ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of Disney Entertainment that is responsible for the operations of the U.S. cable network Freeform.
The company was originally formed as International Family Entertainment, 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 re-branded as the Fox Family Channel following the purchase—into a competitor to other children's-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 later sold to its current owner, The Walt Disney Company, in 2001 for $5.3 billion. 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 XD), and rights to the Saban Entertainment library. Following then, the company would be rebranded in 2001 under the name ABC Family Worldwide until 2016. The subsidiary has since been amalgamated into the Walt Disney Television group. Saban Brands, Saban Entertainment's successor, would acquire the rights to some of the properties held by its predecessor; most of these assets have since been acquired by Hasbro.
History
International Family Entertainment
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.
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. 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 give them control of the company. IFE continued to use CBN's facilities under a rental agreement. 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.
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. IFE's proceeds would be used for programming, marketing and possible acquisitions or investments. 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 Czechoslovakian 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. On April 28, 1992, IFE began public trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker FAM.