(Gray News) - Ted Turner, who founded CNN, died, the network said Wednesday, citing a news release from Turner Enterprises.

He was 87.

Turner was born Nov. 19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

He began his career with his father’s billboard business, Turner Outdoor Advertising, in 1963.

In 1970, Turner entered the television business by acquiring Atlanta independent UHF station channel 17. The station’s original call letters were WJRJ, and the station’s new owner changed them to WTCG for Turner Communications Group.

In 1976, Turner purchased Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves and launched TBS Superstation, originating the “Superstation” concept. He then began broadcasting the Braves’ games via satellite to other American markets, leading to the Braves becoming the first true “America’s team.”

The following year, Turner Broadcasting System Inc. acquired the National Basketball Association’s Atlanta Hawks.

Turner co‑founded CNN on June 1, 1980, with Reese Schonfeld in Atlanta. It was the first 24-hour cable news channel in the United States.

Over the next two decades, Turner and his company built a portfolio which included CNN Headline News, CNN International, TNT, Cartoon Network, Turner Classic Movies, Castle Rock Entertainment and New Line Cinema.

In October 1996, the company merged with Time Warner Inc., and in 2001, Time Warner merged with AOL to create AOL Time Warner. The company later changed its name back to Time Warner Inc.

Turner left the company in 2003 and stepped down from the board in 2005.

He was married three times, most recently to actress and activist Jane Fonda. They were married from 1991 to 2001.

Turner is survived by his five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

President Donald Trump called Turner “one of the greats of all time,” in a Truth Social post posted shortly after news broke of Turner’s death.

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