ABC Family Worldwide
 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Type | Subsidiary |
| NYSE: FAM (1992–1996) | |
| Industry | Broadcasting |
| Predecessor |
|
| Founded | 1990 |
| Founder | Timothy Robertson |
| Headquarters | Walt Disney Studios, , U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Teenage dramas Family broadcasting |
| Parent |
|
| Subsidiaries | BVS Entertainment[1] Freeform |
| Footnotes [2] | |
ABC Family Worldwide is an in-name-only unit subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company that operates American basic cable channel Freeform (previously known as ABC Family) and manages the programming libraries of BVS Entertainment.
The company was originally formed as International Family Entertainment in 1990, a spin-off of the Christian Broadcasting Network's cable network The Family Channel.
In 1993, IFE acquired the assets of defunct British ITV broadcaster Television South, whose holdings included the library of U.S. studio MTM Enterprises. In 1996, IFE was acquired by News Corporation; the MTM library was melded into 20th Century Fox Television's library, while the remainder was melded into Fox Kids Worldwide (a merger of its Fox Kids unit with Saban Entertainment), to form Fox Family Worldwide. Fox and Saban planned to leverage the popular Fox Kids lineup to turn The Family Channel (which was rebranded as the Fox Family Channel following the purchase) into a competitor to other children's and family-oriented cable channels such as Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. The subsidiary also established international Fox Kids networks in Europe and Latin America.
After facing struggling ratings and a failed attempt by Saban to buy out News Corporation's stake in the venture, Fox Family Worldwide was sold to its current owner, The Walt Disney Company, in 2001 for $5.3 billion, after which the company was rebranded as ABC Family Worldwide until 2016. The purchase gave Disney ownership of the Fox Family channel (which was subsequently rebranded as ABC Family), the international Fox Kids channels (which were later re-branded as Jetix, and then Disney Channel or Disney XD) and rights to the Saban Entertainment (now BVS Entertainment) and Fox Kids/Jetix libraries. Saban Brands would acquire the rights to some of the properties held by BVS Entertainment (the prominent ones being Power Rangers and Digimon); most of these assets have since been sold to Hasbro and absorbed into its current production studio Hasbro Entertainment.
History
[edit]International Family Entertainment
[edit]The company has its origins in Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN); the religious broadcaster had re-positioned its CBN Satellite Service, which primarily carried televangelism, as the CBN Cable Network, which carried a mixture of secular programming and religious programs. Owing to its new scope, the service was later renamed the CBN Family Channel.[3]
By the 1990s, the network had become too profitable to remain under the ownership of the non-profit CBN without legal repercussions. In January 1990, a decision was made to spin off the CBN Family Channel into a new, for-profit company known as International Family Entertainment, via a sale at a price of $250 million in convertible notes.[4][5] The majority of IFE was owned by the network's management, with a 15% minority interest held by TCI Development Corporation, a subsidiary of cable provider Tele-Communications Inc. Special voting shares were issued to Pat Robertson and Timothy Robertson that gave them control of the company.[5] IFE continued to use CBN's facilities under a rental agreement.[4][6] As a stipulation of the spin-off, The Family Channel was required to maintain daily airings of CBN's flagship television program The 700 Club, a condition that has remained in effect to this day.[3]
CBN sold $23 million in notes to another cable company. An additional $127 million of convertible notes were converted into stock prior to an IPO in April 1992, in which CBN would sell them for $93 million to $106 million worth. More shares would be sold directly by IFE in the amount of $47 million to $53 million in a total of about $150 million.[5] IFE's proceeds would be used for programming, marketing and possible acquisitions or investments.[7] Plans were in the works for a home video distribution deal with Pacific Arts by the end of 1992, a South Korea cable network with Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. (now SK Hynix), and a joint venture to bid for a Czechoslovak TV station. Additional plans called for Family Channels in Britain and the rest of Europe, and additional cable channels. In consideration by IFE for the cable channel's genres were game shows, westerns, country music and sports as well as Spanish-language simulcasting.[5] On April 28, 1992, IFE began public trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker FAM.[8]
In May 1992, IFE announced plans to launch Game Channel, a joint venture with Game Technologies, which is a channel that would air original and classic game shows. The co-owners planned to allow viewers to interact with its programming over a 1-900 line; revenue was to be shared with providers that carried the channel, who could also integrate their own interactive content into the service. Upon its announcement, Game Channel already faced competition from Sony Pictures Television's upcoming Game Show Network, as well as other new cable networks launching around the same period.[9][10][11] On June 7, 1993, The Family Channel launched a game show block with interactive segments built around its new original production Trivial Pursuit, in preparation for the planned launch of Game Channel.[12]
In February 1993, IFE acquired the assets of Television South, a former ITV franchisee in Southern England, for $68.5 million. The deal gave IFE ownership of the library of Mary Tyler Moore's studio MTM Enterprises; IFE planned to leverage the MTM programs as part of a new syndication division, and the sale would also bolster an impending British version of The Family Channel. In June 1993, prior to its launch, IFE sold a 39% stake in The Family Channel UK to local company Flextech. The channel officially launched on September 1.[13][14] Flextech would later buy out IFE's share in The Family Channel UK,[15] which then became the game show-oriented channel Challenge.
On August 20, 1993, IFE soft-launched the Cable Health Club (later known as FitTV),[16] a service devoted to fitness.[17] In December 1993, IFE opened a bidding war to acquire the Nostalgia Network, competing with a partnership of Florida-based MOR Music TV Inc. and Arizona-based Gen-She Inc., and part-owner Concept Communications (owned by the Unification Church).[18]
In December 1993, IFE purchased three Myrtle Beach, South Carolina theaters and Calvin Gilmore Productions for $20 million. The Great American Entertainment Co. was formed as a subsidiary of IFE to control the companies.[19]
In 1994, IFE acquired Dorothy Hamill International, which had bought the ice show franchise Ice Capades out of bankruptcy. However, the company went out of business afterward due to the decreasing popularity of its shows in favor of traditional figure skating competitions and exhibitions.[20] The tour had a lackluster season, which led Hamill to leave the company. IFE then searched for a management company to handle the touring company for an equity stake. Instead, they sold Ice Capades in late 1995 while retaining the option of reacquiring a majority stake in Del Wilber & Associates for 10 years.[21]