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Braves TBS Baseball
Braves TBS Baseball (or Braves Baseball on TBS) is an American presentation of regular season Major League Baseball (MLB) game telecasts featuring the Atlanta Braves National League franchise that aired on the American cable and satellite network TBS. The games were produced by Turner Sports, the sports division of the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, TBS's corporate parent. The program, which debuted in 1973, ended national broadcasts in 2007.
TBS phased out its national coverage of Braves baseball after it was awarded an MLB-wide national broadcast contract effective in 2008. WPCH-TV, the rebranded former originating signal of the TBS superstation feed, retained Atlanta-market rights to a partial schedule of Braves games through 2013, but primary rights moved to cable regional sports networks, eventually settling with Fox Sports South (ultimately FanDuel Sports Network South). The broadcasts on channel 17 in Atlanta eventually returned in the 2025 season, as a simulcast of selected games from FanDuel Sports Network South; these broadcasts continued into 2026 as the team's rights transitioned to BravesVision. The telecasts on channel 17 had exclusive pregame and postgame shows, and the games were syndicated to other TV markets in the Braves' designated territory.
As part of the current contract with MLB, TBS selects Braves games for national broadcast on equal grounds with other MLB clubs, but their national broadcast are blacked out in the Braves' MLB-designated territory if BravesVision carries the game as well.
Coverage of the Atlanta Braves was perhaps TBS's signature program during its early years. Ted Turner – who had purchased WJRJ-TV (channel 17) in January 1970 (changing its call letters to WTCG shortly after the sale was finalized), when the station was simply a UHF independent station available primarily within the Atlanta market – shocked Atlanta media observers by acquiring the rights to Braves games after the 1972 season, taking them from NBC affiliate WSB-TV (channel 2, now an ABC affiliate), which had carried the team's games since the Braves moved to Atlanta from Milwaukee in 1966 (WSB-TV's sister AM radio station held the radio broadcast rights to the games for years afterward). The acquisition of television rights to the Braves was particularly striking given that WTCG had experienced major profit losses ever since Turner took over the station; channel 17's revenue was only then starting to break even and the station became more competitive among the Atlanta market's television outlets ratings-wise. Braves games began airing on WTCG during the 1973 season.
Even more astonishing, a few years later, Turner would buy the team outright before the 1976 season, mainly to keep a programming staple of his in Atlanta. Before the purchase, rumors had spread alleging that the Braves' owners were looking to move the franchise to another city, following dismal stadium attendance during the 1974 and 1975 seasons, after the excitement of Hank Aaron hitting his then-record-breaking 715th home run (on April 8, 1974) wore off.
During the 1970s, Turner syndicated live games to stations (mostly major network affiliates, as the region had few independent stations) throughout Georgia and adjoining states, including Turner-owned WRET (now WCNC-TV) in Charlotte, North Carolina, as WSB-TV had previously done. Usually, the Sunday afternoon game and one game that aired during prime time were provided to these stations, with mid-week game telecasts airing mainly during the summer, when the major networks were airing reruns, a normal practice among the other MLB teams during that era. Also by the mid-1970s, WTCG had already become available on many cable systems in Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina via microwave relay transmission by the mid-1970s, giving the team even further television exposure to its loyal fanbase in the South.
A landmark event for WTCG occurred on December 17, 1976, when Turner uplinked the station's signal to the Satcom 1 satellite for distribution to cable providers throughout the United States; as a result, Braves telecasts began airing nationally with the 1977 season. When WTCG reached a significant penetration of Southern U.S. households with cable television service around 1978–1979, Turner discontinued syndicating the team's game broadcasts, making the Braves the first team not to provide live coverage of its games to broadcast television stations outside of those within the team's home market.
Turner once famously tried to get Andy Messersmith to use his #17 jersey to promote Superstation WTBS during its early years; the back of the jersey read, "CHANNEL 17." Major League Baseball immediately stopped this plan as, according to MLB rules in place at the time, team jerseys were not allowed to incorporate advertisements other than that of the jersey's manufacturer.
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Braves TBS Baseball
Braves TBS Baseball (or Braves Baseball on TBS) is an American presentation of regular season Major League Baseball (MLB) game telecasts featuring the Atlanta Braves National League franchise that aired on the American cable and satellite network TBS. The games were produced by Turner Sports, the sports division of the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, TBS's corporate parent. The program, which debuted in 1973, ended national broadcasts in 2007.
TBS phased out its national coverage of Braves baseball after it was awarded an MLB-wide national broadcast contract effective in 2008. WPCH-TV, the rebranded former originating signal of the TBS superstation feed, retained Atlanta-market rights to a partial schedule of Braves games through 2013, but primary rights moved to cable regional sports networks, eventually settling with Fox Sports South (ultimately FanDuel Sports Network South). The broadcasts on channel 17 in Atlanta eventually returned in the 2025 season, as a simulcast of selected games from FanDuel Sports Network South; these broadcasts continued into 2026 as the team's rights transitioned to BravesVision. The telecasts on channel 17 had exclusive pregame and postgame shows, and the games were syndicated to other TV markets in the Braves' designated territory.
As part of the current contract with MLB, TBS selects Braves games for national broadcast on equal grounds with other MLB clubs, but their national broadcast are blacked out in the Braves' MLB-designated territory if BravesVision carries the game as well.
Coverage of the Atlanta Braves was perhaps TBS's signature program during its early years. Ted Turner – who had purchased WJRJ-TV (channel 17) in January 1970 (changing its call letters to WTCG shortly after the sale was finalized), when the station was simply a UHF independent station available primarily within the Atlanta market – shocked Atlanta media observers by acquiring the rights to Braves games after the 1972 season, taking them from NBC affiliate WSB-TV (channel 2, now an ABC affiliate), which had carried the team's games since the Braves moved to Atlanta from Milwaukee in 1966 (WSB-TV's sister AM radio station held the radio broadcast rights to the games for years afterward). The acquisition of television rights to the Braves was particularly striking given that WTCG had experienced major profit losses ever since Turner took over the station; channel 17's revenue was only then starting to break even and the station became more competitive among the Atlanta market's television outlets ratings-wise. Braves games began airing on WTCG during the 1973 season.
Even more astonishing, a few years later, Turner would buy the team outright before the 1976 season, mainly to keep a programming staple of his in Atlanta. Before the purchase, rumors had spread alleging that the Braves' owners were looking to move the franchise to another city, following dismal stadium attendance during the 1974 and 1975 seasons, after the excitement of Hank Aaron hitting his then-record-breaking 715th home run (on April 8, 1974) wore off.
During the 1970s, Turner syndicated live games to stations (mostly major network affiliates, as the region had few independent stations) throughout Georgia and adjoining states, including Turner-owned WRET (now WCNC-TV) in Charlotte, North Carolina, as WSB-TV had previously done. Usually, the Sunday afternoon game and one game that aired during prime time were provided to these stations, with mid-week game telecasts airing mainly during the summer, when the major networks were airing reruns, a normal practice among the other MLB teams during that era. Also by the mid-1970s, WTCG had already become available on many cable systems in Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina via microwave relay transmission by the mid-1970s, giving the team even further television exposure to its loyal fanbase in the South.
A landmark event for WTCG occurred on December 17, 1976, when Turner uplinked the station's signal to the Satcom 1 satellite for distribution to cable providers throughout the United States; as a result, Braves telecasts began airing nationally with the 1977 season. When WTCG reached a significant penetration of Southern U.S. households with cable television service around 1978–1979, Turner discontinued syndicating the team's game broadcasts, making the Braves the first team not to provide live coverage of its games to broadcast television stations outside of those within the team's home market.
Turner once famously tried to get Andy Messersmith to use his #17 jersey to promote Superstation WTBS during its early years; the back of the jersey read, "CHANNEL 17." Major League Baseball immediately stopped this plan as, according to MLB rules in place at the time, team jerseys were not allowed to incorporate advertisements other than that of the jersey's manufacturer.