One of the great media moguls of all time, Ted Turner, passed away at the age of 87 years old.

He's been battling dementia for many years now.

But what a life Ted Turner lived.

And as it relates to sports, because I think most of you know that he

founded and created CNN in 1980, the first 24-7 news network. Believe it or not, prior to that 1980,

they didn't exist. But they existed on cable starting in 1980.

But from a sports standpoint, after launching some TV stations and launching WTBS, yes,

that TBS, and then eventually TNT, Turner Sports, named after Ted Turner, his creation.

In 1976, he purchased the Atlanta Braves.

They were a downtrodden franchise, and he put them on WTBS or TBS, which was considered

to be a superstation because it was a part of everybody's basic

cable in the 1970s and through the 80s.

And it helped just as the Cubs were also became a national phenomenon because their games were also on a superstation,

WGN TV, part of basic cable throughout the country.

So Chicago had a station and Atlanta had a station that were considered super stations

made part of basic cable outlets and offerings.

So even if you lived in D.C. and you got cable for the first time in 1979 or 1980 or

81, part of your basic cable platform was TBS where you would have Atlanta Braves games on TV and WGN where you had Cubs games.

Cubs games were all played in the afternoon at Wigley Field, their home games.

So the status of both of those franchises rose because their games were accessible to the nation.

The Atlanta Braves became a popular team and became a household name even before they started to win in the 90s and in the

2000s. Brilliant for him to buy that baseball team and put it on a national platform.

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