Turner Broadcasting System

Chief Research Officer Howard Shimmel departs after Turner elevated Stephano Kim, who had been EVP of digital strategy and operations and chief data strategist, to the role of interim chief analytics officer.

The TV industry continues to evolve and change at a breakneck pace that has only intensified now that the platform and tech giants are part of the competition, investing billions in content.

Turner and Tegna have made strategic investments in Vizbee, a crossplatform casting and data company, during Vizbee’s latest round of funding. “As we continue to shape the future of television, […]

After spending years treating over-the-top video streaming as something to address in the far-off future, TV networks are actively shopping their streaming apps to marketers and technology companies at CES.

Turner Broadcasting System plans to launch a standalone sports streaming service for consumers in 2018, the Time Warner Inc unit said on Thursday. The service will offer access to UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League soccer matches as part of a three-year multi-platform rights agreement with the governing body of European football beginning with the 2018-19 season. Turner will add other content to the service as it becomes available, executives said. Pricing has yet to be determined.

TV giants like Turner and Viacom have been experimenting with cutting down the number of commercials they air in shows. They theorize that viewers will be happier, and they could even charge more for fewer ads, increasing revenue in the long run. But so far, there is no clear evidence of a financial payoff.

With digital media encroaching on all sides, TV adversaries train their fire outward instead of at each other. It could be the start of something bigger.

Turner said it plans to significantly expand its existing agreement with Snapchat to include additional sports content as well as original content from Turner brands including TBS, Adult Swim, truTV, Great Big Story and Super Deluxe.

Time Warner’s Turner expects to snare a greater volume of advance ad commitments in TV’s annual upfront marketplace, between 2% and 4%, the latest indication that Madison Avenue is placing more emphasis on TV than it has in several years.

Turner-owned networks TNT, TBS and others announced a number of new shows Wednesday at the company’s upfront presentation in New York, but the cornerstone of the company’s pitch to advertisers was a vow to reduce commercial loads. “The consumer experience must come first,” said Donna Speciale, president of ad sales for Turner Broadcasting. “We’re dedicated to keeping our content bold, engaging and less cluttered,” she told ad reps.

TBS and TNT offering shows that bring a little more spice to the comedy and drama genres. CNN adds three new series. Buyers do wonder at the efficiency of a huge presentation, though.

Kevin Reilly is giving himself three years to reinvent TBS and TNT. He joined the networks as chief creative officer in late 2014 and spent much of last year quietly making changes. The Turner transformation kicked off last week with the Jan. 17 premiere of Rashida Jones’ new TBS comedy Angie Tribeca. Reilly shares what else is on tap.

Hedge fund managers are driving themselves crazy trying to make sense of the numerous theories about who’s moving which pieces across the media chessboard. This week’s consensus is that AT&T is preparing to make a major media buy. Several well-placed tipsters believe the former Ma Bell is circling Time Warner.

The National Basketball Association is widely expected to renew its current TV-rights deals with Walt Disney’s ESPN and Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting, according to a person familiar with the situation. The deals, which Sports Business Journal reported in September are likely to be worth more than $2 billion overall, would leave other media companies that may have hoped to add NBA games to their programming rosters, including NBC and Fox, in the lurch.

In a memo sent to all Turner Broadcasting employees this morning, Turner CEO John Martin said that as part of the company’s “Turner 2020” plan, the company will unveil a new corporate structure “in the next two months.” Martin suggests there will be organizational changes and layoffs across the entire company, which includes CNN, TNT, TBS, Turner Sports and Cartoon Network, among other channels.

The cable news operation’s SVP of media technology and development is busy these days overseeing enhancements to CNN’s Media Source media asset management system with the integration of the Adobe Anywhere collaboration platform. He’s also looking at the importance of metadata, the evolution of cellular bonded systems and the potential of 4K and drones.

Five months into his stint as CEO of Turner Broadcasting System, John Martin is focusing on maximizing performance and trimming fat, which likely means staff changes.

In a move that will give it greater visibility into the shares of ad dollars that agencies spend across media, Turner Broadcasting System has signed on to license actual agency “booking” data from Standard Media Index. Turner is the second major cable networks group to subscribe to the data, following A&E Networks, which began using SMI’s data in April.

ESPN and Turner Sports are talking with NASCAR about getting out of their broadcast rights agreement a year early, a move that could allow Fox Sports and NBC Sports Group to become the sport’s broadcasters next year. It’s unlikely that the four TV companies will be able to reach a deal, sources say. But the fact that these types of talks are occurring is precedent-setting in an industry where live sports rights are held sacred.

Turner Broadcasting System is launching its first lifestyle brand — Upwave — initially online before bringing it to TV, aimed at entertaining and informing health-conscious Americans on nutrition and fitness topics.

Time Warner Inc said its Turner Broadcasting unit has bought sports website the Bleacher Report to bulk up the media company’s Internet sports presence, which includes websites such as NASCAR.com and NCAA.com. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but a source close to the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly about it said Time Warner is paying under $200 million for the San Francisco-based company.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Turner Broadcasting System is in talks to buy San Francisco-based sports news website Bleacher Report in an attempt to expand its online presence. The pay TV […]

Both NBC Universal’s cable properties and Time Warner’s Turner have begun making deals for commercial time in the coming TV season, according to people familiar with the pace of talks, but their terms so far may be hard for some ad buyers to swallow.

A group of Turner Broadcasting System alums is planning a reunion of all current and former employees and friends of the company to honor founder Ted Turner and benefit his foundation. “What an amazing night of re-acquaintances, stories and fun November 12 promises to be,” says one-time PR chief Arthur Sando.