What if the Warner Bros and Turner Broadcasting System merger never happened?

Admiral Bloonbeard

Admiral Bloonbeard

In 1996, Time Warner, already a major media conglomerate merged with Turner Broadcasting System. This turned Time Warner into a mega conglomerate, controlling tv networks such as Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT, and the crown jewel of all, CNN. It was this merger that turned Time Warner into a giant phenomenon in pop culture and major political influence via CNN. But what if it never happened?


I'm not sure how CNN would be impacted. It's highly possible they would have a much more negative coverage of the Iraq war considering Ted Turner opposed the war. If someone has an idea how politics would change, voice it here.

Warner Bros would never have gotten the pre 1986 MGM library, RKO library, the Popeye cartoon by Paramount, Gilligan's Island by United Artists, and get back it's pre 1950 library. They also wouldn't have gained the Hanna Barbera and pre 1991 Ruby Spears library either. This could have interesting pop culture butterflies. Before the merger, the pre 1948 Looney Tunes that Turner owned played on Cartoon Network while the post 1948 Looney Tunes Warner Bros owned played on network TV and Nickelodeon. After Time Warner purchased Turner, they gradually removed all Looney Tunes broadcasts from networks not owned by them and moved them to Cartoon Network and Boomerang exclusively, the only networks that broadcasted Looney Tunes until 2021 when thry started airing on MeTV. Turner and Warner Bros would continue airing their Looney Tunes packages separately, giving possibly more exposure to Looney Tunes. Warner Bros would not have the largest film library in the world without the merger. Rather, MGM would continue to hold the largest home video library via it's deal with Turner to distribute it's own pre 1986 films and Warner Bros's pre 1950 films. The deal with Turner was due to expire in June 2000 but as part of MGM's deal with Warner Bros to end it's home video deal in 1999, ahead of it's original end date of 2003, MGM conceded distribution of it's pre 1986 library and pre 1950 Warner Bros library entirely to Warner Bros. MGM could continue it's deal with Turner or Turner would just distribute those films themselves. I also wonder how it would impact film restorations and home video technology. Warner Home Video with the largest library has a major role in development of home video technology. MGM/UA and Turner actually released all the Looney Tunes shorts they owned on home video in the 90s although unrestored as they did not have the original negatives still in Warner Bros's vaults. In 2003, Warner Bros finally began released Looney Tunes shorts fully restored. We also wouldn't be getting shows such as Tom and Jerry Tales and Westworld as those were MGM properties in Turner's hands. We may not have gotten those direct to video Scooby Doo movies either.

Time Warner after acquiring Turner began producing content for Cartoon Network which Turner owned. Cartoon Network was a major source of the growth of popularity of anime in the West. Without the merger, Toonami may never have happened and Warner Bros would probably have relied on Kids WB for distribution of anime from Japan. It is possible we may see a very different DC animated universe as Warner Bros would have lacked a TV network dedicated to children's programming. Shows based on DC properties such as Teen Titans and Young Justice may be butterflied or broadcasted on the WB Network. If HBO Max even is created ATL, it would be much smaller.
 
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Nivek

Admiral Bloonbeard said:
crown jewel of all, CNN. It
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I would Say TNT was the jewel but CNN did have a global influence. Regardless no merger as you said both would operated their independent content. Also some of the syndication rights will be interesting, as Turner would own his shows and future ones and Warner have their stuff separately

Another one... Turner Might get interested on a studio, MGM is there and could buy it. or maybe works with what would become Lionsgate.

Another POD, WCW would still live even if smaller(but far bigger TNA and AEW are)
 
Admiral Bloonbeard

Admiral Bloonbeard

Nivek said:
I would Say TNT was the jewel but CNN did have a global influence. Regardless no merger as you said both would operated their independent content. Also some of the syndication rights will be interesting, as Turner would own his shows and future ones and Warner have their stuff separately

Another one... Turner Might get interested on a studio, MGM is there and could buy it. or maybe works with what would become Lionsgate.

Another POD, WCW would still live even if smaller(but far bigger TNA and AEW are)
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In 2004, Time Warner did try to buy MGM but was unsuccessful. A group of investors led by Sony then successfully bid for it, with Sony intentions was to ensure MGM's support for blu ray. Maybe Turner could try for a third time ATL?

Anime culture in the West might be very different as Cartoon Network was a major source for it's popularity. Hanna Barbera would have continued as an animation studio. Overall I think Cartoon Network would be way more based on Hanna Barbera than OTL.
 

Nivek

Admiral Bloonbeard said:
Anime culture in the West might be very different as Cartoon Network was a major source for it's popularity. Hanna Barbera would have continued as an animation studio. Overall I think Cartoon Network would be way more based on Hanna Barbera than OTL.
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HB already became CN studios, so more original cartoons...but in spite of a nail..i can see CN importing Anime but not 'action' one(Turner sidelined SWAT Kats after he got the complains of being too violent), so less DBZ and FCLC and More Doraemon and Anpaman

Admiral Bloonbeard said:
In 2004, Time Warner did try to buy MGM but was unsuccessful. A group of investors led by Sony then successfully bid for it, with Sony intentions was to ensure MGM's support for blu ray. Maybe Turner could try for a third time ATL?
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Yeah, especially as MGM was getting very vulnerable at the timeframe and might get it successfully

Also how this will impact the timewarner merger with AOL? that might impact warner even worse ITTL
 
Admiral Bloonbeard

Admiral Bloonbeard

Nivek said:
HB already became CN studios, so more original cartoons...but in spite of a nail..i can see CN importing Anime but not 'action' one(Turner sidelined SWAT Kats after he got the complains of being too violent), so less DBZ and FCLC and More Doraemon and Anpaman


Yeah, especially as MGM was getting very vulnerable at the timeframe and might get it successfully

Also how this will impact the timewarner merger with AOL? that might impact warner even worse ITTL
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Conventions like AX were already a thing plus Sailor Moon was already broadcasting so anime culture would have still occurred in the West. Without Toonami on Cartoon Network as we know it I think anime would seen more as children's flare and the mature ones would be considered niche in the West. I can see anime gain a similar to Hong Kong cinema in the West. Otaku culture would be different and "weeb" culture might be different or butterflied.

The AOL Time Warner merger might be butterflied.
 

connorCD

Admiral Bloonbeard said:
In 2004, Time Warner did try to buy MGM but was unsuccessful. A group of investors led by Sony then successfully bid for it, with Sony intentions was to ensure MGM's support for blu ray. Maybe Turner could try for a third time ATL?
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By 2004 MGM was pretty much a shell of its former self with only a few relatively successful films and franchises, primarily James Bond, so that on top of the studios ever-crippling debt makes it unlikely for Turner to try to buy the studio for a third time, IMO. Hell, Wikipedia states that Turner tried to block Warner's counter-bid against Sony, although I'm not sure of this claim's authenticity. More likely than not he'll try to continue riding on New Line's success (I wonder if Peter Jackson's LOTR films still get made as they were IOTL).

Admiral Bloonbeard said:
The AOL Time Warner merger might be butterflied.
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I think that might still happen since AOL was still very profitable before the Dot-com bubble burst. In fact WB might feel more invested in the merge without any of the gains from Turner. The real question is what happens to the company after that bubble inevitably bursts.

One neat butterfly concerning the animation side of things is that Fred Seibert doesn't leave Hanna-Barbara to start up Frederator studios, which he did in response to Warner's acquisition of Turner. Without that, its likely that Frederator's cartoons either don't exist or are made under Cartoon Network instead.
 
Admiral Bloonbeard

Admiral Bloonbeard

connorCD said:
By 2004 MGM was pretty much a shell of its former self with only a few relatively successful films and franchises, primarily James Bond, so that on top of the studios ever-crippling debt makes it unlikely for Turner to try to buy the studio for a third time, IMO. Hell, Wikipedia states that Turner tried to block Warner's counter-bid against Sony, although I'm not sure of this claim's authenticity. More likely than not he'll try to continue riding on New Line's success (I wonder if Peter Jackson's LOTR films still get made as they were IOTL).


I think that might still happen since AOL was still very profitable before the Dot-com bubble burst. In fact WB might feel more invested in the merge without any of the gains from Turner. The real question is what happens to the company after that bubble inevitably bursts.

One neat butterfly concerning the animation side of things is that Fred Seibert doesn't leave Hanna-Barbara to start up Frederator studios, which he did in response to Warner's acquisition of Turner. Without that, its likely that Frederator's cartoons either don't exist or are made under Cartoon Network instead.
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What you said about Turner blocking Time Warner's bid to buy MGM is very real, and it came from no other than CNN themselves :


Ted Turner was still angry at Kirk Kerkorian for his 1986 sale of MGM to Turner which put Turner in significant debt and forced Turner Broadcasting to invite investors which caused Ted Turner to lose a significant amount of control over his country. He wanted to block the MGM deal to prevent Kerkorian from becoming a large shareholder of Time Warner as part of payback for the 1986 MGM sale. I'm not sure how Turner would approach MGM this time ATL.

As for home video, I think MGM could just renew the deal with Turner to continue distributing it's pre 1986 films and pre 1950 Warner Bros films (deal was to expire June 2000) or Turner can just distribute those films themselves. If the deal is renewed I can see MGM becoming a very powerful player once the blu ray and streaming era hits.

A good question is how Saturday morning cartoons are impacted. Kids WB was a very important source of output for Warner Bros animation but as time goes by (oh the irony!) they became more invested into Cartoon Network. By the late 2000s, the CW (one of the successors of the WB network) ended the Kids WB block and licensed the block to 4kids for Toonzai. After the deal ended in 2012, Saban took over and ran the Vortexx saturday morning cartoon block until 2014, making the CW the last (and by then, only) major tv network to have Saturday morning cartoons. Without Cartoon Network, Warner Bros would probably have utilized Kids WB even further, instead of having a children's cable network to put it's output on.

Butch Hartman was also working at Hanna Barbera when he left to join Seibert at Frederator studios. Without the Time Warner merger, the Fairy Oddparents (in development since the 90s) and other Hartman shows could very much become Cartoon Network shows. My Life as a Teenage Robot can also be a Hanna Barbera production for Cartoon Network since Rob Renzetti worked at Hanna Barbera before joining Seibert.
 
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