Ted Turner (born November 19, 1938) is an American Media Entrepreneur, sailor, and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is the founder of the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television, which later became TBS.

Ted started his entrepreneurial journey when he took over his father’s billboard business, Turner Outdoor Advertising, he took over in 1963 after his father’s suicide. He later purchased the Atlanta UHF station in 1970, which was the start of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. an American television and media conglomerate. Among TBS’s main properties were its namesake TBS, TNT, CNN, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, and TruTV. 

CNN pioneered 24-hour cable news, covering the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 and the Persian Gulf War in 1991.