TBS (American TV channel)

TBS (an initialism of Turner Broadcasting System) is an American <a href="/facts/Basic_cable/6sIan8mS">basic cable</a> <a href="/facts/Television_broadcasting/xq32nKxz">television network</a> owned by the <a href="/facts/Warner_Bros._Discovery_Global_Linear_Networks/sHQb6Sf0">Global Linear Networks</a> division of <a href="/facts/Warner_Bros._Discovery/0rV6EadW">Warner Bros. Discovery</a>. It carries a <a href="/facts/Generalist_channel/h0S1lAE1">variety of programming</a>, with a focus on <a href="/facts/Television_comedy/v15r1JtU">comedy</a>, along with some sports events through <a href="/facts/TNT_Sports_(United_States)/JjoIwS6d">TNT Sports</a>, including <a href="/facts/MLB_on_TBS/3Nk5fgj5">Major League Baseball</a>, <a href="/facts/Stanley_Cup_playoffs/QrYGSwcE">Stanley Cup playoffs</a>, and the <a href="/facts/NCAA_March_Madness_(TV_program)/70wcr533">NCAA men's basketball tournament</a>. 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' sister networks are <a href="/facts/TNT_(American_TV_network)/uW4vqKNk">TNT</a>, <a href="/facts/TruTV/rIAq0g2W">TruTV</a>, and <a href="/facts/Turner_Classic_Movies/0qS5jr3H">Turner Classic Movies</a>, with the first two channels also providing sports coverage through TNT Sports.
TBS was originally established on December 17, 1976, as the national feed of Turner's <a href="/facts/Atlanta/8hPVGb78">Atlanta, Georgia</a>, <a href="/facts/Independent_station_(North_America)/er4xtnC1">independent television station</a>, <a href="/facts/WPCH-TV/Q8aNIBju">WTCG</a>. The decision to begin offering WTCG via <a href="/facts/Communications_satellite/y5RXPMDT">satellite</a> transmission to <a href="/facts/Cable_television/GzXa4pbW">cable</a> and <a href="/facts/Satellite_television/UxytxnPW">satellite</a> subscribers throughout the United States expanded the small station into the first nationally distributed "<a href="/facts/Superstation/LBxLNmsM">superstation</a>." With the assignment of WTBS as the broadcast station's callsign in 1979, 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 <a href="/facts/Atlanta_Braves/0HetuQDF">Atlanta Braves</a> baseball, basketball games involving the <a href="/facts/Atlanta_Hawks/2QX8KhMK">Atlanta Hawks</a> and other <a href="/facts/National_Basketball_Association/Vd3EUFfa">NBA</a> teams, and <a href="/facts/Professional_wrestling/wtYLlT50">professional wrestling</a> including <a href="/facts/Georgia_Championship_Wrestling/AUsLYzCb">Georgia Championship Wrestling</a>, <a href="/facts/Jim_Crockett_Promotions/ptbjFfR5">Jim Crockett Promotions</a>, <a href="/facts/World_Championship_Wrestling/kspm7vQ6">World Championship Wrestling</a> and <a href="/facts/All_Elite_Wrestling/jGTFwtfF">All Elite Wrestling</a>).
WTBS maintained a nearly identical program schedule as the national feed, aside from local commercials, <a href="/facts/Federal_Communications_Commission/Ueghz8W0">FCC</a>-mandated EAS alerts, legal IDs, public affairs and <a href="/facts/E%2fI/Q7m2bj12">educational programming</a> that only aired on the local signal. By the early 2000s, TBS had begun to focus more intensively on comedic programming, including <a href="/facts/Sitcom/a01VwMsV">sitcoms</a> 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 the Atlanta market on area cable providers alongside its existing local carriage on <a href="/facts/Direct-broadcast_satellite_television/UxytxnPW">satellite</a> providers <a href="/facts/DirecTV/6YdG5f7H">DirecTV</a> and <a href="/facts/Dish_Network/vgvu5TDW">Dish Network</a>. The former parent station in Atlanta was concurrently relaunched as <a href="/facts/WPCH-TV/Q8aNIBju">WPCH-TV</a> (branded as "Peachtree TV", which Turner sold to the <a href="/facts/Meredith_Corporation/J489bcD4">Meredith Corporation</a> in 2017, and later acquired by <a href="/facts/Gray_Media/HTQnUVAl">Gray Media</a> in 2021) and reformatted as a traditional independent station with a separate schedule exclusively catering to the Atlanta market.

TBS (American TV channel) open-in-new

TBS (American TV channel)