ABC Family: A New Kind Of Family

Disney Channel is a sister channel of ABC Family.

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     ABC Family is a cable channel show on network television. ABC Family is operated by ABC Family Worldwide, Inc. ABC Family Worldwide, Inc. is wholly owned subsidiary of the The Walt Disney Company. Its sister channels include ABC, ABC News Now, Soapnet, Disney XD, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic, ESPNU, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and the Live Well Network. Mr. Thomas Aschiem is the companies current president. ABC Family appeals to people of all ages, from children to adults.  

The cast of The Secret Life of the American Teenager,
  one of ABC Family's hit original TV shows. 

From: https://c2.staticflickr.com/
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     ABC Family has an impressive portfolio of original shows. Some of which include Pretty Little Liars, Switched at Birth, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Bunheads, and many more. In addition to their original television shows, ABC Family also airs movies from major studios, such as Disney and Warner Brothers. Around Halloween and Christmas, ABC Family plays movies and TV episodes of their original series that coincide with the holiday. During the month of October, ABC Family has a special called "13 nights of Halloween" where they play TV episodes and movies that are Halloween-themed. Starting in December, holiday-themed movies and TV shows are shown. Many original, holiday ABC Family movies are shown during this time as well. Recently, ABC Family has started something called "Fun Day". "Fun Day" is only on the weekends and only shows Disney and Pixar movies. 

     Today, ABC Family is the family-friendly TV station that the whole family can watch. The Walt Disney Company completely transformed the station, when they bought it. Surprisingly enough, The Walt Disney Company did not create the station itself. The station started out with a man named Pat Robertson and a dream to get the Lord's word out.

Pat Robertson, the creator of CBN

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    Pat Robertson started the Christian Broadcasting Network after a talk with a missionary changed his views on life. Robertson quit his job with W.R Grace in the 1950's. In 1977, Robertson began the broadcasting of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). It was during this time that The 700 Club was born. The 700 Club was, and still is to this day, a Christian news-magazine show and a prayer hour. When Robertson started his presidential campaign, his son, Tim, took over the station and changed it's name to The Family Channel, in order to obtain more viewers. The Family Channel's popularity began to rise. In 1990, a new company, International Family Entertainment, bought The Family Channel for $250 million. 

    In the mid-1990's, another new company was formed called Fox Family Worldwide, Inc. (FFW) This company was formed to combat the cable station Nickelodeon. FFW bought International Family Entertainment, thus obtaining The Family Channel. Fox Family Worldwide, Inc. was appealing to an older audience, mostly 50 years old and older. Many attempts were made to try to appeal to children and teens through the use of cartoons. All of their attempts failed, however. Fox Family Worldwide's profits continued to drop dramatically until the very end. Many high-ranking executives abandoned the network. The company turned out to be a disaster. 

The Walt Disney Company saved Fox Family
Worldwide from ultimate destruction. 

From: https://upload.wikimedia.org/
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     Things were looking brighter in 2001 for Fox Family Worldwide when The Walt Disney Company acquired the company for $5.2 billion. After The Walt Disney Company obtained Fox Family Worldwide, they put FFW in charge of the ABC Television Group and changed its name to ABC Family Worldwide, Inc. 

    In the beginning, ABC Family was used as a "secondary outlet for a range of programs" (ABC Family Worldwide, Inc. History). As time went on, ABC Family developed a new identity. It was no longer the Christian prayer station or the failing cartoon station that it had previously been. ABC Family became the station that is known for its family-friendly original television shows and original holiday movies. 

Katie Leclerc, the star
of Switched at Birth.Switched at Birth also
 plays on ABC Spark. 

From: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/
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     Today, ABC Family boasts to reaching over 97 million homes. Along with its popular television station, ABCFamily.com "provides a variety of interactive entertainment and community features, from rich, fan-centric programming-including blogs, viewing parties, webisodes, full episodes of the network;s hit programming, along with the sneak peek exclusive previews and behind-the-scenes clips" (Media Networks, The Walt Disney Company"). ABC Family has become wildly popular with people of all age in the United States. In Canada, ABC Family Worldwide partnered with a Canadian entertainment company to launch ABC Spark, the Canadian equivalent of ABC Family. 

    ABC Family is the television network that targets audiences of all ages. It plays enjoyable original television shows, original holiday movies, and movies from other popular studios. ABC Family has become the definition of family entertainment. It is safe for the whole family and is one of the most popular networks on television today.