Turner Broadcasting System Inc

Turner Broadcasting Reports Quarterly Loss: Citing the costs of retiring debt and fallout from the major league baseball strike, Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting System Inc. said it lost $5 million in the third quarter ended Sept. 30. The media company, which owns the Atlanta Braves and televises the baseball team's games, said the strike reduced Braves operating results by $15 million from last year. Its loss for the period amounted to 2 cents a share.

Turner Broadcasting Expects Higher Profits in 1992: Turner Broadcasting System Inc. expects to turn the corner this year from slim to substantial profits as it keeps costs down and expands its cable and international operations, a top company official says. Terence McGuirk, executive vice president of Turner, said the company finished 1991--a generally tough year for the television industry--within about 4% of its cash-flow projections. He provided no specific figures.

Turner Reportedly May Pump Money Into Orion: Turner Broadcasting System Inc. is the most likely company to bring Orion Pictures Corp. out of bankruptcy proceedings, Daily Variety reported. It quoted Orion sources as saying that Turner is in serious talks with the company about a deal with Orion. An Orion spokeswoman would say only that "there's been interest from several parties."

Turner Broadcasting System Inc. reported sharply higher fourth-quarter and full-year earnings. In the fourth quarter, Turner said profit rose to $43.4 million, or 16 cents a share, from $7.3 million, or a post-dividend loss of 3 cents a share. Revenue in the quarter rose 12.6% to $402.4 million from $357.3 million. For the year, profit soared to $85.9 million, or 23 cents a share, from a 1990 profit of $4.6 million that translated as a loss of 28 cents a share after preferred dividend payments.

Turner Plans TV Station in Moscow: Turner Broadcasting System Inc. announced plans to build the first independent television station in Moscow in cooperation with a Russian company. The joint venture must compete with other groups for a license to use Channel 6, the last VHF frequency available in Moscow. And the plan is contingent on approval by the board of TBS, parent company of Cable News Network, and its partner, Moscow Independent Broadcasting Co.

Turner Broadcasting System plans to launch its first new cable channel since 1994, a general entertainment network for the southern region that will feature country music, lifestyle programming, classic wrestling matches, movies and sports. The new channel, Turner South, will roll out this fall and could serve as a model for other regional networks from Turner, which is owned by Time Warner Inc., according to Bill Burke, president of TBS Superstation, who will supervise the new network.

Any deal involving Turner Broadcasting System has to offer a good answer to one deceptively simple question: What's in it for John Malone? As chief executive of Tele-Communications Inc., the nation's largest cable operator and owner of a 21% stake in Turner, Malone can kill any deal he doesn't like. And his history as one of the toughest, shrewdest deal-makers in the media world assures that any deal he likes will yield big benefits for him and TCI.

Actor Timothy Hutton has won a $9.75-million award against MGM after a Los Angeles Superior Court Jury found that the studio engaged in fraud and breached its contract when it canceled plans for the 1983 movie "Roadshow." Hutton had argued that MGM executives deceived him by telling him the picture was being terminated because the director, Richard Brooks, had suffered a heart attack.

A year ago, Turner Sports dived into postseason baseball without so much as warming up in the bullpen. "It was like trying to start a car in winter," said TBS producer Tim Kiely. It wasn't as if the company didn't know its way around a diamond. TBS, after all, had been doing Atlanta Braves games for 30 years. But still, for a general public used to dealing with the broadcast networks and ESPN in the postseason, it was disconcerting.

Something is missing from the TBS baseball studio show. Something that could bring excitement, unpredictability, controversy. Something that could light the spark clearly missing when Cal Ripken and Dennis Eckersley, along with Curtis Granderson (division series) and Harold Reynolds (championship series) join host Ernie Johnson to analyze the plays, the players and the moves in the games of the day. Something that could lighten the analysis and sharpen the criticism.

Further expanding its reach in India, Time Warner Inc.'s Turner Broadcasting is shelling out $126.5 million for a 92% stake in NDTV Imagine, a popular Hindi general entertainment channel, and some smaller assets. Turner already owns several networks in India, including versions of CNN and Cartoon Network. It also owns Pogo, a children's channel. "India continues to be a key priority for us," said Steve Marcopoto, president of Turner Broadcasting's Asia Pacific unit. Besides NDTV Imagine, Turner is taking control of NDTV Imagine Pictures, a movie production company, and a couple of smaller networks.

Something is missing from the TBS baseball studio show. Something that could bring excitement, unpredictability, controversy. Something that could light the spark clearly missing when Cal Ripken and Dennis Eckersley, along with Curtis Granderson (division series) and Harold Reynolds (championship series) join host Ernie Johnson to analyze the plays, the players and the moves in the games of the day. Something that could lighten the analysis and sharpen the criticism.

A year ago, Turner Sports dived into postseason baseball without so much as warming up in the bullpen. "It was like trying to start a car in winter," said TBS producer Tim Kiely. It wasn't as if the company didn't know its way around a diamond. TBS, after all, had been doing Atlanta Braves games for 30 years. But still, for a general public used to dealing with the broadcast networks and ESPN in the postseason, it was disconcerting.

The NBA on Thursday detailed plans to dramatically expand its digital business deal with Turner Broadcasting System by turning over operation of its league website, a 24/7 digital television channel and a cable and satellite television package that lets avid fans watch out-of-town games. NBA Commissioner David Stern's decision to partner with a media company on digital rights runs counter to the go-it-alone strategies adopted by the NFL and MLB.

In its 11th year, TBS' annual marathon of "A Christmas Story" is still a big draw. The cable channel showed the 1983 film for 24 hours straight, starting at 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve. For that period, TBS said Friday, it was the top-rated outlet on basic cable, averaging 2.8 million viewers. The first showing on Christmas Eve drew the largest audience, more than 4.3 million. Based on a story by Jean Shepherd, the film stars Peter Billingsley as a boy who wants a BB gun for Christmas.

Four years ago, Tyler Perry pitched an idea for a sitcom about a firefighter with two kids who moves in with his parents after his crack-addicted wife burns their house down. The network executives loved it. Except they didn't want the hero to be a firefighter. And they didn't want veteran stage actors Cassi Davis and Lavan Davis to play the leads. And they didn't want the matriarch to make so many references to Jesus and the Bible.

Turner Broadcasting Systems and an advertising agency agreed to pay $2 million in compensation for planting blinking electronic devices around the Boston area in a publicity stunt that set off a terrorism scare. The agreement between Turner, Interference Inc., and several state and local agencies resolves any potential civil or criminal claims against the two companies, Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley said.

Turner Broadcasting has agreed to pay all costs of a security scare triggered by a marketing campaign that disrupted travel in Boston, a spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas Menino said. Travel on major roadways and rail lines was suspended as police responded in large numbers Wednesday after discovering the battery-powered devices, which were intended to promote a cartoon on a Turner cable network, in Boston and surrounding cities. Authorities blew up one of them.

New York to Boston: Get over it. The Big Apple's neighbor to the north was brought to a halt Wednesday when some harmless blinking signs advertising a cartoon were mistaken for bombs. In New York? Fuhgeddaboudit. The city's 911 operators logged no calls -- not a single one -- when the identical devices depicting in lights a character from "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" were planted around Manhattan and Brooklyn several weeks ago.

Cable network owner Turner Broadcasting System Inc. said it planned to launch a broadband comedy network in January as parent company Time Warner Inc. bulks up its Internet businesses. The company that helped popularize cable television with the CNN and TNT networks will launch Super Deluxe, an advertising-supported Internet site that features originally produced comedy videos aimed at young adult viewers.