Tnt tv guide usa Continue This article is about the American TNT Channel and its international offshoots. For more uses, see TNT (Disambiguation). American pay-TV channel TNTCountryUnited StatesBroadcast areaNationwideSloganBoom.HeadquartersAtlanta, Georgia, U.S.ProgrammingLanguage(s)EnglishPicture format1080i (HDTV)(down to letterbox 480i for SDTV feed)OwnershipOwnerHBO(WarnerMedia Studios & Networks)Sister channels List TBS TruTV CNN The CW HBO Turner Classic Movies Cartoon Network Adult Swim Boomerang Audience AT&T SportsNet Cinemax HLN HistoryLaunchedOctober 3, 1988; 32 years ago (1988-10- 03)Former namesTurner Network Television (1988-1995)LinksWebcastWatch Live (U.S. Pay-TV subscribers only; 10 minutes free trial)Websitewww.tntdrama.comAvailabilityCableAvailable on all cable systemsChannel slots vary on each providerSatelliteOrby TVChannel 101 (HD)Dish NetworkChannel 138 (SD/HD)DirecTV Channel 245 (East; SD/HD) Channel 245-1 (West; HD) IPTVVerizon FiOS Channel 51 (SD) Channel 551 (HD) AT&T U-verse Channel 108 (East) Channel 109 (West) Channel 1108 (East; HD) Channel 1109 (West; HD) CenturyLink Prism Channel 108 (East) Channel 109 (West) Channel 1108 (East; HD) Channel 1109 (West; HD) Claro PR (Puerto Rico)Channel 1115 (HD)Streaming mediaYouTube TV, AT&T TV, Sling TV[1][2][3] TNT (originally an abbreviation for Turner Network Television) is an American cable television channel owned by WarnerMedia Studios & Networks. [4] When TNT was launched in October 1988, the original purpose of the station was to broadcast classic films and television series to which Turner Broadcasting held the broadcasting rights through its sister channel SuperStation TBS (now simply TBS). Since June 2001, the program has consisted of television series and feature films with a focus on drama, along with some sports (including NBA games, the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, and AEW Dynamite). In September 2018[update], TNT was received by approximately 89.573 million households that subscribe to a subscription television service in the United States. [5] History Beginnings See also: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ' MGM Entertainment Before the launch of the channel in 1988, The name Turner Network Television was used by the Turner Broadcasting System for an ad hoc syndication service that produced and distributed various sports events for promotion on Turner's Atlanta, Georgia Superstation WTBS (channel 17, now WPCH-TV, which was separated from its national cable feed TBS in October 2007) and broadcast television stations in the United States. The Turner Network Television Syndication Service launched in 1982 to produce two exhibition games organized by the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) during the NFL strike on WTBS and its national Superstation feed. (The agreement with the NFLPA NFLPA Eighteen games broadcast by WTBS on Sunday afternoon and Monday night during the originally proposed strike season, however, were reduced to the exhibition games amid lawsuits filed by the National Football League against Turner Broadcasting and the NFLPA Union.) [6] [8] The TNT Syndication Service produced and distributed the first Goodwill Games in 1986, organized by Ted Turner himself in response to the Olympic boycotts of the United States and the Soviet Union of the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics. [9] On October 6, 1987, Ted Turner announced the launch of Turner Network Television (TNT) in a keynote speech on the opening day of the Atlantic Cable Show in Atlantic City, New Jersey – his fifth basic cable network project after SuperStation TBS, CNN, Headline News (now HLN) and the short- lived Cable Music Channel. Turner originally estimated that TNT cable systems would be offered at a monthly price of 10% per subscriber (increase to 20% per subscriber per month until March 1989), with 10 minutes of advertising per hour (three to four minutes of which for future cable systems for local advertising). [10] [11] Turner Broadcasting struggled to obtain transportation commitments from various cable providers to begin the launch plans of the proposed service, making the fate of TNT uncertain. [12] Turner also began preliminary talks with NBC to acquire a 25% stake in the company, with the prospect of using NBC's financial and programming expertise to get TNT off the ground; however, these discussions ended without a resolution in January 1988. [13] [14] Former logo, used from 3 October 1988 to 12 June 2001; From 1992, this logo was accompanied by a yellow oval background. In February 1988, Turner announced that tN's program would focus on films from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film library – which Turner acquired in 1986 as a result of his sale of the MGM film studio to Kirk Kerkorian – and major television events, including cable films, high-profile specials, sporting events, documentaries, and miniseries. Cable systems were given the option of replacing a superstation (except SuperStation TBS) or another non-market television channel for TNT at launch, without any copyright obligations being created for the transport of the remote signal for the second half of 1988. However, the start date originally scheduled for 1 July this year has been postponed because it would raise several problems, including the procurement of channel releases and the compilation of a programme plan over such a contractually agreed period and the unfavourable promotion of a service in the summer (if usually programmed repetitions). [15] [16] On 7 March, Turner Broadcasting System System was The directors unanimously approved Ted Turner's plan for Turner Network Television, with October 3 being the station's proposed launch date. Plans are for TNT to offer 250 nights of original and live sports programs a year within five years of its debut. [17] The channel launched on October 3, 1988 at 7:55 p.m. Eastern Time, with TNT founder Ted Turner bringing a message about the launch and programming of the channel, followed by a pre-recorded performance of The Star Spangled Banner, traditionally played during the launch of a new Turner-owned network. [18] His first television show (which followed Eastern at 8 p.m.) was the first half of the 1939 classic Gone with the Wind, in which Ted Turner acquired the rights; the second half was broadcast the following night at the same time (both halves were repeated at 23:00 Eastern on their respective nights), with the film then shown in its entirety on this Sunday. It was said that Gone with the Wind was chosen as the station's opening programme because it was Turner's favourite film. [18] (Gone with the Wind was also the first program to air on the sister channel Turner Classic Movies when it debuted in April 1994.) The film premiered in Atlanta, Turner's hometown and home to the station's parent company, Turner Broadcasting System. TNT was originally a vehicle for older films and television shows in which Turner either already had rights or acquired specifically for the station; these films accounted for the majority of TNT programming during the first six years of operation. The original schedule also consisted of animated and live-action children's programs (broadcast from Sunday to Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time and Monday to Saturday from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time), with Western series on Saturday mornings and a limited schedule of other classic TV series in selected other periods. [18] In its early years, TNT caused controversy among film critics and fans for its broadcast of colorful versions of many classics originally shot in black and white. The channel started with an estimated 17 million subscribers, with initial coverage 6.8 times that of the largest previous cable network launch (VH1), which was launched on January 1, 1985, with 2.5 million households supposed to have received the channel. [18] The station's activities were based on the office area of Turner Broadcasting's Techwood Drive complex in Midtown Atlanta, which served as a facility for CNN Headline News from its launch as CNN2 in January 1982, until he and the parent network CNN in 1987. operations moved to downtown CNN Center. The president of Turner Entertainment Networks, Gerald Hogan, said at the time of its launch that TNT would eventually become the first cable network challenge the three broadcast networks by producing original programs that equal a quality level of a quality level and [.] significantly better than the programs that are carried out in the major American television stations; as such, the channel slowly began to add original programming and newer repetitions within two years of its introduction. [18] The station debuted on March 8, 1989, when TNT Nightbreaker, an Arms Race-era drama starring Martin Sheen (who also co-produced the film) and Emilio Estevez, premiered. [19] Extension See also: Monday Night Wars 1995 TNT debuted with WCW Monday Nitro, which took over the award as the flagship program of WCW Saturday Night's now defunct World Championship Wrestling and ran on this channel until 2000. At one point, Monday Nitro was regularly the highest-rated weekly program on cable television. The program beat Monday Night Raw, the flagship show of the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE or World Wrestling Entertainment), in ratings for 83 consecutive weeks from 1996 to 1998. [20] However, in early 1999, the program began to lose viewers to Raw, which became the highest-rated wrestling program on television due to its use of more adult storylines. The rapid decline in WCW's viewership is due to the Fingerpoke of Doom (which took place on January 4, 1999) and the company's rising losses. On 23 March 2001, WWF acquired most of WCW's assets, which had been for sale since the end of 2000; Monday Nitro aired its final episode three days later.