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ABC Family to change name to Freeform

Sammi Brie

Sammi Brie

The end of an era as ABC Family announces it is changing its name to Freeform in January.

The name will not signify program changes but is intended to signify the cable channel's strategy to target young audiences 14-34.

My question is, what about the whole Pat Robertson/CBN "if you change your name, you're creating a new channel" deal? The deal between CBN and Fox (transferred to ABC) required Family to remain in the name of the channel for perpetuity.

The only programming change I could see resulting from this is the end of ABC Family's contractual ties to CBN — which offer CBN a great platform but are increasingly out of line with the audience and aim of the network. (Seriously, the Tumblr generation would have a fit over The 700 Club.)
 
I'm glad the name's finally changing - considering some of the subject matter that airs on the network now, the word "Family" was no longer appropriate.
 
harrisburgpatv2 said:
I'm glad the name's finally changing - considering some of the subject matter that airs on the network now, the word "Family" was no longer appropriate.
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They thought so too; they felt that their name really suggested a network aimed at older people while their shows have a decidedly younger appeal (Pretty Little Liars, Switched at Birth and the like). Given the audience they wanted to target, a name change was pretty much necessary.
 
Raymie said:
The only programming change I could see resulting from this is the end of ABC Family's contractual ties to CBN — which offer CBN a great platform but are increasingly out of line with the audience and aim of the network. (Seriously, the Tumblr generation would have a fit over The 700 Club.)
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Looks like The 700 Club is staying:

Another vestige from the early days of the channel, [Pat] Robertson’s talk show The 700 Club, will continue to air on the rebranded network.
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http://deadline.com/2015/10/abc-family-freeform-new-name-1201567915/
 
CTListener said:
In perpetuity is a long, long time. I'm surprised Robertson hasn't been bought off with a hefty donation to his ministry by now. It must really irk the Disney suits to interrupt the flow of the channel every morning for that show.
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True, but ABC Family has been getting sneakier over the past few years. Several times during their "25 Days of Christmas Block" they have blown out both the 9:30AM airing and the 11PM airing leaving only the 3AM airing. I also want to say that the 3AM airing is a recent change within the past few years as it used to be at 2AM.
 
Are they required to the 700 Club at a time when people actually watch? Is there anything preventing them from dumping it overnight? How are they able to change the name without breaking the stipulations? Is it legally a new channel and they're now getting paid to air the 700 Club?
 
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I've read on various message boards over the years that "family" along with the 700 Club were always supposed to be part of the channel. What loophole did Disney manage to find /now/ that allowed them, at least in their minds, to make the change?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/07/b...el-aims-beyond-millennials-with-new-name.html

As Disney executives sought to rework its reason for existing, they looked at changing its name but thought that, at least for a time, they were hamstrung by contracts requiring the word “family” to remain.

The network was founded as the Family Channel by the evangelist Pat Robertson. When Mr. Ascheim arrived in 2013, he pushed anew for the name change. “When we looked this time, there were no contractual issues,” he said. (The network must run Mr. Robertson’s “700 Club” talk show in perpetuity, however.)
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Isn't "Family" programming obsolete when families have multiple channels/services available to them and many devices? Not one giant wood grain living room console TV and 3 networks of the 60s/70s?
 
Raymie said:
My question is, what about the whole Pat Robertson/CBN "if you change your name, you're creating a new channel" deal? The deal between CBN and Fox (transferred to ABC) required Family to remain in the name of the channel for perpetuity.
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I'm surprised Disney didn't call CBN's bluff and just do that after negotiating with cable companies for a few years. With the popularity of some of the programming ABC Family/Freeform has and Disney's ability to bully cable operators with ESPN (and to a lesser degree Disney Channel) carriage, they probably could have gotten a "new channel" launched on the vast majority of systems ABC Family was on (and boasted the "largest channel launch in cable history!"). If they weren't keeping the 700 Club I would have thought that was exactly what they did.
 
Morgan Wick said:
I'm surprised Disney didn't call CBN's bluff and just do that after negotiating with cable companies for a few years. With the popularity of some of the programming ABC Family/Freeform has and Disney's ability to bully cable operators with ESPN (and to a lesser degree Disney Channel) carriage, they probably could have gotten a "new channel" launched on the vast majority of systems ABC Family was on (and boasted the "largest channel launch in cable history!"). If they weren't keeping the 700 Club I would have thought that was exactly what they did.
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maybe they plan on booting the 700 Club once Ol Pat goes to Jesus, why didn't they just rename it XYZ or whatever else they wanted to rename it to years ago if they don't have to keep "family" in the name?
 
Maybe they figure Pat has gotten too old and senile to remember where in the contract the network name clause is.

Seriously, if it is still in there and ABC's attorneys misplaced it, I'm sure CBN will be happy to show them where it is by way of a lawsuit.
 
http://frontpage.pch.com/story/1227...nging-name-to-freeform?category=entertainment

AP Story on the change. I too, was surprised, as I thought 'Family' had to remain in the name. I agree with that Disney may simply be intentionally violating the contract expecting that CBN won't initiate legal action over the issue or, if they do, that a Court wouldn't deem it a significant harm and would award token damages, at best. An extreme, and unlikely, outcome, would be for a court to claim a contract breach and give back the asset to CBN. Not going to happen. If CBN does challenge it, Disney might, as others have suggested, seek to open up the contract to remove the 700 Club Carriage requirement. I think Freeform is a stupid name though. ABC Family was fine and consistent with their 25 Days of Christmas and much of their other programming.
 
Nothing family oriented about their programming. Flipping through and hearing teenage girls calling each other sluts pretty much tells what they are in their freeform flops.
 
Given that Disney is mainly a springboard for teen idols and Mary Sues, the reference does not escape me.
 
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