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Turner Network Television
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TNT (originally Turner Network Television) is an American cable TV network created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner.
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.
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Encyclopedia
TNT (originally Turner Network Television) 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
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.
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.
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.
In the 1990s, TNT developed a lienup of syndicated shows for weekday afternoons including Due South, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and Babylon 5. In 1998, TNT took over production of the fifth and final season of Babylon 5 and in 1999, TNT produced the Babylon 5 spinoff series Crusade but it was cancelled after 1 season.
During 2001, TNT had its then most successful original series, Witchblade, which ran for two seasons, ending its run in 2002.
"We Know Drama" era
On June 12, 2001, TNT relaunched itself, with a new logo and tagline, "We Know Drama.", which emphasized the network's new focus on programming with drama and energy, such as sports and network TV dramas like Angel, Law & Order, Charmed, NYPD Blue, ER, Without a Trace, Alias, Judging Amy, Las Vegas and Cold Case. It is in direct contrast to sister network TBS, which shows more comedy related programming. In addition, NASCAR coverage moved to TNT from TBS starting in the 2001 season, as Ted Turner believed that it would fit more with TNT's new look and theme than TBS.
In 2004, TNT became the first Turner Network to begin broadcasting in High Definition. TNT is also one of the Turner-owned channels which now shows the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
On December 7, 2008, TNT unveiled a new ad campaign with a newly stylized update of its logo, mainly in shiny silver (onscreen during programming and on the TNT website) but sometimes in gold. The campaign will continue to use the network's tagline "We Know Drama" but with more of a focus on its original series and its plan to have three nights of original primetime programming starting in 2009.
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.
Programming
Drama
TNT’s success with original series includes the critically acclaimed The Closer, ad-supported cable’s #1 series of all time; Saving Grace, which averages more than 5 million viewers; and Raising the Bar, which set a new ad-supported cable viewership record when it premiered on Labor Day 2008. The network’s latest original series, the light-hearted drama Trust Me, starring Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh, premiered Jan. 26, with 3.4 million viewers.
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.
Upcoming Series/Pilots
Bunker Hill: Bridget Moynahan ("Six Degrees") has joined the cast of the drama pilot, about a cop (Donnie Wahlberg) who returns to the Boston neighborhood he grew up in. She'll play Erin, the sister-in-law of Wahlberg's character, who has a love-hate relationship with him stemming from the death of her cop husband. Walon Green is behind the Warner Horizon Television-based hour, which Jon Avnet is attached to direct. , , ,
Time Heals: Jeffrey Nordling ("24") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about a strong but caring director of nursing (Jada Pinkett Smith) at Charlotte Mercy Hospital in North Carolina. He'll play Tom Wakefield, the director of medicine who is loved by his patients and gets along with Smith's character. Christina Moore and David Julian Hirsh also star in the hour, which comes from Sony Pictures Television in association with Pinkett Smith’s 100% Womon Productions, John Masius Productions and Jamie Tarses’ FanFare Productions, and creator John Masius. , , ,
The Line: The Practice alum Dylan McDermott has been tapped as the lead in Jerry Bruckheimer's drama pilot. The project, from Warner Horizon and Jerry Bruckheimer TV, is a character-based police drama that revolves around a squad of undercover LAPD officers as they walk the line between doing their job and being seduced by easy money. McDermott will play Lt. Andre Carter, a veteran officer who created and is running the secret unit, trying to strike a balance in his personal and professional relationships with his underlings. He joins the recently cast Logan Marshall-Green, Omari Hardwick and Nicki Aycox. The pilot is written by Doug Jung and directed by Danny Cannon. It will be executive produced by Bruckheimer, Cannon, Jung and Jonathan Littman.
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 UK TNT did show WCW Monday Nitro on Friday nights just four days after its US broadcast). 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.
Satellite Parameters
- Satellite : Turksat 3A
- Frequency : 11.804
- Polarization : Vertical
- Symbol Rate : 24.444
- Language : Turkish , English , Turkish Subtitles
Germany
In January 2009 a version of TNT launched in Germany with the German premiere of 30 Rock and Friday Night Lights. After Boomerang (2006), Cartoon Network and TCM (both 2007) it is the fourth german Turner channel.
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