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Freeform

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Freeform is a cable channel owned by Walt Disney Television, a division of Disney Media Networks, featuring programming aimed at teenagers and young adults, as well as families during its Funday Weekend block.

It was originally founded in 1977 as The CBN Cable Network by Evangelical minister Pat Robertson, as extension to his television ministry, over time the network started airing less and less religious programming. In 1988 to reflect, the change in format, the channel changed its name to The Family Channel. By the year 1990, CBN spun off the network, because it had grown too profitable for the ministry. In 1997, News Corporation, owners of the Fox television network and Saban Entertainment bought the network and changed the network to Fox Family Channel the next year. In 2002, ABC bought the channel and gave it the name ABC Family. It was rebranded under its current name on January 12, 2016. However, the ABC Family name is currently used by Freeform's company ABC Family Worldwide.

Programming Stunts[]

Annually, Freeform provides two major programming stunts, "The 31 Nights of Halloween" (formerly 13 Nights of Halloween), which runs for the whole month of October, and the "25 Days of Christmas", running from December 1 through Christmas Day, which have been a part of the channel since the "Fox Family" days. In addition, prior to the 25 Days of Christmas, the network has added a "Countdown to 'The 25 Days of Christmas'", running about two weeks before the event officially begins, running through Thanksgiving.

Shows[]

This is a list of television programs aired on Freeform:

Current[]

Drama[]

  • The Bold Type (2017–present)
  • Siren (2018–present)
  • Good Trouble (2019–present)
  • Motherland: Fort Salem (2020–present)

Comedy[]

  • Grown-ish (2018–present)
  • Everything's Going to Be Okay (2020–present)
  • Truth & Iliza (2017–present)

Upcoming[]

  • Last Summer (TBD)
  • Unrelated (TBD)
  • Betches (TBD)
  • Woman World (TBD)

Former (as ABC Family and Freeform)[]

  • Flint the Time Detective (2001-2002)
  • So Little Time (2001-2002)
  • The Zack Files (2001-2002)
  • State of Grace (2001-2002)
  • Scariest Places on Earth (2001-2006)
  • Da Möb (2001-2002)
  • Edgemont (2001-2005)
  • The Brendan Leonard Show (2003)
  • Knock First (2003)
  • Switched! (2003-2004)
  • Brat Camp (2004)
  • The Legend of Tarzan (2004)
  • Power Rangers Dino Thunder (2004)
  • Power Rangers Ninja Storm (2004)
  • Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2004)
  • Gargoyles (2004)
  • Switched Up (2004)
  • Kicked Out (2005)
  • Las Vegas Garden of Love (2005)
  • Power Rangers S.P.D. (2005)
  • Venus and Serena: For Real (2005)
  • Beautiful People (2005-2006)
  • Whose Line Is It Anyway? (2005-2007)
  • Wildfire (2005-2008)
  • Power Rangers Mystic Force (2006)
  • Back on Campus (2006)
  • Three Moons Over Milford (2006)
  • Falcon Beach (2006-2007)
  • Kyle XY (2006-2009)
  • Lincoln Heights (2007-2009)
  • Slacker Cats (2007-2009)
  • Greek (2007-2011)
  • The Middleman (2008)
  • The Secret Life of an American Teenager (2008-2013)
  • Roommates (2009)
  • Ruby & The Rockits (2009)
  • 10 Things I Hate About You (2009-2010)
  • Make It or Break It (2009-2012)
  • Pretty Little Liars (2010-2017)
  • Huge (2010)
  • Melissa & Joey (2010-2015)
  • Switched at Birth (2011-2017)
  • The Nine Lives of Chloe King (2011)
  • State of Georgia (2011)
  • The Lying Game (2011-2013)
  • Beverly Hills Nannies (2012)
  • Jane by Design (2012)
  • Bunheads (2012-2013)
  • Baby Daddy (2012-2017)
  • Dancing Fools (2013)
  • Spell-Mageddon (2013)
  • The Vineyard (2013)
  • Ravenswood (2013-2014)
  • Twisted (2013-2014)
  • The Fosters (2013-2018)
  • Young & Hungry (2014-2018)
  • Alice in Arabia (2014)
  • Chasing Life (2014-2015)
  • Mystery Girls (2014)
  • Freak Out (2014-2015)
  • Stitchers (2015–17)
  • Becoming Us (2015)
  • Job or No Job (2015)
  • Next Step Realty: NYC (2015)
  • Startup U (2015)
  • Kevin from Work (2015)
  • Monica the Medium (2015-2016)
  • Recovery Road (2016)
  • Guilt (2016)
  • Dead of Summer (2016)
  • Cheer Squad (2016)
  • The Letter (2016)
  • Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After? (2016)
  • Shadowhunters (2016-2019)
  • The Twins: Happily Ever After? (2017)
  • Beyond (2017-2018)
  • Famous in Love (2017-2018)
  • Alone Together (2018)
  • Marvel's Cloak & Dagger (2018-2019)
  • Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists (2019)

Disney films aired on Freeform[]

Criticism[]

Since Freeform is a semi-religious and semi-family-oriented network it has often been criticized for its variety of programming. Many shows on ABC Family have episodes that either deal with teen-drinking (Boy Meets World and Still Standing) or teenage pregnancy (The Secret Life of the American Teenager). Freeform encourages concerned parents to control what their children watch. In fact, Freeform will always put up a disclaimer on TV-14 programs and movies with disturbing images such as The Sixth Sense.

During its time as ABC Family, Disney was considering changing the channel's name to XYZ to reflect the programming's changes. It was long rumoured that it could not due to an agreement with Robertson that "Family" should always remain the channel's name. ABC Family president Tom Ascheim debunked this rumour, however, when announcing the channel's rebrand to Freeform in October 2015. However, in the summer of 2021, Disney revisited the idea of using the XYZ name as a brand for some new adult-animated shows produced by Disney depicted as a new production studio being a division of Disney Television Animation, as well as spawning a new programming block of the same name airing both original shows as well as acquired Disney TVA and Fox animated shows that serves the nighttime hours of Freeform's sister network Disney XD.

Rebrand as Freeform[]

In a December 3, 2014 article in Variety, reports suggested that ABC Family executives were proposing a reboot of the network that would occur in 2015 at the earliest, which included a renaming of the channel, a redesigned graphics package (replacing the one in use since 2006) or an expansion of programming that appeals more toward a millennial-skewing audience – as opposed to families or teenagers – among the options. During the channel's 2015–2016 upfront presentation on April 14, 2015, ABC Family executives announced that it would establish a focus on teenagers and young adults between the ages of 14 and 34 – a group representatives termed "becomers", instead of the standard "millennials".

On October 6, 2015, Disney–ABC Television Group announced that ABC Family would change its name to Freeform on January 1, 2016, with the rebrand – which kicked off with an extensive branding campaign launched on that date of the announcement and will encompass the network's popular "13 Nights of Halloween" and 25 Days of Christmas" blocks – coinciding with the winter premieres of the network's new and existing original series. Public assumption was that such a name change would be negotiably impossible due to an alleged stipulation enforced by CBN in sale agreements since the initial acquisition by International Family Entertainment that the channel contain the word "Family" in the name permanently, regardless as to who owns the network (as proven by the failed relaunch as XYZ); in the name change announcement, network president Tom Ascheim never made reference to the "Family" brand clause supposedly contained within the sale agreement, leaving it unclear as to whether or not the clause actually existed.

The name change – which was chosen among 3,000 proposals, with some initial consideration of retaining the "ABC" name – was necessitated due to audience testing sampling regular viewers of the channel and those who watched ABC Family on an infrequent basis, which revealed that although regular viewers understood the network's youth-skewing concept, non-viewers perceived the channel as being more family-oriented. The channel plans to double the amount of original programming on its schedule through 2020; however, despite firmly focusing on its specified target audience, Freeform will also continue to carry much of the existing programming under the ABC Family brand including family-oriented series and feature films, the 25 Days of Christmas and 13 Nights of Halloween blocks, and its weekday airings of The 700 Club.

September 2023 Charter Spectrum removal[]

On August 31, 2023, Disney's cable networks were pulled from Charter Communications' Spectrum TV service due to a carriage dispute. It was resolved on September 11, but some Disney-owned networks including FXX, Disney Junior, Disney XD/XYZ, Toon Disney and Freeform were permanently removed from Spectrum despite the new deal. Freeform's programming will remain accessible to Spectrum customers through Hulu, however, the Spectrum removal left analysts questioning Freeform remaining as a linear channel in future provider negotiations.

Gallery[]

External links[]


v - e - d
Freeform
2000s (as ABC Family)
Da Mob (2001–02) • Power Rangers Wild Force (2002) • Power Rangers Ninja Storm (2003) • The Brendan Leonard Show (2003) • Switched! (2003–04) • Knock First (2003–04) • Power Rangers Dino Thunder (2004) • Switched Up (2004) • Power Rangers S.P.D. (2005) • Las Vegas Garden of Love (2005) • Wildfire (2005–08) • Brat Camp (2005) • Venus and Serena: For Real (2005) • Beautiful People (2005–06) • Kicked Out (2005) • Whose Line Is It Anyway? (2005–10) • Falcon Beach (2006–07) • Back on Campus (2006) • Kyle XY (2006–09) • Three Moons Over Milford (2006) • Lincoln Heights (2007–09) • Greek (2007–11) • Slacker Cats (2007) • The Middleman (2008) • The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008–13) • Roommates (2009) • Make It or Break It (2009–12) • 10 Things I Hate About You (2009–10) • Ruby & the Rockits (2009)
2010s (as ABC Family)
Pretty Little Liars (2010–17) • Huge (2010) • Melissa & Joey (2010–15) • Switched at Birth (2011–17) • The Nine Lives of Chloe King (2011) • State of Georgia (2011) • The Lying Game (2011–13) • Jane by Design (2012) • Bunheads (2012–13) • Baby Daddy (2012–17) • Beverly Hills Nannies (2012) • Twisted (2013–14) • Dancing Fools (2013) • The Vineyard (2013) • Spell-Mageddon (2013) • Ravenswood (2013–14) • Chasing Life (2014–15) • Mystery Girls (2014) • Freak Out (2014–15) • Stitchers (2015–17) • Becoming Us (2015) • Job or No Job (2015) • Next Step Realty: NYC (2015) • Startup U (2015) • Kevin from Work (2015) • Monica the Medium (2015–16)
2010s
Recovery Road (2016) • Guilt (2016) • Dead of Summer (2016) • Cheer Squad (2016) • The Letter (2016) • Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After? (2016) • The Twins: Happily Ever After? (2017)
Current
The Fosters (2013–) • Young & Hungry (2014–) • Shadowhunters (2016–) • Beyond (2017–) • Famous in Love (2017–) • Truth & Iliza (2017–) • The Bold Type (2017–) • Grown-ish (2018–) • Alone Together (2018–)
Upcoming
Siren (March 29, 2018) • Hollywood Movie Night (2018) • Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists (2019) • The Fosters spin-off (TBA)
Related
25 Days of Christmas • 13 Nights of Halloween

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