Ted Turner, media titan who launched CNN, dies at 87

Ted Turner, the swashbuckling media mogul who permanently altered the news and entertainment landscape by launching Cable News Network (CNN) in 1980, died Wednesday at his home in Atlanta. He was 87. His death, announced by Turner Enterprises, marks the end of an era for the television industry he helped build.

"Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgment,” Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, said in a statement. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN. Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand."

Turner’s signature achievement was the creation of CNN, a venture initially derided as the “Chicken Noodle Network” that grew into a global powerhouse by pioneering 24-hour news coverage. He transformed his father's billboard company into Turner Broadcasting System, a media conglomerate he sold to Time Warner in 1996 for $7.3 billion. His empire also included the TNT and TBS networks, the latter of which became the first "superstation" by using satellite technology to reach a national audience.

Turner’s passing is largely symbolic for the modern media industry, as he had been out of active management since 2003 after the disastrous AOL-Time Warner merger. However, his legacy is cemented in the 24-hour news cycle he pioneered, a format that continues to shape global media and now faces its own challenges in an era of declining cable viewership and fragmented digital audiences.

From Billboards to Broadcasting

Born in Cincinnati in 1938, Robert Edward Turner III took over his father’s billboard business in 1963 after his father's death. He demonstrated an early knack for aggressive expansion, acquiring radio and TV stations. By the 1970s, he leveraged new satellite technology to beam his Atlanta station, WTCG (later WTBS), to cable providers nationwide, creating a new model for television distribution and advertising.

His brash, outspoken style earned him the nicknames “The Mouth of the South” and “Captain Outrageous.” He famously skippered the yacht Courageous to victory in the 1977 America’s Cup and once temporarily installed himself as the manager of his Atlanta Braves baseball team. This unorthodox approach defined his business career, where he took massive risks that often paid off, most notably the launch of CNN in 1980.

The CNN Revolution and Rivalries

At a time when news was confined to evening broadcasts by the "big three" networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—Turner's vision of an all-news channel was revolutionary. The network’s breakthrough moment came with its live, on-the-ground coverage of the 1991 Gulf War from Baghdad.

As his influence grew, Turner engaged in fierce rivalries with fellow media titans like Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox News Channel would launch in 1996 and adopt a model of opinionated commentary that contrasted with CNN's initial focus on straight news. After selling his company to Time Warner, Turner expressed regret over losing control, stating, "The mistake I made was losing control of the company." He was further sidelined after the ill-fated 2000 merger with AOL, a deal he had reservations about but did not block.

In his later years, Turner dedicated himself to philanthropy, most notably with a $1 billion pledge to the United Nations in 1997. He was also one of the largest individual landowners in the U.S., focusing on conservation and managing a massive bison herd. In 2018, he revealed he had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia.

He is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.