Turner Execs Optimistic on Eve of Debut

Can Ted Turner create a new cable network so big, so strong and so different that it can compete with the Big Three networks?

Yes, says Gerry Hogan, president of Turner Entertainment Networks.

“Not on the first day, though,” he added modestly.

The first day is Monday, when Turner’s company launches its multi-year plan to outdo the established networks with Turner Network Television (TNT), a 24-hour-a-day cable service that will debut in 17 million cable households nationwide.

The system, which Turner Broadcasting System President Ted Turner believes can beat the networks by programming to a “higher common denominator,” initially will be available in 26 cities in the greater Los Angeles area, though not in the city of Los Angeles. TNT debuts at 8 p.m. Monday with the first half of “Gone With the Wind”; the second half will air Tuesday.

In fact, it’s “Gone With the Wind” all week: On Wednesday, TNT will present “The Making of a Legend: ‘Gone With the Wind,’ ” a documentary produced by Jeffrey and Daniel Selznick, sons of the film’s producer, David O. Selznick. The documentary and the film will repeat at various times throughout next week.

Turner, responsible for building the Atlanta-based company that operates cable Superstation TBS and the CNN and Headline News cable services, agrees with Hogan that TNT can take on the networks. In approximately 10 years, they believe, the letters TNT will be as familiar to TV viewers as ABC, CBS and NBC.

The never-bashful Turner, however, says that the competition does start the first day. “ ‘Gone With the Wind” has certainly garnered more awards than anything that’s on the networks that night,” Turner said in a telephone interview from Atlanta Friday. “There are certain movies that just play over and over again, and just do gangbuster ratings every time.”

Although the network will begin by programming mostly movies from Turner’s extensive film library, TNT hopes eventually to muscle in on network territory by acquiring special events such as the Miss America Pageant, the Country Music Awards and the Emmy and Academy Awards shows, “high profile” sporting events and original programming in the form of miniseries, movies and even weekly series.

In this way, Turner believes TNT will be able to lure viewers away from the three networks and from their current challenger, Fox Broadcasting, which Turner believes is “playing the network game” by providing the same type of series programming as the networks.

“We’re not going to do things exactly the way the Big Three do it,” Turner said. “The networks have to be No. 1--they (each) have only one channel and they’re totally supported by advertising. They have to get the biggest rating they can get with lowest-common-denominator programming.

“People pay for cable, so we don’t have to be No. 1 in the ratings all the time. So we don’t have to go for the largest audience--we can provide programming which provides tremendous viewer satisfaction and has great value to the audience that’s looking for programming on a higher level.”

The first TNT venture is a British co-production of “A Man for All Seasons,” starring and directed by Charlton Heston, to air in December. The company also has acquired exclusive rights to reruns of “The Muppets” and “Fraggle Rock” and will spend $12 million on “The Season of the Giant,” the story of Michelangelo.

The list of programming in development for TNT includes some as-yet-undetermined specials from Shelley Duvall’s Think Entertainment; a movie based on the life of Donald Trump; Farrah Fawcett in the story of photographer Margaret Bourke-White, and a film based on the best seller “Cold Sassy Tree,” starring Faye Dunaway.

Turner said TNT does not plan to do “issue” movies such as “The Burning Bed,” which are popular with the networks. TNT programming also will eschew excessive sex and violence and concentrate on historical accuracy and significance, he said.

“Look at the way the networks did ‘Napoleon and Josephine’--it looked like Napoleon spent more time in bed than he did on the battlefield,” Turner said.

Turner added that TNT will eventually develop series, but not “cops and robbers.”

“There are 50 of those running on the networks now,” he said.

In an earlier interview, Hogan said TNT persuaded cable operators to take yet another new programming service by promising them that this one would be geared to attracting viewers in the 30 million homes in America that have access to cable but have not yet chosen to sign up.

“Cable, with its current lineup of networks, has not been able to convert that group to cable,” Hogan said.

Turner remains undaunted by the number of competing cable channels--including his own.

“I hate to say this, but this isn’t a very difficult business if you know what you’re doing,” he said. “So much of it is common sense.”