Editing Ted Turner (section)

=== Other ventures ===
{{Professional wrestling sidebar}}
In 1981, Turner Broadcasting System acquired [[Brut Productions]] from [[Faberge Inc.]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Faberge Sells Brut's Assets|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/01/business/faberge-sells-brut-s-assets.html|website=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 1982 |access-date=November 27, 2014}}</ref>

After a failed attempt to acquire [[CBS]], Turner purchased the film studio [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]]/[[United Artists|UA]] Entertainment Co. from [[Kirk Kerkorian]] in 1986 for $1.5 billion.<ref name=MGM>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/08/business/turner-acquiring-mgm-movie-empire.html|title=Turner Acquiring MGM Movie Empire |first=Geraldine|last=Fabrikant|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 8, 1985|access-date=September 7, 2020}}</ref> Following the acquisition, Turner had amassed enormous debt and sold parts of the acquisition; Kerkorian bought back MGM/UA Entertainment. The MGM/UA Studio lot in [[Culver City, California|Culver City]] was sold to [[Lorimar Productions|Lorimar]]/[[Telepictures]]. Turner kept MGM's pre-May 1986 and pre-merger film and television library.<ref name="ymrt">''You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story,'' (2008) p. 255.</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=[[Orlando Sentinel]]|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1986/08/27/turner-united-artists-close-deal/|title=Turner, United Artists Close Deal |publisher=[[United Press International]]|date=August 27, 1986|access-date=September 7, 2020|archive-date=September 21, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921055612/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1986-08-27/business/0250090069_1_united-artists-turner-mgm|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Turner Entertainment]] was established in August 1986 to oversee film and television properties owned by Turner thanks to the deal with Kerkorian.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Having now acquired MGM's library of 2,200 films made before 1986, Turner had them syndicated on his nationwide television stations.<ref name=MGM /> When broadcasting their older films, he aired [[Film colorization|colorized]] versions of ones originally shot in black-and-white.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-10-23-ca-6941-story.html|title=Turner Defends Move to Colorize Films |first=John|last=Voland|date=October 23, 1986|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=September 7, 2020}}</ref> Opposition arose from cinephiles, actors, and directors to Turner's colorization efforts. Film critic [[Roger Ebert]] wrote on Turner's broadcasting of a colorized ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'', "that will be one of the saddest days in the history of the movies. It is sad because it demonstrates that there is no movie that Turner will spare, no classic however great that is safe from the vulgarity of his computerized graffiti gangs."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/casablanca-gets-colorized-but-dont-play-it-again-ted|title='Casablanca' gets colorized, but don't play it again, Ted|first=Roger|last=Ebert|website=[[RogerEbert.com]]|date=October 30, 1988|access-date=September 7, 2020}}</ref> Thanks in part to Turner's colorization, the [[Library of Congress]] established the [[National Film Registry]] with the aim to preserve American films in their original format.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/12/national-film-registry-spike-lee-claudia-weill|title=Spike Lee Gets His Fourth Film on the National Film Registry: 'Sometimes Dreams Come True'|first=Donald|last=Liebenson|website=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=December 11, 2019|access-date=September 7, 2020}}</ref>

In 1988, Turner purchased [[Jim Crockett Promotions]] which he renamed [[World Championship Wrestling]] (WCW) which became the main competitor to [[Vince McMahon]]'s [[WWE|World Wrestling Federation]] (WWF). This rivalry became known as the [[Monday Night Wars|Monday Night War]], and would last throughout the 1990s. In 2001, under [[WarnerMedia#AOL Time Warner (2001–2003)|AOL Time Warner]], WCW was [[WWE#Start of the Attitude Era (1997–1999)|sold to the WWF]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/632761-wcw-how-it-died-and-how-wwe-and-vince-mcmahon-made-sure-it-never-rose-again|title=WCW: How It Died, and How WWE and Vince McMahon Made Sure It Never Rose Again|first=Joe|last=Burgett|website=[[Bleacher Report]]|date=March 11, 2011|access-date=September 7, 2020}}</ref>

Also in 1988, Turner introduced [[Turner Network Television]] (TNT) with ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]].'' TNT, initially showing older movies and television shows, added original programs and newer reruns. Turner would later create [[Turner Classic Movies]] (TCM) in 1994, airing Turner's pre-1986 MGM library of films alongside those of [[Warner Bros.]] made before 1950, though it has expanded its library since.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

In 1989, Turner created the [[Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award|Turner Tomorrow Fellowship]] for fiction offering positive solutions to global problems. The winner, from 2500 entries worldwide, was [[Daniel Quinn]]'s ''[[Ishmael (Quinn novel)|Ishmael]].''{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

{{external media
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| video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIyViBTPPJ8 Ted Turner: Captain Planet] – a 2019 documentary hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta highlighting the personal life, career, and the environmental work of Ted Turner (CNN Philippines, full episode)}}
In 1990, he created the Turner Foundation, which focuses on philanthropic grants concerning issues pertaining to the environment and overpopulation. In the same year he created [[Captain Planet]], an environmental [[superhero]]. Turner produced the television series ''[[Captain Planet and the Planeteers]]'' and its later sequel series with Captain Planet as the featured character.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/world/ted-turner-captain-planet-intl/index.html|title=Is Ted Turner the real Captain Planet?|first1=Mark|last1=Tutton|first2=Holly|last2=Brown|first3=Samantha|last3=Bresnahan|website=[[CNN]]|date=November 29, 2019|access-date=September 7, 2020}}</ref>

In 1992, the pre-May 1986 MGM library, which also included Warner Bros. properties including the early ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' and ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' libraries and also the Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios ''Popeye'' cartoons from Paramount (and then United Artists), became the core of [[Cartoon Network]]. A year before, Turner's companies purchased [[Hanna-Barbera]] Productions (whose longtime parent, [[Taft Broadcasting|Taft/Great American Broadcasting]], had been headquartered in Turner's original hometown of Cincinnati), beating out several other bidders including [[MCA Inc.]] (whose subsidiaries included [[Universal Pictures]] and [[Universal Destinations & Experiences]]) and [[Hallmark Cards]]. With the 1996 Time Warner merger, the channel's archives gained the later Warner Bros. cartoon library as well as other Time Warner-owned cartoons.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

In 1993, Turner and Russian journalist Eduard Sagalajev founded the Moscow Independent Broadcasting Corporation (MIBC). This corporation operated the sixth frequency in Russian television and founded the Russian channel [[TV-6 (Russia)|TV-6]].<ref>{{cite web |author= |date=December 30, 1992 |title=Turner Channel for Moscow |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/30/business/turner-channel-for-moscow.html |access-date=September 7, 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |agency=[[Reuters]]}}</ref> The company was later purchased by Russian businessman [[Boris Berezovsky (businessman)|Boris Berezovsky]] and an unknown group of private persons. In 2007 the license for TV-6 had expired and there was no application for renewal.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}