ABC to expand its operations

[Vanhalen 0]

ABC, one of the most famous brands in broadcasting, is moving outside its native America for the first time with the launch of a UK digital TV entertainment channel.

ABC1 will be available to 4 million homes with a Freeview box from Monday September 27, giving at least part of the UK a taste of programming from the US parent channel, including long-running daytime soap General Hospital and 90s Tim Allen sitcom, Home Improvement.

 

The new Freeview channel from the Disney-owned network will broadcast initially from 6am to 6pm and the company is also planning to it available to UK digital satellite and cable viewers.

 

Not only is it the first time the famous ABC logo has appeared on a non-US TV channel in the broadcaster's 60-year history, but also the first time a Disney channel has been launched outside America without the media giant's eponymous brand name.

 

"The launch of the ABC brand signals the Walt Disney Company's long-term commitment to the UK. All day long, ABC1 will provide the daytime viewer with well-written, high-quality entertainment," said John Hardie, the managing director of Walt Disney branded TV for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

 

Other shows in the ABC1 launch line-up include Sports Night, the critically acclaimed but short-lived sitcom about a US cable TV station, which starred Peter Krause, who went on to play Nate in HBO's Six Feet Under.

 

The ABC1 schedule will also feature Once and Again, a forty-something drama from the creators of Thirtysomething, The Geena Davis Show and 8 Simple Rules, a sitcom starring James Garner.

 

ABC1 will be launching into an ever more competitive UK market for general entertainment digital channels this autumn.

 

The programming budgets for market leader Sky One and the fast-growing ITV2 are to be boosted and ITV is also launching ITV3, aimed at an upmarket over-35 audience, on November 1.

 

Channel 4 is to launch its own digital channel aimed at over-35s, More4, early next year.

 

In launching a UK general entertainment channel, Disney is also following in the footsteps of Fox, which began broadcasting its FX service earlier this year.

 

However, FX is only available to pay-TV subscribers with digital satellite, while Disney has gone for the free-to-air option by launching on Freeview and will have to rely on advertising revenue alone.

 

ABC is one of the longest established broadcasting brands, having launched as a radio network in the early 40s before moving into TV later the same decade.

 

Along with its arch rivals NBC and CBS, ABC is regarded as one of the "big three" terrestrial broadcasters that have dominated American television since the 40s - although in recent years their position has been challenged by the growth of cable viewing and the Fox network.