Ted Turner’s Former Superstation TBS Has Been Sold

By Kevin Eck 

Meredith is buying WPCH, Peachtree TV, from Turner Broadcasting System and Superstation, Inc. for an undisclosed sum.

Meredith, which owns the Atlanta CBS affiliate WGCL, has had a hand in the day-to-day operations of Peachtree TV for 6 years, including advertising sales, marketing and promotions and technical operations.

“We’ve worked closely with Meredith since 2011 and know they will be excellent stewards of WPCH-TV,” said Michael Marinello, svp of Communications for Turner.

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WPCH Channel 17 launched in 1967 as WJRJ.

SuperstationTBSTed Turner bought the station in 1970, and changed the call letters to WTCG. It would be the cornerstone of a media empire that eventually included cable stations TBS, CNN, HLN and TNT. In 1976, WTCG became the nation’s first Superstation. Its signal was beamed via satellite to cable systems in Nebraska, Virginia, Alabama and Kansas. By 1978, WTCG was carried on cable providers in all 50 states. A year later, Turner changed the call letters to WTBS, and re-branded the station Superstation TBS.

In 2007, Turner Broadcasting split the cable station, TBS, from the local station, Channel 17, and changed the call letters to WPCH rebranding it as Peachtree TV.

Meredith’s acquisition is expected to close by June 30. The sale is expected to help Turner parent company Time Warner in its merger with AT&T.

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