is an
American Cable Television Network currently owned by
Disney /
ABC .
The network was founded by
Pat Robertson in
April 1977 as an arm of his
Christian Broadcasting Network . It was the first satellite-launched
Basic Cable network. The CBN Satellite Service grew to 10.9 million homes by
May 1981 . In
September 1981 , the format and the name were changed for the first time. CBN Cable Network became an entertainment cable network, providing family programming. Under the new format, the CBN Cable Network grew from 28 million households in
May 1985 , to 35.8 million in
May 1987 , and by the early
1990s , 47.6 million households.
In
September 1988 , the word ''
Family '' was incorporated into the name to better reflect the format, becoming the ''CBN Family Channel''. By
1990 , the network had grown too profitable to remain under the CBN banner without endangering CBN's nonprofit status. CBN spun it off to a new company called
International Family Entertainment (run by Robertson's son, Tim), and the name was changed to simply .
It was sold to
Fox Broadcasting Company and
Haim Saban in
July 1997 , and it changed its name to . The change from The Family Channel to became official on
August 15 ,
1998 . As The Family Channel, it attracted an older audience not sought by advertisers, but only about one-third of homes watching the network included kids. When Fox bought the channel in
1997 , programmers sought a new dual audience — kids in daytime, families at night.
As part of the agreement when International Family Entertainment sold the network to Fox, ''
The 700 Club '' aired twice every weekday—live at 10 a.m.
Eastern , then repeated at 11 p.m. Eastern; they also aired occasional weekend-long CBN telethons as part of the deal. This arrangement frustrated Fox to no end, as it broke up any attempt to build programming continuity. Due to this, the network was sold again to ABC in
July 2001 for $3.2 billion. Under Fox's ownership, the Family Channel saw its ranking slide from 10th to 17th place as a result of an increasingly competitive race for younger viewers and the bickering over ownership between News Corp. and Saban. Some observers believe that chased away some of the older viewers and never really replaced the core audience. As a result,
Prime Time Ratings declined 35% in the past three years.
The sale to ABC included the
Fox Kids Network (a joint venture of Fox and
Haim Saban ) which provided the new ABC Family with hours of children's programming. The few Fox Kids shows ABC Family airs are broadcast under the
Jetix action banner, until
2006 when it will be moved to
Toon Disney . However, ABC Family must still air ''The 700 Club'' every weekday, with subsequent repeats at 11 p.m. (ET). Following controversial remarks made by ''700 Club'' host
Pat Robertson about
Venezuelan president
Hugo Chavez , as well as other comments, ABC Family moved to distance itself from the program, airing a disclaimer before, during, and after the broadcast: ''"The following/preceding CBN telecast does not reflect the views of ABC Family."''
In addition to these programs ABC Family also shows original movies.
