified four goals in its 2018–22 Strategic Plan. They are: Closing the Digital Divide, Promoting Innovation, Protecting Consumers & Public Safety, and Reforming

10112-563: The FCC's Processes. The FCC is directed by five commissioners appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate for five-year terms, except when filling an unexpired term. The U.S. president designates one of the commissioners to serve as chairman. No more than three commissioners may be members of the same political party . None of them may have a financial interest in any FCC-related business. Commissioners may continue serving until

10270-514: The FCC, which regulated AT&T's long-line charges, but the commission took no action. The result was that financially marginal DuMont was spending as much in long-line charge as CBS or NBC while using only about 10 to 15 percent of the time and mileage of either larger network. The FCC's "Sixth Report & Order" ended the Freeze. It took five years for the US to grow from 108 stations to more than 550. New stations came on line slowly, only five by

10428-574: The FM station is now WSSX-FM ), and Jacksonville, Florida (WMBR, now WQOP )—in an all-stock transaction. Under the sale terms, Rice would acquire Turner in an exchange of stock and adopt the Turner Communications name; however, Turner would acquire about 75% of the merged company and own 48.2% of its stock, receiving 1.2 million shares of Rice stock worth an estimated $ 3 million. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted approval of

10586-460: The Internet, cable services and wireless services has raised questions whether new legislative initiatives are needed as to competition in what has come to be called 'broadband' services. Congress has monitored developments but as of 2009 has not undertaken a major revision of applicable regulation. The Local Community Radio Act in the 111th Congress has gotten out of committee and will go before

10744-515: The Prairie and CHiPs in 1981. Other older shows would eventually be removed from the schedule. WTCG also mixed more movie releases from the 1950s through the 1970s into its schedule. By July 1979, WTCG/WTBS was available to 1,000 cable systems throughout the United States, with a total of 4.8 million cable subscribers receiving the signal. In 1981, Turner decided to split the WTBS satellite feed from its terrestrial signal; under this structure, all of

10902-641: The Sentinel Square III building in northeast Washington, D.C. Prior to moving to its new headquarters in October 2020, the FCC leased space in the Portals building in southwest Washington, D.C. Construction of the Portals building was scheduled to begin on March 1, 1996. In January 1996, the General Services Administration signed a lease with the building's owners, agreeing to let the FCC lease 450,000 sq ft (42,000 m ) of space in Portals for 20 years, at

11060-492: The TBS national feed—although continuing to operate as a superstation by technicality—began operating under the conventions of a basic cable channel. At that time, the Turner Broadcasting System began to collect subscriber fees (averaging 26¢ per subscriber per month) directly from cable and satellite providers that had previously paid a 30¢-per-month licensing fee to Southern Satellite Systems for access to

11218-503: The TBS signal and a 10¢-per-month copyright fee to a federal copyright tribunal (which, in turn, paid the fee directly to program distributors) for rights to carry its programming. The additional revenue was intended to be used for programming acquisitions, particularly rights to first-run theatrical films. In exchange, TBS began to lease two minutes of advertising time per hour to multichannel subscription television providers to allow them to locally insert commercials catering to viewers in

11376-612: The Time-Warner Communications merger six years prior. (Time Warner and predecessor Warner Communications had owned an 18% interest in Turner Broadcasting since 1987, as part of a cable television industry-backed bailout of the company amid severe financial issues.) Under the terms, Turner would acquire an approximate 10% interest in Time Warner as well as oversee its cable network group—comprising

11534-409: The Turner Broadcasting System announced that WTBS would change its callsign to WPCH-TV , and would be rebranded as "Peachtree TV." The rebranded channel 17 would offer sitcoms and movies geared specifically toward the station's Atlanta audience, and would also broadcast 45 Braves baseball games starting with the team's 2008 season . The change occurred on October 1, 2007, with the national feed becoming

11692-534: The Turner Broadcasting System from its purchase of the film studio ), WTBS gained the rights to the entire MGM/UA film library (including certain acquisitions by MGM). It gave WTBS the rights to air many theatrical cartoon shorts such as Tom and Jerry , as well as shows like Gilligan's Island and CHiPs . Along with Tom and Jerry , WTBS began to run The Little Rascals , Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodies cartoons released prior to August 1948, theatrical Popeye cartoon shorts, and Three Stooges shorts under

11850-591: The Turner and Home Box Office units and its minority interests in Comedy Central and E! —and hold a position on the company's board of directors (which he retained until he stepped down from the company in February 2006) upon the merger's closure. The merger received regulatory approval on September 12, 1996; the Turner–Time Warner deal was finalized one month later on October 10, forming what at

12008-492: The United States accelerated an already ongoing shift in the FCC towards a decidedly more market-oriented stance. A number of regulations felt to be outdated were removed, most controversially the Fairness Doctrine in 1987. In terms of indecency fines, there was no action taken by the FCC on the case FCC v. Pacifica until 1987, about ten years after the landmark United States Supreme Court decision that defined

12166-553: The United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction over the areas of broadband access , fair competition , radio frequency use, media responsibility, public safety, and homeland security . The FCC was formed by the Communications Act of 1934 to replace the radio regulation functions of the previous Federal Radio Commission . The FCC took over wire communication regulation from the Interstate Commerce Commission . The FCC's mandated jurisdiction covers

12324-406: The WTCG signal to their lineups; by 1978, WTCG was carried on cable providers in all 50 U.S. states, reaching over 2.3 million subscribers, a total that would substantially double each year into the next decade. Because it utilized a broadcast television station as the origination point for its programming, throughout its existence as a superstation, all programs on WTCG/WTBS—which transmitted exactly

12482-629: The WarnerMedia umbrella. TBS, along with TNT, truTV and HBO would be reassigned to WarnerMedia Entertainment. The move would effectively dissolve the Turner Broadcasting System umbrella as part of a wind-down of the Turner name from the reorganized parent company's corporate structure. AT&T did not specify any timetable for the changes to take effect, although WarnerMedia had begun to remove all Turner references in corporate communications and press releases, referring to that unit's networks as "divisions of WarnerMedia". On April 8, 2022, WarnerMedia

12640-439: The acquisition on December 10, 1969, giving Turner its first television property. Soon after Turner received approval of its purchase of WJRJ-TV in January 1970, Turner changed the station's call letters to WTCG (which officially stood for Turner Communications Group, although the station used "Watch This Channel Grow" as a promotional slogan). The sale was formally completed four months later on April 6, 1970, at which time Turner

12798-591: The allocation of channels to the emerging UHF technology and the eagerly awaited possibilities of color television were debated, the FCC's re-allocation map of stations did not come until April 1952, with July 1, 1952, as the official beginning of licensing new stations. Other FCC actions hurt the fledgling DuMont and ABC networks. American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) forced television coaxial cable users to rent additional radio long lines , discriminating against DuMont, which had no radio network operation. DuMont and ABC protested AT&T's television policies to

12956-438: The appointment of their replacements. However, they may not serve beyond the end of the next session of Congress following term expiration. In practice, this means that commissioners may serve up to 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 years beyond the official term expiration listed above if no replacement is appointed. This would end on the date that Congress adjourns its annual session, generally no later than noon on January 3. The FCC

13114-403: The banner The TBS Tom & Jerry Funhouse running for either one hour or 90 minutes during the morning hours and for an hour (later, half-hour) in the afternoon from 1986 to 1995. In the late 1980s, WTBS decreased the number of movies broadcast during the day slightly and began to add sitcoms from the 1970s (such as Happy Days , The Jeffersons , Good Times , and One Day at a Time ) to

13272-522: The basis for Turner to develop Cable Music Channel , an attempt at a competitor to MTV that operated for five weeks from October 26 to November 30, 1984, and was one of the shortest-lived channels in American cable television history.) Beginning in 1991, a handful of shows (mostly movies) that were shown nationally were pre-empted in the Atlanta market in order to broadcast FCC-mandated news, public affairs , and children's programming; this continued until

13430-480: The beginning of that year. By 1992, TBS was available in 58 million households with cable and satellite television service, accounting for more than half of all homes in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands —and carried by 14,815 cable systems throughout the country. During the 1980s, WTBS focused heavily on movies—running two films during the day, and a largely movie-exclusive schedule during

13588-572: The book value of AT&T by approximately 70%. The FCC initially exempted "information services" such as broadband Internet access from regulation under Title II. The FCC held that information services were distinct from telecommunications services that are subject to common carrier regulation. However, Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 required the FCC to help accelerate deployment of "advanced telecommunications capability" which included high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video, and to regularly assess its availability. In August 2015,

13746-666: The channel as an Atlanta station in their channel charts and/or by that station's former WTBS call letters in said charts and as an identifier in listings grids). Following the change, Canadian subscription television providers were legally required to continue carrying the local Peachtree TV signal, instead of switching to the national TBS feed. Beginning with the 2008 season , TBS began airing Major League Baseball postseason games, with regular season baseball coverage expanding to include games from other MLB teams. In November 2009, TBS debuted its first late-night talk show , Lopez Tonight , hosted by comedian George Lopez . One year later,

13904-473: The channel expanded its late-night offerings with the November 8, 2010, debut of Conan , after TBS struck a deal to give Conan O'Brien a show on the channel on the heels of his controversial exit as host of NBC 's The Tonight Show . Lopez Tonight ended its run on August 12, 2011, after it was cancelled due to a steep decline in ratings. In 2011, TBS also obtained a portion of the television rights to

14062-490: The channel in May 2006). Turner and station management treated WTCG as an "active" superstation, directly asserting national promotional responsibilities, investing in programming, and charging advertising rates at the national and local levels. This resulted in the station paying for syndicated programming at (albeit reasonably cheaper) rates comparable to other national networks, rather than merely receiving royalty payments from cable systems for programs to which it held

14220-467: The channel's national programming prominence, with the WTBS Atlanta signal continuing to use the separate "SuperStation 17" branding; this coincided with a major promotional campaign positioning the channel as "Great American Television". By 1987, SuperStation WTBS was available to 41.6 million households with a cable or satellite subscription nationwide; this total jumped to 49 million cable homes by

14378-473: The claimant station or a syndication distributor to continue carrying a claimed program through an out-of-market station. At 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on December 17, 1976, WTCG became America's first " superstation "—independent stations distributed to cable providers throughout their respective regions, or the entire country—when its signal began to be beamed via the Satcom 1 satellite to four cable systems in

14536-444: The commission in 1934 comprised the following seven members: The complete list of commissioners is available on the FCC website. Frieda B. Hennock (D-NY) was the first female commissioner of the FCC in 1948. The FCC regulates broadcast stations, repeater stations as well as commercial broadcasting operators who operate and repair certain radiotelephone , radio and television stations. Broadcast licenses are to be renewed if

14694-423: The construction of a new transmitter, in exchange for acquiring the WTBS call letters that had been assigned to the university's Cambridge -based student radio station for use on the channel 17 license; Turner also agreed to donate an additional $ 25,000 to the group if the FCC agreed to assign the WTBS calls to Turner Communications. (MIT subsequently changed the radio station's calls to WMBR .) On August 27, 1979,

14852-414: The conversion, Congress established a federally sponsored DTV Converter Box Coupon Program for two free converters per household. The FCC regulates telecommunications services under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. Title II imposes common carrier regulation under which carriers offering their services to the general public must provide services to all customers and may not discriminate based on

15010-634: The copyright as "passive" superstations—like WGN and WWOR, which opted to take a neutral position on their national distribution and left national promotional duties to the satellite carriers that retransmitted their signals—did. (Unlike WTCG, most other superstations had their signals redistributed without their owner's express permission under a provision in Section 111 of the Copyright Act of 1976, which allowed local cable systems to "retransmit copyrighted programming from any over-the-air stations across

15168-438: The country even carried it on channel 17 during some part of its existence as a superstation). However, the national feed continued to occasionally use the same on-air branding as the Atlanta area signal (which was referred to on-air at the time as "WTBS Channel 17") until October 1980. By 1981, the Atlanta station would be branded as "SuperStation 17", on the national feed available outside of the Atlanta area, though, references to

15326-436: The country to their subscribers under a compulsory license"). WTCG initially was identified as "Channel 17" or "Super 17" both locally in Atlanta and on cable providers outside of that area; by 1979, the station identified primarily by its call letters locally and nationally. Over time, as WTCG was also beginning to gain traction in the Atlanta market, the station also began to gain traction nationally as more cable systems added

15484-577: The early 1970s to serve such areas lacking an independent station, as many cable television systems in middle and southern Georgia and surrounding areas of the Southeastern United States —particularly Alabama , Tennessee and South Carolina —began picking up the UHF signal off-air and retransmitted the Atlanta studio/transmitter link feed to microwave relay towers (sometimes several times) back to their headends . (By June 1976, WTCG

15642-421: The end of November 1952. The Sixth Report and Order required some existing television stations to change channels, but only a few existing VHF stations were required to move to UHF, and a handful of VHF channels were deleted altogether in smaller media markets like Peoria , Fresno , Bakersfield and Fort Wayne, Indiana to create markets which were UHF "islands." The report also set aside a number of channels for

15800-489: The end of the digital television transition. After delaying the original deadlines of 2006, 2008, and eventually February 17, 2009, on concerns about elderly and rural folk, on June 12, 2009, all full-power analog terrestrial TV licenses in the U.S. were terminated as part of the DTV transition , leaving terrestrial television available only from digital channels and a few low-power LPTV stations. To help U.S. consumers through

15958-472: The entire country, Turner got his idea off the ground by founding Southern Satellite Systems (SSS)—a common carrier uplink provider based in Tulsa, Oklahoma —to serve as the station's satellite redistributor, and subsequently purchased an earth-to-satellite transmitting station to be set up outside of WTCG's Peachtree Street studios in Atlanta. In order to get around FCC rules in effect at the time that prohibited

16116-539: The evening lineup; Little House on the Prairie aired during the late mornings continuously from 1986 to 2003. Music videos also aired during its late night lineup on weekends from June 1983 to May 1992 as part of the program Night Tracks , which aired in the form of two three-hour-long blocks (later reduced to two two-hour blocks in August 1989, and then to two 90-minute blocks in the spring of 1990), barring pre-emptions from sporting events that ran over their scheduled end-time. (The success of Night Tracks served as

16274-826: The expense of blacking out or substituting non-compliant programs. On September 28, 1989, the channel's name was changed to TBS SuperStation to reflect the strong national standing of the channel. Debuting concurrently with the name change was a promotional campaign utilizing the slogan "TBYes!", featuring various stars of programs seen on TBS—including, among others, Bob Denver and Alan Hale of Gilligan's Island (as their respective characters Gilligan and Captain Jonas Grumby aka "The Skipper" ), Al Lewis of The Munsters (as his character Grandpa ), Buddy Ebsen of The Beverly Hillbillies (as his character J.D. "Jed" Clampett) and Jimmie Walker of Good Times (appearing as himself)—with graphical elements of fireworks and

16432-423: The fine ten times over the previous maximum of $ 32,500 per violation. The FCC has established rules limiting the national share of media ownership of broadcast radio or television stations. It has also established cross-ownership rules limiting ownership of a newspaper and broadcast station in the same market, in order to ensure a diversity of viewpoints in each market and serve the needs of each local market. In

16590-598: The first post-Freeze construction permits. KFEL (now KWGN-TV )'s first regular telecast was on July 21, 1952. In 1996, Congress enacted the Telecommunications Act of 1996 , in the wake of the breakup of AT&T resulting from the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust suit against AT&T. The legislation attempted to create more competition in local telephone service by requiring Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers to provide access to their facilities for Competitive Local Exchange Carriers . This policy has thus far had limited success and much criticism. The development of

16748-419: The first success stories out of this effort was the satirical news series Full Frontal with Samantha Bee , hosted by the former correspondent for Comedy Central 's The Daily Show (which served as a basis for Full Frontal ' s format). A new logo, which was previously revealed on social media six weeks prior on September 16, made its official debut on the evening of October 31, 2015. Bumpers featured

16906-432: The first television stations, and only the second U.S. broadcaster—after HBO—to be transmitted via satellite, instead of the then-standard method of using microwave relay to distribute a programming feed. Turner's decision to turn his television station into a national programming service was an expensive gamble on his part, given that he spent about $ 6 million of the $ 14 million that the station made in annual gross revenue at

17064-435: The house floor with bi-partisan support, and unanimous support of the FCC. By passing the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress also eliminated the cap on the number of radio stations any one entity could own nationwide and also substantially loosened local radio station ownership restrictions. Substantial radio consolidation followed. Restrictions on ownership of television stations were also loosened. Public comments to

17222-446: The identity of the customer or the content of the communication. This is similar to and adapted from the regulation of transportation providers (railroad, airline, shipping, etc.) and some public utilities. Wireless carriers providing telecommunications services are also generally subject to Title II regulation except as exempted by the FCC. The FCC regulates interstate telephone services under Title II. The Telecommunications Act of 1996

17380-527: The largest U.S. city without a TV station by 1952. Senator Edwin Johnson (D-Colorado), chair of the Senate's Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee , had made it his personal mission to make Denver the first post-Freeze station. The senator had pressured the FCC, and proved ultimately successful as the first new station (a VHF station) came on-line a remarkable ten days after the commission formally announced

17538-418: The logo being formed into different shapes, objects, structures, and surroundings (such as a gravestone , a flag on a submarine sandwich , and a monster eating the former logo, etc.). On October 22, 2016, AT&T announced an offer to acquire Time Warner for $ 108.7 billion, including debt it would assume from the latter, the merger would bring Time Warner's various media properties, including TBS, under

17696-487: The merger of Time Inc. and Warner Bros. corporate parent Warner Communications —reached an agreement to acquire the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) and its associated properties (including TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, CNN and CNN Headline News as well as Turner Entertainment ) for $ 7.5 billion; the deal would also expand Time Warner's pay television holdings, as it had owned HBO and sister premium service Cinemax as well as cable television provider Time Warner Cable since

17854-492: The move was done to improve the FCC's "coordination across the federal government" and to "support the 21st-century satellite industry." The decision to establish the Space Bureau was reportedly done to improve the agency's capacity to regulate Satellite Internet access . The new bureau officially launched on April 11, 2023. The commissioners of the FCC are: The initial group of FCC commissioners after establishment of

18012-516: The national feed "100% blackout-free." Combined with the utilization of indemnification provisions designed to protect against monetary damages if a superstation has "a reasonable basis for concluding that[...] programing deletion is not required," this ensured that the TBS national feed would be absolved from potential blackouts necessitated by any local syndication exclusivity claims and, therefore, prevent defections by cable affiliates that indicated it would remove any distant signals rather than shoulder

18170-554: 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 (including Atlanta Braves baseball, basketball games involving the Atlanta Hawks and other NBA teams, and professional wrestling including Georgia Championship Wrestling , Jim Crockett Promotions and later World Championship Wrestling ). WTBS maintained

18328-503: The negative effects of media concentration and consolidation on racial-ethnic diversity in staffing and programming. At these Latino town hall meetings, the issue of the FCC's lax monitoring of obscene and pornographic material in Spanish-language radio and the lack of racial and national-origin diversity among Latino staff in Spanish-language television were other major themes. President Barack Obama appointed Mark Lloyd to

18486-509: The network's look included a spiral/swirl shape (frequently positioned behind the TBS logo, presumably to depict the superstation's broadcast signal radiating outwards), as well as "Super"-branded blocks (such as Super Prime for prime time movie presentations, "Super TV" for weekday daytime films and series, and Super Weekend for film telecasts on Saturdays and Sundays). On December 17, 1997, Time Warner purchased Southern Satellite Systems from Liberty Media for $ 213 million in cash, as part of

18644-529: The new rules taking effect on January 1, 1990, Turner Broadcasting began to fill the WTBS schedule with additional programming—primarily, off-network syndicated comedy and drama series (such as The Jeffersons and Good Times ) as well as acquired film packages (consisting of both theatrical features and made-for-television films) and original programs (such as Jacques Cousteau specials, and National Audubon Society and National Geographic programs)—for which it would hold exclusive cable rights in order to make

18802-482: The newly emerging field of educational television , which hindered struggling ABC and DuMont 's quest for affiliates in the more desirable markets where VHF channels were reserved for non-commercial use. The Sixth Report and Order also provided for the "intermixture" of VHF and UHF channels in most markets; UHF transmitters in the 1950s were not yet powerful enough, nor receivers sensitive enough (if they included UHF tuners at all - they were not formally required until

18960-555: The nighttime hours after 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time (with exceptions made for scheduled sporting events, specials, original programs and, in the case of Sunday nights, off-network syndicated series and paid programming). At other times, mainly during the daytime hours each weekday and on weekend mornings, WTBS continued to run mostly classic sitcoms and vintage cartoons. In 1986, when Ted Turner purchased Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / United Artists (MGM/UA, which he would sell back to previous owner Kirk Kerkorian that October due to debt incurred by

19118-407: The number of carried imported signals), and instituted leapfrogging rules that required systems importing distant independent stations from the top-25 markets to choose from one or both of the two markets closest to the provider's city of license and any systems carrying the signal of a third independent being required to pick up a UHF or, if such a station is not available, VHF station located within

19276-584: The passage of the Communications Act of 1934, that the inherent scarcity of radio spectrum allows the government to impose some types of content restrictions on broadcast license holders notwithstanding the First Amendment. Cable and satellite providers are also subject to some content regulations under Title VI of the Communications Act such as the prohibition on obscenity, although the limitations are not as restrictive compared to broadcast stations. The 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan as President of

19434-467: The performance, given that he did not perform the singing voice of Jake Sommers. Aaron Jackson and Diana Uribe were not present. TBS (American TV channel) TBS (originally an initialism of Turner Broadcasting System ), stylized as tbs , is an American basic cable television network owned by the Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery . It carries a variety of programming , with

19592-473: The power of the FCC over indecent material as applied to broadcasting. After the 1990s had passed, the FCC began to increase its censorship and enforcement of indecency regulations in the early 2000s to include a response to the Janet Jackson " wardrobe malfunction " that occurred during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII . Then on June 15, 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law

19750-655: The provided information services over the feed. SSS began transmitting the United Press International (UPI) teletext news service over the national feed's VBI signal in 1979. 1981 saw the VBI signal begin to carry the Keyfax service out of Chicago. In 1985, SSS repurposed the VBI signal to transmit the Electra teletext service, Electra was transmitted over the VBI until the service was shut down in 1993 due to

19908-444: The provider's service area; as a result, the channel began to broadcast fewer Atlanta Braves regular season games to a national audience, under amended contractual agreements between Turner and Major League Baseball in conjunction with the league's cable-originated rightsholders, ESPN and Fox Sports Net/Liberty Sports , to allow TBS to continue carrying Braves telecasts nationwide. In 1998, TBS Superstation—which continued to run

20066-401: The reach of an independent station's signal that this was not an option. There were cable systems that carried three stations affiliated with each of the major commercial networks and three stations that were PBS member outlets (one station from within the home market and two stations from neighboring markets of each network). WTCG started to reach far beyond the Atlanta television market in

20224-563: The reality show Ripley's Believe It or Not! and the short-lived comedy series The Chimp Channel (a series based on the "Monkey-ed Movies" series of interstitial shorts parodying recent and classic theatrical movies with chimpanzees, voiced by human actors, in the roles). By 2001, several sitcoms from the 1980s and 1990s such as Full House , Family Matters , The Cosby Show , The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air , Friends , Seinfeld , and Home Improvement became part of TBS Superstation's schedule; many of these shows aired as part of

20382-412: The rights to syndicated programming and film packages, leaving the network-affiliated stations in the market—WAGA-TV, NBC affiliate WSB-TV (channel 2, now an ABC affiliate) and ABC affiliate WXIA-TV (channel 11, now an NBC affiliate)—to acquire the stronger shows. But, because of programming commitments that the affiliates had to their networks, those stations only kept the shows for a few years at

20540-483: The same corporate umbrella as AT&T's telecommunications holdings, including satellite provider DirecTV . Time Warner shareholders approved the merger on February 15, 2017; however, on February 28, 2017, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced that his agency will not review the deal, leaving the review to the U.S. Department of Justice . The merger also resulted in the full separation of TBS from former parent station WPCH (this time by ownership) in an effort to expedite

20698-539: The same schedule nationally as that seen on the local Atlanta broadcast feed—were broadcast on an Eastern Time schedule (with programs shown at earlier or, for those viewing in the Atlantic Time Zone in far eastern Canada and the Maritimes , later times depending on the location), resulting in programs being shown simultaneously in all six continental U.S. and all five Canadian time zones as they did in

20856-643: The schedule as other older shows such as The Three Stooges and Little Rascals shorts and Leave it to Beaver were dropped from the channel to make way for more sitcoms from the 1980s such as Three's Company , Who's the Boss? , Growing Pains , Family Ties , Mama's Family , and Saved by the Bell . Original animated programs such as Captain Planet and the Planeteers , 2 Stupid Dogs , and SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron were also added as part of

21014-539: The second "s" rendered in lower case). (Promotions for the channel's programming beginning at this time until 2004 often verbally referred to the national feed only as "the Superstation", a moniker that had previously been used in certain on-air promotions on an alternating basis or in conjunction with the WTBS/TBS name from its national launch as a superstation in December 1976 until December 1989). During this time,

21172-960: The second half of 2006, groups such as the National Hispanic Media Coalition, the National Latino Media Council, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the National Institute for Latino Policy , the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and others held town hall meetings in California, New York and Texas on media diversity as its effects Latinos and minority communities. They documented widespread and deeply felt community concerns about

21330-400: The series a grade of "F", and stated that " California Dreams can be accused of a lot of things, but originality isn’t one of them", and added that " California Dreams producer Franco E. Bario (who is also behind Saved by the Bell ) may have good intentions, but it’s hard to imagine what they were." Los Angeles Times reviewer Lynne Heffley considered the show nothing more than "a Saved by

21488-540: The shows seen on WTBS continued to air nationally over its superstation feed (in a move that preceded fellow superstations WGN-TV and WWOR-TV doing the same thing, though only after the FCC's re-implementation of the Syndication Exclusivity Rights rule in 1990). Although, separate national advertising or per inquiry ads replaced the local commercials intended for broadcast in the Atlanta area—which became exclusively carried by channel 17 locally—on

21646-480: The slogan "veryfunny." The semicircle element took on a motif with half a baseball or basketball rendered within it for Turner Sports programming. From October 1, 2004 to May 30, 2008, TBS had a block called "Too Funny to Sleep" that aired from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., and aired Mr. Show with Bob and David along with reruns of some shows from Adult Swim , such as Family Guy , Futurama , Baby Blues , The Oblongs , and Mission Hill . The refocusing

21804-418: The split of the TBS national feed from the Atlanta station in October 2007. In addition to offering conventional television programming over the main video-audio feed viewable to all multichannel television subscribers receiving the channel, Southern Satellite Systems transmitted two teletext services over the TBS superstation feed's vertical blanking interval (VBI) that required a special decoder to receive

21962-435: The station meets the "public interest, convenience, or necessity". The FCC's enforcement powers include fines and broadcast license revocation (see FCC MB Docket 04-232). Burden of proof would be on the complainant in a petition to deny. The FCC first promulgated rules for cable television in 1965, with cable and satellite television now regulated by the FCC under Title VI of the Communications Act. Congress added Title VI in

22120-571: The station moved to new studio facilities a few blocks west at the former site of the Progressive Club, along with overflow offices on Williams Street, across Interstate 75/85, those facilities now house Adult Swim and Williams Street Productions. (It shared the ex-Progressive Club studios with CNN and Headline News until the latter two moved their operations into the CNN Center downtown in 1987). Early programming included movies from

22278-463: The station's over-the-air channel number were completely removed—outside of minor technical issues where local ads and promos aired erroneously on the national feed. The on-air look of the station by this time was heavily reliant on then state-of-the-art Quantel Paintbox graphics, with slick animation created by a team of in-house graphic designers, led by creative services director John Christopher Burns. He and others would develop this look further in

22436-641: The summer of 1988. On May 18, 1988, the FCC reinstated syndication exclusivity restrictions through the passage of a new version of the Syndication Exclusivity Rights Rule. This version granted cable systems and satellite carrier firms the ability to secure an agreement to air a claimed syndicated program with the claimant local rightsholder or a syndication distributor, effectively allowing for superstations to acquire national cable rights for syndicated programs (either directly or through their satellite carrier). In preparation for

22594-412: The superstation feed. The 1980s also saw WTBS begin to venture into original programming, in 1980, the station premiered Tush , a late night sketch comedy and variety series hosted and developed by comedian Bill Tush (who had hosted newsbriefs and, occasionally, movie presentations for WTBS, in addition to serving as a staff announcer), with Jan Hooks (who would later gain fame during her stint as

22752-431: The time on satellite transmission. SSS initially charged prospective cable systems 10¢ per subscriber to transmit the WTCG signal as a 24-hour channel and 2¢ per subscriber to carry it as a part-time, overnight-only service (with the intent of acting as a timeshare feed on a cable channel otherwise occupied by a local or out-of-market broadcast station during their normal sign-off period). Instantly, WTCG went from being

22910-458: The time was the largest media company in the world. In September 1996, TBS replaced religious programs and infomercials that had aired on Sunday mornings and late nights with animated series and feature films, respectively, in those time slots. On December 17, 1996, when TBS celebrated its 20th anniversary as a national service, the channel reincorporated the "Superstation" moniker into its name, rebranding as " TBS Superstation " (this time with

23068-611: The top 20 media markets lacked independent stations running general entertainment programs, and largely only had access to television stations affiliated with ABC, NBC, and CBS, along with a non-commercial educational station. Cable providers in these areas carried network-affiliated commercial and non-commercial television stations from neighboring markets—usually to serve as default outlets where one or more networks were not available locally—and if possible, an independent station (often located anywhere between 60 and 200 miles [97 and 322 km] away). Still, many places were far enough out of

23226-420: The years that followed, eventually forming the design firm Television by Design to provide services to other television stations around the country (including WXIA-TV, rival independent WGNX [channel 46, now CBS affiliate WANF ] and PBS member station WPBA [channel 30, now WABE-TV ] within the Atlanta market). Burns would leave TVbD, but continued to be employed by Turner Broadcasting for other projects, including

23384-491: Was assigned as licensee of WJRJ-TV. The channel 17 transmitter was originally located at 1018 West Peachtree Street Northwest (it has since been relocated to the Atlanta suburb of North Druid Hills, Georgia ), with the antenna located on the Turner Broadcasting tower . The building at this site was once home to the studios of CBS affiliate WAGA-TV (channel 5, now a Fox owned-and-operated station ) and, later, channel 17, during its first three years as WJRJ-TV. By 1980,

23542-455: Was canceled by The Disney Channel in 1985. (TBS's addition of The New Leave It To Beaver to its lineup also coincided with the original Leave it to Beaver airing in reruns on the channel, as Ted Turner felt that the former would make a good programming fit with the latter.) On September 7, 1987, the "W" from the "WTBS" callsign was dropped from the superstation's on-air branding—changing its name to SuperStation TBS —in order to emphasize

23700-531: Was carried by 95 cable systems in six Southeastern states, reaching an estimated 440,000 households). Turner began formulating plans to take WTCG national upon hearing of the groundbreaking innovation by premium cable service Home Box Office (HBO) (which would eventually become a sister property to channel 17 as a result of Time Warner's 1996 acquisition of the Turner Broadcasting System ) to retransmit its programming nationwide utilizing communications satellites beginning with its September 30, 1975, telecast of

23858-599: Was divested by AT&T and merged with Discovery Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). On April 26, it was reported that WBD had suspended original scripted series development at TBS and TNT in order to evaluate the channels' strategies moving forward. At this point, TBS only had three original scripted series still airing first-run episodes, American Dad! , Chad (which itself would be dropped by WBD before its already-filmed second season made it to air; it would later be picked up by streaming service The Roku Channel ), and Miracle Workers . On May 11, Brett Weitz

24016-616: Was finalized four days later on April 21, 2017). On November 20, 2017, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against AT&T and Time Warner in an attempt to block the merger, citing antitrust concerns surrounding the transaction. The proposed merger—which had already been approved by the European Commission and Mexican, Chilean and Brazilian regulatory authorities—was affirmed by court ruling on June 12, 2018, after District of Columbia U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ruled in favor of AT&T, dismissing

24174-441: Was forced to divest all TV stations. To facilitate the adoption of digital television, the FCC issued a second digital TV (DTV) channel to each holder of an analog TV station license. All stations were required to buy and install all new equipment ( transmitters , TV antennas, and even entirely new broadcast towers ), and operate for years on both channels. Each licensee was required to return one of their two channels following

24332-518: Was intended to position its programming as a direct contrast to sister channel TNT, which had initially focused mainly around older movies and sports but moved toward and now focuses primarily on drama series and films. From April 19, 2013 to February 20, 2015, Turner began to utilize an outside-sourced four-hour block of programming on TBS late Friday nights without the "Too Funny to Sleep" branding, including Family Guy , The Oblongs , The Cleveland Show , and American Dad! . In late June 2007,

24490-432: Was originally established on December 17, 1976, as the national feed of Turner's Atlanta, Georgia , independent television station , WTCG . The decision to begin offering WTCG via satellite transmission to cable and satellite 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,

24648-429: Was removed as general manager for TBS, TNT, and TruTV; the channels are now overseen by Kathleen Finch as head of U.S. Networks. 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 is American Dad! , which also airs on and

24806-471: Was the first major legislative reform since the 1934 act and took several steps to de-regulate the telephone market and promote competition in both the local and long-distance marketplace. The important relationship of the FCC and the American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) Company evolved over the decades. For many years, the FCC and state officials agreed to regulate the telephone system as

24964-444: Was the only Procter & Gamble serial to be produced for cable television), and sitcoms Down to Earth , Rocky Road , and Safe at Home (all three of which were produced by The Arthur Company , and formed a block of first-run comedy series aimed at a family audience). In addition, from 1986 through 1989, TBS also produced more than 70 original episodes of The New Leave It To Beaver , which it picked up after that series

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