CNN & Ted Turner

CNN and founder Ted Turner; 30 years later, cable giant tries to reignite and fend off Fox

Almost thirty years ago, Ted Turner created an all-news, 24/7 cable network called appropriately enough: "Cable News Network", or more to the point, CNN.

At the time, few people gave it any chance of succeeding. For one, cable wasn't the behemoth it has become today; general, over-the-air TV was the social norm and thirty to fourty channels seemed reasonable. Remember UHF? That was considered a luxury.

Indeed, CNN founder, Ted Turner, the flamboyant, multi-millionaire broadcast magnate, created the flagship enterprise that would suddenly transform cable into both the social and cultural TV fixture it has become today.

Turner also had the business foresight that news could and should be something people would relish anytime, anywhere, any place, and everyday. And who could argue? Just as CNN was beginning to bloom, Americans had a thirst for news. ABC News' Nightline was flourishing; its inception born out of the Iranian hostage crisis that began in November of 1979.

Soon, CNN became so big, so fast, and monumentally profitable, that in 1996, Turner sold Turner Broadcasting--CNN, TNT, the TBS Superstation, Turner Classic Movies, the Cartoon Network, New Line Cinema, and several sports teams, including the Atlanta Braves--to Time Warner.

Today, CNN is still huge and its news division has become a staple for instant coverage of events all around the world. It's signiture red logo is a fixture in almost all airports and it has transformed some of its air talent into the celebrity culture. Larry King, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper and Christianne Amanpour are part of CNN's prized assets, although some of that popularity has been eroding.

News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch's parent company which owns the Fox News channel, began in 1996 with little fanfare, but soon emerged out of the cable fortress with a steady stream of hard-hitting news and commentary, mostly leaning heavily to the conservative right.

FNC's formula was and is now heavily built around the concept of commentary and opinion-oriented shows. Today, Fox relishes its top position in the cable ratings, with shows featuring conservative-oriented Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. In May, controversial radio host Glenn Beck was hired and his brand of "shock-jock-style" bravado has put him near the top at FNC.

While Fox has been enormously successful at ingraining its brand of style into the cable culture, CNN has stalled and on some evenings of late, has lost the ratings battle to perennial third-place cabler, MSNBC.

CNN has tried repeatedly to alter and shuffle its nightly programming, so far with little upside. Anderson Cooper delivers a first-rate news show for two hours every weeknight, but so far hasn't been the "must-see" conduit CNN had hoped he'd become; Larry King gets A-list celebrity guests nightly, but his show has seen a steady decline in audience numbers, and is rumored to be out at CNN, once his contract expires in 2010.