ABC Family

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
ABC Family
Launched 1977
Owned by The Walt Disney Company
Slogan A New Kind of Family.
Formerly called CBN Family Cable, The Family Channel, Fox Family
Sister channel(s) Disney Channel, Toon Disney, SOAPnet, ABC
Website abcfamily.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV Channel 311
Dish Network Channel 180
Cable
Verizon FiOS Channel 179
Comcast Channels Vary
Time Warner Cable Channels Vary
Charter Channels Vary
Cox Cable Channels Vary
Cablevision Channels Vary
Bright House Networks Channels Vary

ABC Family is an American cable television network currently owned by Disney/ABC.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Beginnings

The network was founded by Pat Robertson in April 1977 as CBN Cable, an arm of his Christian Broadcasting Network. It was the first satellite-launched basic cable network. The CBN Satellite Service grew to 10.9 million homes by May 1981. In September 1981, the format and the name were changed for the first time. CBN Cable Network became an entertainment cable network, providing family programming. Under the new format, the CBN Cable Network grew from 28 million households in May 1985, to 35.8 million in May 1987, and by the early 1990s, 47.6 million households.

In September 1988, the word family was incorporated into the name to better reflect the format, becoming the CBN Family Channel. By 1990, the network had grown too profitable to remain under the CBN banner without endangering CBN's nonprofit status. CBN spun it off to a new company called International Family Entertainment (run by Robertson's son, Tim), and the name was changed to simply The Family Channel. The network gained more visibility when, for several years in the mid-1990s, it was the primary sponsor of Ted Musgrave's #16 Ford in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

[edit] Fox Family Channel

It was sold to Fox Broadcasting Company and Haim Saban in July 1997, and it changed its name to Fox Family. The change from The Family Channel to Fox Family became official on August 15, 1998 at noon. As The Family Channel, it attracted an older audience not sought by advertisers, but only about one-third of homes watching the network included kids. When Fox bought the channel in 1997, programmers sought a new dual audience — kids in daytime, families at night. In 1999, Fox tried to spin off two digital cable networks from Fox Family, the Boyz Channel and the Girlz Channel, which both contained content focusing on each sex; both networks went off the air a year later due to lack of demand and the controversy that developed over the sex-segrated channels [1].

In the late 1990s Fox Family aired Major League Baseball games, usually on Thursday or Saturday nights, alternating with sister network FX. Starting with the 2001 season, the network also showed games from the first round of the playoffs, the Division Series, that did not air on FOX.

As part of the agreement when International Family Entertainment sold the network to Fox, The 700 Club aired twice every weekday—live at 10 a.m. Eastern, then repeated at 11 p.m. Eastern; they also aired occasional weekend-long CBN telethons as part of the deal (and continue to do so in the ABC Family era).

Under Fox's ownership, the Family Channel saw its ranking slide from 10th to 17th place as a result of an increasingly competitive race for younger viewers and the bickering over ownership between News Corp. and Saban. Some observers believe that Fox Family chased away some of the older viewers and never really replaced the core audience. As a result, prime time ratings declined 35% in the past three years.

[edit] ABC Family

Due to the disagreements with Fox, the network was sold to ABC in July 2001 for $3.2 billion. The sale to ABC included the Fox Kids Network (a joint venture of Fox and Haim Saban) which provided the new ABC Family with hours of children's programming. The few Fox Kids shows ABC Family aired were broadcast under the Jetix action banner, until their final airing on August 31, 2006 when they were moved to Toon Disney, beginning September 2, 2006. However, ABC Family must still air The 700 Club every weekday, with subsequent repeats at 11 p.m. (ET).

The sale also included Fox's Major League Baseball cable rights. Starting with the 2002 season, Disney moved the regular season games previously on Fox Family and FX to their sister network ESPN. The Division Series playoff games, however, aired on ABC Family due to complications in the sale. These games used ESPN graphics and announcers. A deal was made to move those playoff games to ESPN, starting with the 2003 season. Although the games aired on Disney networks, Fox kept the exclusive negotiation to renew the contract after the 2006 season, although they chose not to renew those rights, which went to TBS.

[edit] 700 Club disclaimers

Following controversial remarks made by 700 Club host Pat Robertson about Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, as well as other comments, ABC Family moved to distance itself from the program, changing the disclaimers before, during, and after the broadcasts from "The following/preceding program is brought to you by CBN" to "The following/preceding CBN telecast does not reflect the views of ABC Family."

[edit] Mistakes and Problems

The sale to ABC, owned by Disney, was considered one of the largest mistakes or problems occurring during the tenure of Michael Eisner. The failure was primarily due to the acquisition being done by the strategic planning department of Disney, without consulting anyone at ABC. The original plan was to use the channel to essentially show re-runs of ABC programming, but this plan was completely impossible since ABC had no syndication rights to the majority of their own programs. During this time, the network did air same-season repeats of Alias and The Bachelor. But in trying to change the focus of the channel, Disney also cancelled several Fox Family series, like State of Grace, and cut back on the network's TV movies, which were among the few programs Fox Family was doing well with. The ratings tumbled further as the network became dependent on syndicated reruns and no original programs (save for original wrap-around segments around Bachelor repeats, and children's programming).

[edit] XYZ

The next major plan was to reposition the channel to market it to young women or to a more hip audience under the name XYZ, a reverse reference to ABC. Disney soon found that the channel could never be renamed as such. The sale from CBN contained an stipulation from Robertson that the channel contain the word "Family" in the name forever, no matter who owns the network. To create XYZ, The Family Channel would have had to cease to exist - terminating all existing cable TV contracts - and XYZ would have to be created as a new network. Cable companies would not be obligated to put XYZ in the spot vacated by the Family Channel. ABC scrapped the idea after discovering this clause.[2].

The name was revisited at one point, serving as a program block entitled "The XYZ".

[edit] Today

In August 2006, an all new slogan and visual style premiered on ABC Family: A New Kind of Family.

On August 31, 2006, ABC Family aired Jetix for the last time as a part of Disney's plan to convert all Jetix airings to Toon Disney. However by doing this Disney aggriavated their Toon Disney Audiance... Jetix replaced many classic Disney Saturday Morning cartoons causing a slump in the weekend and weekday rateings.

Jetix aired various children's programs since its debut on the network in 2002, which included Metabots, Beyblade, Digimon: Digital Monsters, Daigunder, Get Ed, and many others. Of its long list of programs, the Power Rangers series was its most successful. Sitcom repeats currently air in Jetix's former timeslot from 7am-9am ET, with the morning airing of the 700 Club/Living the Life block pushed back an hour further to 9am ET.

[edit] Original programming

[edit] ABC Family Original Movies

Similar to the Disney Channel Original Movies or DCOM, except targeted to a variety of audiences: young women, adults. teens, and/or family. This following list are television films that premiered on ABC Family or Fox Family.

[edit] Syndicated programs

[edit] Current off-network syndicated programs

[edit] Future off-network syndicated programs

[edit] Past programs

[edit] Holiday Programming

Since its days under the ownership of Fox, Fox Family/ABC Family has been known for airing many Christmas specials, such as the Rankin-Bass programs The Little Drummer Boy and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. ABC has since expanded this holiday programming, adding made-for-television movies, a litany of Rankin-Bass shows sequels (this was complicated somewhat because some of the original series, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, were still owned by CBS), and other original programming to create "The 25 Days of Christmas." This program block airs from December 1 through 25, in prime time during the work week and from noon through prime time during the weekends. There have been some movies that aren't necessarily holiday related. In 2006, for example, Harry Potter movies were shown along with Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Also that year, the original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman specials were dropped, and Dr. Seuss On the Loose and The Cat in the Hat were added, however, not with How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

The "25 Days" promotion also consists of a contest.

[edit] Logos and Slogans

Family Channel logo seen from 1988-1998. The slogans were "The Greatest in the Family" (1988-1991), "Together in the Family" 1991-95, "There's Nothing Stronger" 1995-1996, and "Just Watch us Now" 1996-1998

Fox Family Channel logo from 1998-2000. The slogan was "You Belong"

Fox Family logo from 2000-2001. The slogan was "It's Electric"

ABC Family logo from 2001-2003. The slogan was "Everything you Want to Know from A to Z"

ABC Family logo from 2003-2006. The slogan was "Welcome"

ABC Family's new slogan, "A New Kind of Family" has been used since August 2006.

[edit] Trivia

A lot of previous logos are used for cable services. For example, Cablevision uses the Canadian Family Channel logo on their Interactive Program Guide. Also, TiVo uses the channel's logo from 2001-2003.

[edit] See also

  • Family (similar Canadian service)

[edit] References

  1. ^ ABC Family Lands 'My Wife and Kids'

[edit] External links

The Walt Disney Company (ABC)
v • d • e

Board of directors: John Bryson | John S. Chen | Judith Estrin | Robert Iger (President, CEO) | Steve Jobs | Fred Langhammer | Aylwin Lewis | Monica Lozano | Robert Matschullat | Leo J. O'Donovan | John E. Pepper, Jr. (Chairman) | Orin C. Smith

Publishing Assets: Disney Adventures | ESPN The Magazine | Hyperion
Interactive Assets: Disney.com | Disney Interactive Studios | ABC.com | ABCNews.com | ESPN.com | Go.com | Movies.com
Buena Vista Music Group: Walt Disney Records | Lyric Street Records | Hollywood Records | Mammoth Records
Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group: Buena Vista Distribution | The Walt Disney Studios | Walt Disney Pictures | Walt Disney Feature Animation | Touchstone Pictures | DisneyToon Studios | Pixar Animation Studios | Miramax Films | Miramax Family Films | Hollywood Pictures
ABC owned Television Stations: KABC | KFSN | KGO | KTRK | WABC | WJRT | WLS | WPVI | WTVD | WTVG
American Broadcasting Company: ABC1 | ABC Family | ABC News | ABC News Now | ESPN on ABC
ESPN Networks (80% owned): ESPN | ESPN2 | ESPNEWS | ESPN Classic | ESPNU | ESPN Deportes | ESPNHD | ESPN2HD | ESPN Now | ESPN Plus | ESPN PPV | ESPN360 | NASN
Other Cable Television Networks: Disney Channel | Jetix | SOAPnet | Toon Disney | A&E Television Networks (37.5%) | Lifetime Entertainment Services (50%)
Television Production and Distribution: ABC Television Studio (Formerly Touchstone Television) | Buena Vista Television | Walt Disney Television | Walt Disney Television Animation
Radio Stations (most pending sale to Citadel Broadcasting): KABC | KDIS | KDIS | KDIZ | KESN* | KGO | KKDZ | KLOS | KMKI | KMKY | KQRS | KSCS | KSFO | KSPN* | KSPN | KTYS | KXXR | WABC | WBAP | WDRQ | WDVD | WEAE* | WEPN* | WFDF | WGVX | WGVY | WGVZ | WJR | WJZW | WKHX | WLS | WMAL | WMKI | WMVP* | WPLJ | WRQX | WWMK | WYAY | WZZN
Radio Networks: ABC News & Talk (sale to Citadel Broadcasting pending) | ABC News Radio | ABC Radio (sale to Citadel Broadcasting pending) | ESPN Radio | ESPN Deportes Radio | Radio Disney
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts: Disneyland Resort | Walt Disney World Resort | Tokyo Disney Resort¹| Disneyland Resort Paris | Hong Kong Disneyland Resort | Disney Cruise Line | Disney Regional Entertainment | Walt Disney Imagineering
Miscellaneous Assets: Reedy Creek Energy Services | The Muppets Studio

¹Licensed and designed by Disney, owned and operated by The Oriental Land Company

*These five ESPN Radio stations are excluded from the pending sale of ABC Radio to Citadel Broadcasting.

Annual Revenue: $30.8 billion USD (2004) | Employees: 129,000 | Stock Symbol: NYSE: DIS | Website: www.disney.com
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/b/c/ABC_Family_f6c6.html"
In other languages