Freeform (TV channel)
Country | United States |
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Broadcast area | Nationwide |
Headquarters | Burbank, California |
Programming | |
Language(s) | English Spanish (via SAP audio track) |
Picture format |
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Ownership | |
Owner |
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Parent | ABC Family Worldwide |
Sister channels | |
History | |
Launched | April 29, 1977 |
Former names |
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Links | |
Website | freeform |
Availability | |
Freeform is an American
Since the network was launched on April 29, 1977, it has undergone various changes to its programming format and naming under 4 different owners. The network was originally
In 1997, IFE and the Family Channel were acquired by a joint venture between News Corporation and Haim Saban. This resulted in its rebranding as the Fox Family Channel a year later. The new owners wanted to reposition the network toward younger viewers as a companion for the unpopular Fox Kids Network. The venture was sold to Disney in October 2001 after the network began to struggle as a result of their changes. The channel altered its name to ABC Family one month later on November 10.[1][2] The network was later rebranded as Freeform on January 12, 2016.[3][4][5]
As of September 2023, Freeform was available to more than 55 million households in the United States, according to
History
Early history (1977–1998)
This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2017) |
The channel traces its origins to the launch of the CBN Satellite Service (CBN Satellite Network), an arm of
On January 1, 1988, the word "Family" was incorporated into the channel's name to better reflect its programming format,
As a stipulation included as part of the spin-out from CBN to International Family Entertainment, The Family Channel was required to continue its daily airings of CBN's flagship program,
Fox Family (1998–2001)
In 1997, after International Family Entertainment put The Family Channel up for sale,
When Fox Family Worldwide bought the channel, the management team assigned to the network (headed by newly appointed president and
In the wake of Fox Family's struggles, Saban offered to acquire the stake in the network held by News Corporation (which had also begun negotiations to acquire television provider DirecTV), but was unable to agree to a proper valuation. A decision was made to sell the venture to a third-party.[27][30]
Sale to Disney and rebranding as ABC Family (2001–06)
On July 23, 2001, it was announced that News Corporation and Saban had agreed to sell Fox Family Worldwide to
Disney planned to maintain the off-network ABC sitcoms Fox Family had acquired, and add reruns of ABC and
The next major plan was to reposition the channel to market it toward college students, young women, or at a more hip audience under the name "XYZ," a reverse reference to ABC. Disney-ABC chose not to move forward with the "XYZ" rebranding, rumoredly due to a stipulation thought to have been put in place by Pat Robertson during the sale of the network to Fox, which rumoredly mandated that the word "Family" must be contained in the name of the channel for the entirety of its existence, regardless as to who owns it.[34][35] The network was also used as a buffer to burn off failed ABC series, such as the reality competition series All American Girl, which featured former Spice Girls member Geri Halliwell. The network's strength was also increased through the production of original series and films.[36]
Disney continued to be subject to stipulations requiring CBN programming, including that The 700 Club be aired thrice daily on the network.[26] On August 29, 2005, Disney began distancing itself further from Robertson following his controversial remarks suggesting that Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez should be assassinated. An ABC Family spokesperson stated that it had no editorial control over The 700 Club and that the company "strongly rejects the views expressed by Pat Robertson." Following the incident, the disclaimers aired before CBN programs on ABC Family were also amended with a more explicit statement indicating that the views expressed during the programs did not reflect those of the channel.[37][38]
"A New Kind of Family" (2006–2016)
On August 7, 2006, ABC Family introduced a new slogan and imaging campaign, "A New Kind of Family". The rebranding coincided with a new original programming strategy, which targeted the teen and
New original series, such as the fantasy drama Kyle XY, college-set dramedy Greek, and drama series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, proved popular for the network; the premieres of Kyle XY and Secret Life set viewership records for the channel.[39][42] In July 2009, the network earned its best-ever ratings for the month of July in primetime and in total viewership, credited to the strength of Secret Life and new series Make It or Break It, 10 Things I Hate About You and Ruby & the Rockits, along with airings of the Harry Potter film franchise and the television premiere of Labor Pains.[43]
On June 8, 2010, ABC Family premiered Pretty Little Liars – a teen drama based on the series of young-adult mystery novels by Sara Shepard. Pretty Little Liars quickly became ABC Family's flagship program, frequently breaking ratings records;[39][44] by 2014, Pretty Little Liars had ranked among the five most-watched scripted series on basic cable among multiple female age demographics, and the second-highest rated cable series among females 12–34. Throughout the year, ABC Family as a whole experienced its highest year-to-year primetime viewership among viewers in the 12-34 and 18-34 demographics.[45] With 4.9 million viewers across its first broadcast and an encore airing, the 2011 premiere of Switched at Birth surpassed Secret Life as the most-watched series premiere in network history.[46]
Owing to his success at ABC Family, The Walt Disney Company promoted network president
Freeform (2016–2018)
In a December 3, 2014, article,
On October 6, 2015, Disney–ABC Television Group announced that ABC Family would be rebranded as Freeform. Ascheim explained that "Freeform" was intended to represent how "becomers" are in the "formation" of their lives and that the brand would reflect a participatory experience for viewers across multiple platforms. An extensive campaign to promote the rebrand kicked off on the date of the announcement and encompassed the network's popular 31 Nights of Halloween and 25 Days of Christmas blocks during the fourth quarter of that year.[34][35] The new name – which was chosen among 3,000 proposals, with some initial consideration of retaining "ABC" in the name – was necessitated after an audience survey that sampled opinions of regular ABC Family viewers as well those who watched the channel on an infrequent basis, revealed that although regular viewers understood the network's youth-skewing concept, non-frequent viewers perceived the channel as still being more of a "wholesome" family-oriented network.[3][51]
At the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour on January 9, 2016, in addressing the reasoning behind the name (which had been derided by some viewers on social media and news websites reporting on the pending rebrand), ABC Family president Tom Ascheim noted that while it does not mind the "wholesome" perception, it does "not necessarily represent" the network.[51] While it was rumored that the sale of the network from International Family Entertainment to Fox contained a stipulation that the channel must contain "Family" in its name in perpetuity, regardless of its owner (as supported by the failed proposal to relaunch the channel as "XYZ"), in initially announcing the channel's rebranding, Ascheim clarified that this was merely an urban legend as no such clause has been corroborated to have existed.[34][35]
The rebranding as Freeform took effect on January 12, 2016, coinciding with the premiere of the second half of
Although the socially conservative views expressed during the programs conflict with the culturally progressive/adult content of some of the channel's secular programming, Freeform also retained The 700 Club and The 700 Club Interactive (along with CBN's day-long telethon on the last Sunday in January), as network executives were not able to reach an agreement with Pat Robertson to buy out CBN's time-buy contract with the channel (Disney–ABC offered to pay $42 million – roughly the same amount that the ministry earned in revenue during 2015 from syndication fees for The 700 Club and various related productions – to terminate the agreement with the Christian Broadcasting Network, though Robertson stipulated a higher payout that Ascheim deemed "astronomical" in comparison to its actual value).[39][52][53][54] The network airs disclaimers before and after the show airs, mentioning that the network did not produce the programming, and are often delivered in a sardonic tone similar to the bumpers on Adult Swim. The disclaimers range from apologizing for carrying the program, suggesting viewers change the channel, and referencing the network's contractual obligation to carry the program.
On April 7, 2016, Freeform ordered a series from
"A Little Forward"
On January 18, 2018, Freeform unveiled a new logo and slogan, "A Little Forward", which officially debuted on March 6, 2018. The new slogan reflects refinements to the network's programming direction, with a larger focus on "forward-looking" series (such as The Bold Type and the Black-ish spin-off Grown-ish). President Tom Ascheim explained that with the rebranding, Freeform was "purposefully and passionately moving our brand forward by defying expectations and dismantling conventions; busting stereotypes of theme, cast and culture in service to a more inclusive world on and off screen." The network also unveiled upcoming series in development, such as Scott Stewart's Augs, as well as a new trailer and June 7, 2018 premiere date for Marvel's Cloak and Dagger.[60][61]
On November 26, 2018, Freeform's president Karey Burke was promoted to president of the ABC Entertainment Group to replace the outgoing Channing Dungey. Burke's replacement at Freeform was to be determined at a later date.[62][63] On March 27, 2019, Freeform announced that the channel was placing two animated series into development called Betches and Woman World. These were the network's first original animated series since changing its name from ABC Family,[64] and served as the foundation of a female-oriented animation block.[65]
2020–present; Shift of programming towards Hulu and end of Spectrum carriage
In May 2020, former Netflix executive Tara Duncan—who was signed to an overall deal with sister streaming service Hulu in April 2020[66]—became the new president of Freeform, replacing the departing Ascheim (who left to join Warner Bros. Kids, Young Adults and Classics).[67]
In April 2022, the network began a larger expansion into non-scripted programming, announcing the projects Day to Night (later retitled
On September 12, 2022, Freeform underwent a second rebranding initiated by Duncan and designed by Collins, which launched alongside the premiere of The Come Up. The logo consists of a wordmark with curved cut-outs in its "F" lettering, intended to create illusory motions; Freeform's senior vice president of content marketing Joe Ortiz explained that the designs were intended to reflect "the ability to change and an openness to change", and "[create] a sense we are never static and always growing."[71]
On the evening of August 31, 2023, Disney pulled Freeform and the company's other cable networks from Charter Communications' Spectrum cable TV services, which have 14.7 million subscribers, due to a carriage dispute.[72] When the dispute was eventually resolved on September 11, the companies announced that Freeform and certain other Disney-owned channels would not be reinstated by Spectrum under their new deal.[73] Its programming will remain accessible to Spectrum subscribers via Hulu.[74] Though Disney emphasized that there would be no change to its commitment to the Freeform brand, some analysts expressed doubt about it remaining as a linear channel in future provider negotiations.[75][6]
Programming
This section includes a improve this section by introducing more precise citations. (October 2016) ) |
Outside of prime time, Freeform as of February 2024 offers a slate of mostly reruns of contemporary comedy series and animated sitcom series, such as Family Guy, The Simpsons, Black-ish, and Boy Meets World.
The channel also produces some original programming, which as of March 2024 includes shows such as
Freeform airs its original drama series on Monday and/or Tuesday nights, and since 2011 (beginning under the former ABC Family brand), has aired its comedy series on Wednesdays. The channel airs first-run episodes of its original series mainly between January and August, with films generally airing in their place during prime time on the aforementioned nights from September to December (the only exception since 2010, have been annual Halloween episodes of Pretty Little Liars that air as part of the 13 Nights of Halloween in October as well as the debut of the first third of season one (and the only season) of Ravenswood in October 2013), the first ten episodes (or as few as eight for new series) of each season of its original programs air consecutively, the season's remaining episodes are broadcast following a hiatus of four to six months. Dating back to its existence as ABC Family, Freeform typically only reruns episodes of its original series in a marathon that airs prior to a season premiere, mid-season or season finale, or other special occasion, though the channel does air encore presentations of its shows that typically preempt programs that normally air at 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time during the rest of the week on these nights (with the previous week's episode airing in the former time slot prior to the newest episode and a same-night encore of the newest episode on the evening of an episode premiere in the latter time slot).
Films
This section, except for one footnote, includes a improve this section, except for one footnote, by introducing more precise citations. (October 2016) ) |
Freeform airs movies in prime time on Thursday and Friday nights (and if no original series are scheduled, Mondays, Tuesdays and/or Wednesdays as well), along with a day-long schedule of films on weekends from as early as 7:00 a.m. (sometimes later, such as around 7:30 a.m. or 8:00 a.m.) to as late as 2:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturdays and Sundays.
As of 2019, Freeform features a mix of animated and live action films from film divisions Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, and Blue Sky Studios.
Freeform also shows sub-runs (runs of films that have already received broadcast or syndicated television airings) of theatrical films from other studios such as
Freeform has purchased the cable television rights to many film series, such as the Harry Potter series (which ABC and Disney Channel also hold rights to), 2004's A Cinderella Story (and the direct to video sequels, Another Cinderella Story, A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song, and A Cinderella Story: If the Shoe Fits) and most recently the Legally Blonde film series (after securing rights to the 2009 made-for-DVD release Legally Blondes).
The channel also produces its own original made-for-TV movies (targeting a slightly older audience than those aired by sister network Disney Channel); some of Freeform's most popular original movies include Night of the Twisters (the channel's first original movie, which premiered in 1996 during its existence as The Family Channel), Holiday in Handcuffs, the Au Pair trilogy, Ice Angel, and Cyberbully (which premiered on the channel under either the Fox Family or ABC Family identities). As Freeform, the channel has had original movies such as Angry Angel, The Truth About Christmas, Life-Size 2, No Sleep 'Til Christmas, Turkey Drop, and Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas. ABC Family, the channel has also recently been generating high levels of viewers with its weekend movie events; the "Harry Potter Weekend" block in July 2009 generated some of the highest levels of viewers for its weekend events for the year to date. ABC Family's airing of The Hunger Games on October 10, 2014, was one of the channel's most watched telecasts for a single film, being seen by nearly 1.9 million viewers.
Freeform is becoming known for airing previews of upcoming movies, as it has done for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Hairspray, and Stardust.[76]
The channel has also aired select Disney Channel Original Movies in recent years, including the 2008 movie
Freeform aired the Olivia Rodrigo film Driving Home 2 U on May 14, 2022. It was the first time that a Disney+ original movie ever aired on Freeform (and thus, any linear television channel).
Sports
From 2000 to 2001, Fox Family aired a weekly
For the 2020 NFL season, ESPN aired an alternate broadcast of its National Football League (NFL) wild card game on Freeform, alongside simulcasts on ABC, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes;[78] this marked the first live sports telecast of any kind on the channel since 2002 (when the channel was known as ABC Family).
Programming blocks
Current
- Funday Weekend - Launched in late 2014, "Funday Weekend" is a two-day event that occurs once a month. During "Funday Weekend", "Funday" usually plays movies from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m.
- Family Guy Fridays - Launched on January 3, 2020, "Family Guy Fridays" is a weekly block that airs marathons of Family Guy. It currently airs Fridays from 1:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Seasonal
- Scariest Places On Earth. Starting in 2006, this holiday lineup shifted towards more family oriented films, such as The Haunted Mansion, The Addams Family, Addams Family Values, Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Monsters, Inc., Monsters University, and "Harry Potter Weekends" (consisting of the first six Harry Potter films). Hocus Pocus, which rose to the status of a cult film through its showings on the block, has been a featured part of the block for decades, eventually receiving its own marathon within the block in 2017. In 2019, the block began airing The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror after the purchase of 21st Century Fox
- Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. It has since expanded this holiday programming, adding made-for-television and theatrically-released movies, a litany of Rankin-Bass sequels (this was complicated somewhat because the broadcast rights of some of the original specials, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, were still owned by CBS), and other original programming to create "The 25 Days of Christmas". This program block airs in prime time on weekdays and from noon through prime time on weekends from December 1 to 25th each year, and has existed since 1996 under Freeform's previous brands. The block has aired some movies that are not necessarily holiday-related. The "25 Days of Christmas" also features special Christmas episodes of the channel's original series (with seven different shows airing Christmas specials in 2014, including The Fosters, Pretty Little Liars, Chasing Life, Baby Daddy, Switched at Birth, and Melissa and Joey).[79] As of 2019, the "25 Days of Christmas" name is now used for most of its sister channels, such as Disney Junior, Disney Channel, Disney XD, FX Networksand ABC.
Former
- Cable Health Club – In 1994, as The Family Channel, the channel ran programming from sister channel, the Cable Health Club, as part of a daytime block on Monday through Friday mornings, featuring the fitness instruction programs Tamilee Webb and Body by Jake.[80][81]
- The Game Channel – Premiering on June 7, 1993, The Family Channel debuted a 2½-hour game show block in preparation for the planned launch of the cable channel of roughly the same name (which never launched), featuring reruns of Let's Make a Deal and Name That Tune, as well as two first-run shows based on the board game Trivial Pursuit (both hosted by Wink Martindale).[82] By August of that year, the block was expanded to three hours.[83]
- The Positive Place – Running from 1991 to 1994 on The Family Channel, "The Positive Place" was a weekly block that aired Sunday early evenings (from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time) featuring first-run episodes and reruns of original and acquired programs (including Rin Tin Tin: K-9 Cop, Maniac Mansion, Big Brother Jake, and Zorro).[citation needed]
- It's Itsy Bitsy Time! – A preschool-oriented block that ran on the Fox Family channel (later ABC Family) from September 1999 until August 2002, airing in both half-hour and hour-long formats. The block featured a selection of children's series primarily imported from Europe, including 64 Zoo Lane, Tom and Vicky, The Animal Shelf, Budgie the Little Helicopter, and Charley and Mimmo.
- Digimon: Digital Monsters, Daigunder, and Get Ed. The block was rebranded as "Jetix" in February 2004, at the same time that Toon Disney launched its own action-oriented block of the same name. Of its long list of programs, the Power Rangersseries was its most successful. ABC Family's Jetix block was discontinued in September 2006, at the same time the companion Toon Disney block was expanded (taking over more than half of that channel's schedule).
- That's So Throwback – Launched in 2015 as a month-long programming stunt, "That's So Throwback" was a block of Disney Channel original programs (similar in format to that network's "Disney Replay" block) that aired Monday through Fridays from 12:00 to 2:00 a.m. Eastern Time. It featured a lineup of five Disney Channel Original Series from the 2000s each Monday through Thursday night (consisting of Disney Channel Original Movie from the late 1990s and 2000s airing on Fridays.[84]
- 30 Days of Disney - In September 2019, the network introduced 30 Days of Disney—an event that features airings of films from Disney properties. The event was sub-divided into themed weeks, including "Villains Week" (highlighting iconic villains from Disney films), "Pirates Week" (featuring the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise), "Singalong Week", and a week highlighting female characters. As of September 2022 this block seems to have stopped entirely. The block returns in November 2023 as their part of Disney100 celebration.
Related services
Service | Description |
---|---|
Freeform HD | Freeform HD is a high definition simulcast feed of Freeform that broadcasts in the 720p format (the preferred HD resolution for The Walt Disney Company's television properties); it was launched as ABC Family HD in early 2008.[85] All of the network's original series and made-for-TV films, and many of its acquired programs are currently produced in high definition, which are presented in a letterboxed format on the standard definition channel; films airing on the channel are also broadcast in HD whenever possible. The vast majority of pay-TV providers carry the network. |
Freeform On Demand | Freeform On Demand is the channel's IPTV providers. Freeform On Demand's rotating program selection incorporates select new titles that are added the day after a program's original episode airdate (or every two weeks for its original movie selections), alongside existing program titles held over from the previous two weeks.
|
Watch Freeform | Watch Freeform (stylized as "WATCH Freeform") allows subscribers to Freeform on participating television providers to stream Freeform programming live or on-demand via the Freeform website or Watch Freeform mobile apps. It launched on January 7, 2014, replacing the original ABC Family app on mobile devices.[86][87] |
Hulu | The network also makes mention of the programming the network offers streaming on Hulu, which through its part-ownership by the Walt Disney Company has full season "stacking rights" to several of the network's self-produced series since the network's "ABC Family; a new kind of family" era, excluding series such as Pretty Little Liars, Shadowhunters and The Fosters that have instead been licensed to Netflix. |
International versions
ABC Spark (Canada)
On October 26, 2011, The Walt Disney Company and
The ABC Spark name was purposefully chosen to avoid conflicts with
While ABC Spark did not follow the lead of its U.S. counterpart and change its name to Freeform, it did adopt similar branding elements.
The Family Channel/Challenge (U.K.)
In 1993, International Family Entertainment, in partnership with Flextech, launched an international version of The Family Channel in the United Kingdom,[94][95] featuring a mix of original family-oriented programming, reruns of American series and programming from the MTM Enterprises/TVS library. In April 1996, International Family Entertainment sold its 61% controlling interest to Flextech,[96] giving that company full control of the channel.[97] On February 3, 1997, the network was relaunched as Challenge TV, which changed the network's primary focus to game shows.
Criticism
With the 2006 introduction of new shows to the network by Disney, some parents reacted negatively to ABC Family's programming, feeling that the network has gone from family-friendly to "too risqué," and that content in shows such as Greek, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, The Fosters, and Becoming Us was far too racy for family viewing. Some critics claimed that ABC Family executives were only after attracting viewers, without concern about showing young people in questionable scenarios in its series and films. The main focus of the criticism was on teenage pregnancy, underage drinking, and LGBT-related issues.[98] The channel's programming content standards had changed several years earlier after the sale of the channel by Pat Robertson and International Family Entertainment. The channel had even aired some acquired series and movies that contained profanity, violence, and sexual content or dialogue after the sale to News Corporation, only running this programming somewhat more so since being purchased by The Walt Disney Company as it chose to refocus the channel more towards a teen and young adult audience to reduce programming redundancy with its existing family-, children-, and teen-oriented cable network Disney Channel. Parental advisory tags had aired at the beginning of some TV-14 rated programs aired on the channel in recent years,[when?] such as That '70s Show and some episodes of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Pretty Little Liars, Twisted, and The Fosters.
Audience testing conducted by the network revealed that some infrequent viewers thought the channel was still aimed specifically at families, resulting in Disney–ABC's decision to rebrand the channel as Freeform. Network president Ascheim refuted the longstanding claim regarding the inclusion of "Family" in the name, and acknowledged the network's shift away from a strictly family-oriented focus in the years leading up to the name change.[34][35][51]
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