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).
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.
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.
WTBS petitioned for the rights to produce a locally originated broadcast of the 1982 National League Championship Series, in which the Braves played against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Don Sutton and Joe Simpson assumed duties as lead commentators, while longtime play-by-play announcers Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren had their roles on the broadcasts reduced.
The move was strongly criticized by Braves fans, Atlanta area media outlets and team manager Bobby Cox.
[8] Over 90% of Braves fans who voted in an online poll conducted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper preferred the team of Caray and Van Wieren to the more neutral broadcasts.
Enhancements featured in the broadcasts included a catcher cam, Xtra Motion showing the type of pitch and its movement, and the leadOff Line.
During the 2006 season, all Braves home games airing on TBS began to be broadcast in high definition over the digital signal of WTBS within the Atlanta and on cable providers throughout the Southeastern U.S. (such as Comcast and Charter Communications).
The remaining games aired on FSN South or SportSouth, meaning the Braves telecasts reverted to primarily regional coverage, as most other teams have done ever since recent expansions gave MLB a virtually nationwide footprint.
Due to licensing requirements set by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that prevented the national cable feed of TBS to be carried in Canada (as only the local Atlanta feed was designated as an eligible-for-carriage superstation), WPCH remains available on Canadian cable and satellite providers as a designated superstation, allowing Braves games aired by WPCH to continue to be seen outside of the Atlanta area.
Braves games continued to air locally within the Atlanta market until 2013, when Fox Sports South – which had been producing the games for WPCH since the station's operations were turned over to the Meredith Corporation, former owner of Atlanta's CBS affiliate WGCL-TV (channel 46), under a local marketing agreement in 2011 – acquired the regional television rights to the station's 45-game package beginning with the 2014 season, ending WPCH's relationship with the Braves after 40 years.