Ted Turner Honored at 35th Sports EMMY Awards

By: Feb. 26, 2014
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The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) today announced that entrepreneur, sportsman and television visionary, Ted Turner, will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Sports at the 35th Annual Sports Emmy® Awards ceremony at Jazz at
Lincoln Center on Tuesday, May 6th, 2014.

"The world of sports and news television has been forever changed by the vision of this one man," said Malachy Wienges, Chairman, NATAS. "Ted Turner is known across the country for his passionate sportsman persona. From his America's Cup victory, his foray into major league sports with Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves and the National Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks, and his Turner Broadcasting System's broad reach into the coverage of 'live' sporting events, he has changed the landscape of sports television. Add his pioneering of the first 24-hour all-news station, CNN, to his many accomplishments, and he can only be seen across the globe as an icon in the pantheon of television pioneers who have shaped our medium."

Turner began his career as an account executive with Turner Advertising Company and entered the television business in 1970 when he acquired Atlanta independent UHF station channel 17. In 1976, Turner purchased Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves and launched TBS Superstation, originating the "Superstation" concept. The following year, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. acquired the National Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks, and in 1980 Turner launched CNN, the world's first live, 24-hour global news network.

Over the next two decades, the company built a portfolio of unrivaled cable television news and entertainment brands and businesses, including CNN Headline News, CNN International, TNT, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies. In the mid-'90s, Castle Rock Entertainment and New Line Cinema became Turner Broadcasting properties. 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 has also made his mark as one of the most influential philanthropists in the U.S.

He is the chairman of the Turner Foundation, Inc. founded in 1990, which supports efforts for improving air and water quality, developing a sustainable energy future to protect our climate, safeguarding environmental health, maintaining wildlife habitat protection, and developing practices and policies to curb population growth rates.

Turner created the Captain Planet Foundation in August 1990, to fund and support hands-on, environmental projects for children and youth. The foundation's objective is to encourage innovative programs that empower children and youth around the world to work individually and collectively to solve environmental problems in their neighborhoods and communities. The Turner Endangered Species Fund, launched in June 1997, is a core grantee of the Turner Foundation, which works to conserve biodiversity by emphasizing restoration efforts of endangered or imperiled species on the Turner properties.

In September 1997, Turner announced his historic pledge of up to $1 billion to the United Nations Foundation (UNF). The organization supports the goals and objectives of the United Nations to promote a more peaceful, prosperous and just world. UNF has identified four core priorities: women and population; children's health; the environment; and peace and security.

In early 2001, Turner launched the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a foundation he co-chairs with former Senator Sam Nunn. NTI is working to close the growing and increasingly dangerous gap between the threat from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the global response.

Over the past several years, Turner has devoted his time and energy toward promoting the use of clean energy sources. While urging others to make the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, he has already done so in a very large way. Turner has partnered with Southern Company to build five solar facilities in New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina and California. In addition, Turner has added solar panels on his numerous properties, including the installation of 25 solar canopies in the employee parking lots adjacent to hisAtlanta offices.

He is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, industry awards and civic
honors, including being named TIME Magazine's 1991 Man of the Year,
Broadcasting and Cable's Man of the Century in 1999 and one of TIME 100
World's Most Influential People in 2009. In recent years, Turner received the 2011
Palazzo Strozzi Foundation's Renaissance Man of the Year award and the
Overseas Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, among many others.
In addition to Turner, winners in 39 categories including outstanding live sports
special, live series, sports documentary, studio show, promotional
announcements, play-by-play personality and studio analyst will be honored at
the 35th Annual Sports Emmy® Awards. Many of the today's leading sports
broadcasters, personalities and television professionals will be presenters at the
event. YANGAROO Awards is the official provider of the digital platform for
the submission, judging, and voting of all programs in the 35th Annual Sports
Emmy® Awards.

A complete list of all nominees will be available in late March at, www.emmyonline.org

About The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) is a professional
service organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of
television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, educational and
technical achievements within the television industry. It recognizes excellence in
television with the coveted Emmy® Award for News & Documentary, Sports,
Daytime Entertainment, Daytime Creative Arts & Entertainment, Public &
Community Service, and Technology & Engineering. NATAS membership
consists of over 13,000 broadcast and media professionals represented in 19
regional chapters across the country. Beyond awards, NATAS has extensive
educational programs including Regional Student Television and its Student
Award for Excellence for outstanding journalistic work by high school students,
as well as scholarships, publications, and major activities for both industry
professionals and the viewing public. For more information, please visit the
website at www.emmyonline.tv



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