Offerings

Turner Network Television, Inc.

Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Ownership
Owner	Turner Broadcasting, Inc. (a Time Warner company)

Turner Network Television, usually referred to as TNT, is an American cable TV network created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner.

History

Before 1988

Before the name was applied to a current network, TNT was the name of a syndication service. In 1982, TNT produced two exhibition football games that were organized by the NFL Players Association during the 1982 NFL strike. The union had hoped to establish a new football league with those games, to help fans cope with the lack of National Football League games. But neither game drew well, either in attendance or TV ratings, and no further games were played.

In 1986, TNT syndicated the first Goodwill Games from Moscow, USSR to many stations across the country.

Both events were carried by, among other stations, KTLA in Los Angeles.

Current network

TNT as a cable service was launched with a showing of the 1939 classic movie Gone with the Wind (which Ted Turner had acquired the rights to), on October 3, 1988. It was chosen because, it was said, it was Turner's favorite movie - it would also be the first program on sister channel Turner Classic Movies in 1994. Incidentally, the film had been premiered in Atlanta, Turner's hometown and the headquarters of Turner Broadcasting, as well as being the setting for Gone With the Wind.

TNT was, at least initially, a vehicle for older movies and television shows, but slowly began to add original programming and newer reruns. When TNT began broadcasting pre-1986 MGM films, it caused a controversy when they began "colorizing" many black and white classics.

See also: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer § MGM/UA, Turner and Pathé

1990s

In 1990, it obtained partial rights to the National Football League, which it retained until 1997. The package consisted of three or four preseason games annually and of regular-season telecasts of the first half of each season.

Starting in 1995, TNT was also the home of WCW Monday Nitro, the flagship show of the now defunct World Championship Wrestling, once regularly the highest rated weekly program on cable. The program defeated Monday Night Raw, the flagship show of the then-World Wrestling Federation, for 83 straight weeks until 1998.

See also: Monday Night Wars

It was also known for its late night programming, such as MonsterVision, which showcased B-movies (including a Godzilla marathon at the end of every month), with occasional guest hosts Penn and Teller. MonsterVision eventually found a permanent host in cult personality and drive in movie aficionado Joe Bob Briggs, who usually appeared outside his trailer home (actually a none too convincing set). Every Saturday night, from 1995 to 2000, he would host a pair of horror films (such as Friday the 13th Part 2 and Wes Craven's New Nightmare) provide a running commentary, trivia, off-color jokes and a drive-in total (a tongue-in-cheek check list of the featured movie's most exploitative elements, such as number of bare breasts, dead bodies, etc.). Also included in his host segments were jokes at the expense of Turner Network Television's Standards and Practices department for heavy censorship of the featured movies. This running joke culminated in a Friday the 13th all-night marathon during Halloween of 1998, where it was implied that Ted Turner was out to kill him.

During 2001, TNT had its then most successful original series, Witchblade, which ran for two seasons, ending its run in 2002. The series starred Yancy Butler.

The original TNT logo,used between October 3, 1988 to June 12, 2001.

"We Know Drama" era

On June 12, 2001, TNT relaunched itself, with a new logo and tagline, "We Know Drama." It now focuses on sports and high-action movies with lots of drama and energy, and the "Primetime in the Daytime" weekday lineup featuring reruns of network TV dramas such as Angel, Law & Order, Charmed, NYPD Blue, ER, Without a Trace, Alias, Judging Amy, Las Vegas and Cold Case. TNT is also one of the Turner-owned channels which now shows the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. It is in direct contrast to sister network TBS, which shows more comedy related programming.

In 2004, TNT became the first Turner Network to begin broadcasting in High Definition.

TNT HD

TNT HD is a cable television network owned by Time Warner that broadcasts 24/7. It is a high definition simulcast of TNT, including live sports, series, specials, and movies.

TNT HD is criticized for its practice of airing a significant amount of 4:3 standard definition content stretched to 16:9 through a nonlinear process similar to the "panorama" setting on many HDTVs that some viewers have nicknamed Stretch-o-Vision; though other simulcasted HD cable channels have also fallen into this practice, TNT is usually cited since it was one of the first networks with an HD simulcast. The nonlinear stretching process leaves objects in the center of the screen with approximately their original aspect ratio; objects at the left and right edges are distorted. In addition to true HD content at 16:9, TNT HD also airs unstretched upconverted standard definition content in its original aspect ratio.

Widescreen movies

Below a list of some of the movies TNT HD provides in a widescreen (non stretch-o-vision) format and airs frequently. Movies will be noted if they were aired in their original aspect ratio.

• The Grudge (provided in OAR)
• Jerry Maguire (provided in OAR)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Titanic (provided in OAR)
• Forrest Gump

Programming

Main article: List of original programs broadcast by TNT

Sports

TNT Sports (under the Turner Sports division) mainly consists of National Basketball Association games and NASCAR races. The NBA on TNT (with studio hosts Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley) dates back to 1988 and has aired, either by itself or in combination with a similar package on TBS Superstation, ever since. NASCAR came to TNT in 2001, carried over from TBS by their shared parent company. From 2001 to 2006, the race package was split with NBC; as of 2007, it stands alone, with six races telecast annually. Currently, TNT has the cable rights to the first two rounds of two of golf's major championships, The British Open and The PGA Championship.

TNT may also air some Major League Baseball playoff games starting in October 2007 if there is a conflict with the TBS coverage (e.g. two games in different Division Series are both scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Eastern time on a Saturday, the start of one game running at the same time as the finish of another, or the unlikely event of two different one-game playoffs to break ties).

TNT inherited the telecast of the 2001 UAW-GM Quality 500 NASCAR race at Lowe's Motor Speedway from NBC due to the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom.

International

European, Australian, Latin American, Spanish and Asian versions of TNT were launched in the 1990s but were exclusively dedicated to movies, mainly from the MGM and Warner Brothers archives. The European, Australian and Asian versions of the channel eventually became Turner Classic Movies.

TCM is still operating and broadcasts MGM and Warner Brothers films like the old TNT used to. There is now also a TCM 2 in the United Kingdom which broadcasts films from MGM and Warner Brothers also.

Spain

TNT came back to the Spanish market in summer 2007, when it launched exclusively on pay tv platform Digital+ becoming the 6th Turner network available in Spain after Turner Classic Movies, Turner Classic Movies Clásico (launched alongside the new TNT), Cartoon Network, Boomerang and CNN+, a joint-venture between Turner Broadcasting and the Spanish Sogecable.

Turkey

A local version of TNT in Turkey launched in March 2008.

Germany

In January 2009 a version of TNT will launched in Germany with the German premiere of 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights etc.

External links

• Official Site
• TNTHD