Obit Ted Turner

CNN founder Ted Turner has died at age 87. His company Turner Enterprises says the television pioneer died Wednesday. Turner transformed an obscure Atlanta television station into the first satellite-based “superstation” and founded Cable News Network, the first 24-hour, all news TV network. The brash Southerner owned sports teams, was a champion yacht racer and was married to actor Jane Fonda for 10 years. He was one of America’s most extensive landowners and became a prolific philanthropist, donating $1 billion to the United Nations. President Donald Trump called him one of the all-time greats.

Ted Turner’s death comes at a fraught time for cable news, which has struggled to retain viewership in an era of countless media choices and abundant streaming video. But people in the news industry left little doubt of Turner's impact. One called the discussion of it hyperbole-proof and another said he saw TV news as a global entity long before many of his contemporaries. The United States' first Gulf War against Iraq was a particular inflection point that showed both the capability of and the consumer interest in around-the-clock news.