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* ''[[Romy and Michele|Romy and Michele: In the Beginning]]''
* ''[[Romy and Michele|Romy and Michele: In the Beginning]]''
* ''[[School of Life]]''
* ''[[School of Life]]''
* ''[[Searching For David's Heart]]''
* ''[[Searching for David's Heart]]''
* ''[[See Jane Date]]''
* ''[[See Jane Date]]''
* ''[[Shadows in the Sun]]''
* ''[[Shadows in the Sun]]''

Revision as of 14:28, 22 September 2006

ABC Family
TypeCable network
Country
United States
AvailabilityNational
OwnerThe Walt Disney Company
Key people
Paul Lee (President)
Launch date
April 1977
Former names
CBN Family Channel, The Family Channel, Fox Family Channel
Official website
http://www.abcfamily.com/

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

History

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.

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. 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 due to the controversy that developed over the sex-segrated channels [1].

In the late 1990's 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. This arrangement frustrated Fox to no end, as it broke up any attempt to build programming continuity.

ABC Family

Due to the disagreements with Fox, the network was sold to ABC in July 2001 for $3.2 billion. 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.

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.

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 those of ABC Family, or its employees."

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).

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), however this was impossible since the company has contracts with cable companies which contain an unbreakable stipulation put in by Robertson that the channel contain the word Family in the name forever, no matter who owns the network [2].

Today

In August 2006, an all new slogan and visual style premiered on ABC Family, a new kind of family.

On August 31st, 2006, ABC Family aired Jetix for the last time as a part of Disney's plan to convert all Jetix airings to Toon Disney. Jetix aired various childrens programs since it's debuit 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. Movies currently air in Jetix' former timeslot from 7am-9pm ET, with the morning airing of the 700 Club/Living the Life block pushed back an hour further to 9am ET.

Original programming

ABC Family Original Movies

Similar to the Disney Channel Original Movies, 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.

Syndicated programs

Current off-network syndicated programs

Future off-network syndicated programs

Past programs

Logos

  • The Family Channel logo from 1986-1997
    The Family Channel logo from 1986-1997
  • Fox Family Channel logo from 1998-1999
    Fox Family Channel logo from 1998-1999
  • Fox Family logo from 2000-2001
    Fox Family logo from 2000-2001
  • ABC Family logo from 2001-2003
    ABC Family logo from 2001-2003
  • ABC Family logo from 2003-2006
    ABC Family logo from 2003-2006
  • ABC Family's new slogan has been used since August 2006.
    ABC Family's new slogan has been used since August 2006.

See also

allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special%3ADiff%2F77173679