Family Channel (commonly or simply known as Family) is a Canadian English-language

specialty channel A specialty channel (also known in the United States as a cable channel or cable network) can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targete ...

owned by WildBrain Television Inc., a subsidiary of

WildBrain WildBrain Ltd. is a Canadian media, animation studio, production company, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest independent library of Children's tel ...

. The network primarily airs

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

teen drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...

s, as well as other programming targeting a family audience. Despite having its own headquarters in the Brookfield Place office in

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...

, the channel is transmitted from

Corus Quay Corus Quay, originally named First Waterfront Place, is an eight-storey commercial office tower located on a waterfront site in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building is the first major development planned for the East Bayfront district, and co ...

. Launched on September 1, 1988, it was originally a joint venture between the owners of the

premium television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, bu ...

services First Choice (now

Crave (TV network) Crave (formerly The Movie Network or TMN) is a Canadian premium television network and streaming service owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. Launched in 1983 as the national service First Choice, early difficulties and a subsequen ...

and Superchannel (later

Movie Central Movie Central (occasionally abbreviated as "MC", mostly in program guides) was a Canadian English language Category A premium cable and satellite television channel that was owned by Corus Entertainment. Movie Central was designated to operat ...

); due to the split of Western International Communications, the network became a joint venture between

Astral Media Astral Media Inc. was a Canadian media conglomerate. It was Canada's largest radio broadcaster, with 84 radio stations in eight provinces. Astral was also a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, with 23 specialty channel ...

and

Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. (often simply known as Corus) is a Canadian mass media and television production company. The company was founded in 1987 as Shaw Radio Ltd. as a subsidiary of Shaw Communications and was spun-off from Shaw in 1999. It h ...

. By 2001, Astral had acquired full ownership of the network; after the 2013 acquisition of Astral by

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (Canadian French, French: ) is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada). Its operations include nati ...

, the network and its sister channels were divested to WildBrain (at the time known as ''DHX Media'') in 2014. From its launch in 1988 until 2015, Family's programming heavily mirrored that of the U.S. cable network

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

, with which Family held a licensing agreement. Family Channel's programming lineup consisted mainly of domestic and foreign-imported, live-action and animated series from Disney Channel, feature films from the Disney film library, vintage films from other Canadian and U.S. film studios, and specials. Astral also used this relationship to launch Canadian versions of

Disney Junior Disney Jr. (formerly Disney Junior) is an American pay television network owned by the Disney Branded Television sub-division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company. Aimed mainly at children two to seven year ...

and

Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Entertainment units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven years old ...

. After the DHX acquisition, the license agreement ended in 2015; Disney then entered into a new licensing agreement with Corus and launched new Canadian versions of Disney Channel,

and

. Since then, Family Channel has acquired programming from other sources. Family was originally licensed as a premium specialty service, which necessitated that it operate under a commercial-free format, but allowed it to operate multiplex feeds (particularly the aforementioned Disney Junior, now Family Jr.). Nevertheless, television providers typically distributed Family as a conventional specialty channel. In 2016, Family was relieved of this mandate after the CRTC transitioned premium specialty services to the standardized ''

discretionary service A discretionary service is a Canadian specialty channel which, as defined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, may be carried optionally by all subscription television providers. It replaces the previous category A, ...

'' license. As of March 2013, Family Channel is available to approximately six million pay-TV households in Canada. It broadcasts

Eastern Time Zone The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 U.S. states, states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five ...

feeds in both

standard definition Standard-definition television (SDTV; also standard definition or SD) is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. ''Standard'' refers to offering a similar resolution to the ...

and high definition, and a

Pacific Time Zone The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00 ...

feed solely in standard definition.

History

Early history

Family Channel was licensed as a

service by the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

(CRTC) on December 1, 1987; it was originally operated as a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between Allarcom Pay Television Limited and First Choice Canadian Communications Corporation (owners of both Superchannel and First Choice), with both companies owning a 50% stake in the service. In October 1999, as part of the split of Western International Communications (which had bought Allarcom), its stake in Family Channel was sold to

. In March 2001, in response to concerns from the CRTC over Corus' near-monopoly position in children's specialty channels (accounting for its stakes in YTV,

Treehouse A tree house, tree fort or treeshed, is a platform or building constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level. Tree houses can be used for recreation, work space, habitation, a ha ...

, and Teletoon (now as

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

)), Corus traded its stake in Family Channel to

in exchange for its stake in The Comedy Network for $126.9 million, giving them full ownership. On July 1, 2007, Family became the last English-language children's network in Canada to switch to a 24-hour broadcast schedule. On January 11, 2011, Family launched a high-definition feed, and concurrently introduced an updated logo and on-air presentation.

Sale to DHX Media

In March 2013, following the

Competition Bureau The Competition Bureau () is the independent law enforcement agency in charge of regulating competition in Canada, responsible for ensuring that markets operate in a competitive manner. Headed by the Commissioner of Competition, the agency is ...

's approval of

's acquisition of Astral Media, Bell announced that it would divest Family and its sister networks, among other assets, in order to reduce the market share it would hold in the English-language television market following the completion of the sale. The CRTC approved the sale on June 27, 2013, with Family Channel and its related networks concurrently placed in a blind trust held by businessman and former

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

president

Pierre Boivin Pierre Boivin (born October 28, 1953) is a Canadian businessman and was president of the Montreal Canadiens from September 2, 1999, through June 30, 2011, succeeding Ronald Corey. On July 9, 2024, he succeeded John McCall MacBain as chancell ...

, pending their sale to a third-party. On November 28, 2013, DHX Media announced that it would acquire Family and its sister networks for $170 million. While the company already distributed and produced a large library of children's television series (particularly through its 2012 purchase of the

Cookie Jar Entertainment The Cookie Jar Group, commonly known as simply Cookie Jar and formerly known as CINAR, was a Canadian animation studio, media production and distribution company that existed from 1976 until it was folded into DHX Media, now WildBrain, on Dec ...

, which gave it ownership of the program libraries of Cinar and

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions, sometimes stylized as DİC) was a French American film and television production company that ...

), the purchase marked DHX's first foray into broadcasting. DHX has indicated that it would leverage its resources and library to add more original, Canadian-produced programming to Family under its ownership. The acquisition of Family Channel and its sister networks by DHX was approved by the CRTC on July 24, 2014. As a condition of the sale, the CRTC imposed licensing conditions requiring that at least 60% of the Canadian programming broadcast by the network on an annual basis be produced by companies other than DHX. The acquisition was finalized on July 31, 2014, with Family and its sister networks becoming part of a newly formed division of the company known as DHX Television.

Loss of Disney Channel programming rights and other changes

On April 16, 2015, it was announced that

had acquired Canadian rights to Disney Channel's programming library, and that it would launch a Canadian version of Disney Channel in September 2015. DHX's programming agreement with Disney would end in January 2016. As a result of these changes, Disney programming was phased out of Family Channel's lineup throughout the remainder of 2015, and its sister Disney Junior and Disney XD-branded networks were rebranded as Family Jr., Télémagino, and Family Chrgd. Corus would also launch new

and

channels on December 1, 2015. Along with new and original productions, DHX reached new output deals with AwesomenessTV,

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

and

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

in 2015 for programming based on their properties across its networks. On June 9, 2015, it was announced that a new incarnation of the '' Degrassi'' franchise, '' Degrassi: Next Class'', would premiere on Family in 2016. The show is produced by Epitome Pictures, a studio where DHX acquired in 2014. ''Next Class'' premiered on January 4, 2016 as part of a new primetime block known as "F2N". The F2N block was positioned towards an older teenage audience than the " tween" audience that Family has typically targeted; DHX Television senior vice-president Joe Tedesco explained that the company had original series in development for Family in case it ever did lose its output deal with Disney, and that these decisions were based on a goal to build a "strong lineup" of programs, and was not financially motivated. Tedesco went on to explain that the F2N block was meant to create a "meaningful destination" for teens and, in the case of ''Degrassi''—a series that has historically dealt with teen issues, encourage family viewing. As part of the CRTC's "Let's Talk TV" initiative, DHX Media expressed concern that the elimination of genre protection for Category A specialty channels would put services licensed as premium services at an unfair disadvantage, especially due to their inability to air advertising. On November 2, 2016, the CRTC approved the implementation of new categories for licensed television services, replacing the separate specialty and pay television categories with a single ''Discretionary service'' category using standardized conditions of license, and ruled that current premium services may operate under these deregulated policies effective immediately. This decision allowed Family Channel to begin operating under an advertising-supported format. Tedesco commended the CRTC for the decision, stating that it "represents the next logical step in the implementation of the Let's Talk TV decision, when genre protection was eliminated, and it ensures that pay and specialty channels will now be on a level field." On December 18, 2024, WildBrain announced that it would sell a two-thirds majority stake of its television operations—including Family—to IoM Media Ventures, a Halifax-based company founded by former WildBrain CEO Dana Landry.

Programming

Family's current programming is aimed towards children, teenagers and young adults aged 6–25 and encompasses original and acquired

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

s, and both theatrically released and made-for-television movies. Its daytime lineup is aimed at children, youth, and teenagers, while its primetime programs are aimed at an older teenage and family audience. The channel airs films on Friday and Saturday evenings and on weekend afternoons. Historically, Family and its spin-offs had been the main Canadian outlets for programming from the American

and its sibling brands;

and

. The channel also co-produced the 2010 film ''

16 Wishes Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number) *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * '' Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen * ''Sixteen' ...

'', in association with Disney Channel and MarVista Entertainment. Family would begin to phase out Disney programming in late 2015, after

acquired exclusive rights to Disney Channel and its associated brands in Canada. Since then, Family acquired the bulk of its programming from AwesomenessTV and

, as well as other syndicated and off-network programming targeting a family audience. In the past, the channel had also aired selected live-action

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

programs not picked up by YTV (which has typically been the main Canadian carrier of Nickelodeon programming). Family has also co-commissioned programming with the now-defunct U.S. network Universal Kids, owned by DreamWorks' parent company

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

, which had recently acquired the rights to the Family original series '' The Next Step'' and provided additional funding for its sixth season due to reduced financial commitments by DHX. Family also co-commissioned the children's horror anthology '' Creeped Out'' with British children's channel

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

. As previously mandated for premium services (and consistently with Disney Channel itself), Family did not initially air traditional commercial advertising, besides promotions in between (or sometimes during) programs for its own programming and sponsored contests. It also carried interstitial segments, such as

teen pop Teen pop is a sub genre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards Preadolescence, preteens and teenagers.Lamb, Bill"Teen Pop". About.com. Retrieved January 28, 2007. Often, the artists themselves are teenagers during their break ...

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s under the banner "Fam Jam", features on upcoming family films that were produced by

The Movie Network Crave (formerly The Movie Network or TMN) is a Television in Canada, Canadian premium television network and Streaming service provider, streaming service owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. Launched in 1983 as the national service ...

, and interstitial series from Disney Channel. After changes in CRTC policies and the network's licensing in November 2016, Family switched to a conventional, commercial-supported format for its non-preschool programs.

Notable programming blocks

Former

on Family – "Disney Junior on Family" was Family Channel's version of the U.S. programming block and cable channel of the same name featuring shows targeted at children aged 2–7, that aired Monday through Fridays from 4:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., and weekend mornings from 4:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. EST. The block, which started in November 4, 2002 as "Family Playhouse Fun", then in July 15, 2008 as "Family Jr.", and later "

Playhouse Disney Playhouse Disney was a brand of programming blocks and international cable and satellite television channels that were owned by the Disney Channels Worldwide unit (now Disney Branded Television) of The Walt Disney Company's Disney–ABC Tele ...

" on September 12, 2009 until being renamed "Disney Junior" on May 6, 2011 as part of a rebranding of Playhouse Disney's program blocks and standalone channels around the world to the Disney Junior brand, primarily targeted preschoolers as Family's usual target audience of older children and teenagers are in school at that time. *

Jetix Jetix (stylized in all caps) was a children's entertainment brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The brand was for a slate of action and adventure-related programming blocks and television channels. Jetix programming mainly originated fr ...

– A Canadian version of the U.S programming block seen on

ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...

and

Toon Disney Toon Disney was an American multinational pay television channel owned by Disney Branded Television, a subsidiary of Disney-ABC Television Group. The channel's target audience was children aged 7–11, and older children and adolescents aged 8� ...

. Jetix launched on September 10, 2006, replacing "Power Box". * F2N – Launched on January 4, 2016, the short-lived primetime block was aimed at an older teenage audience, anchored by '' Degrassi: Next Class'' and eight series' acquisitions from AwesomenessTV. The teenage-aimed block aired every night starting at 9:00 p.m. EST. It was discontinued in September 2017.

Related services

Vrak.TV

Along with Family, Vrak launched on September 1, 1988 as Le Canal Famillie, which started as a French-language version of Family Channel and its competitor network, YTV. In 2001, the channel was renamed to Vrak.TV. On July 5, 2013, due to the acquisition of Astral by Bell Media, Vrak.TV was separated from Family. In 2014, it rebranded as Vrak, while launching a new program block called ''Vrak2''. In 2016, the channel changed its demographic to the 13-35 age group due to the success of its ''Vrak2'' block. On August 16, 2023, Vrak and Z were removed from Vidéotron, the company that made the original channel it was based on over 40 years earlier, whilst Bell removed Yoopa from all of their TV services a day later. Yoopa shut down on January 11, 2024, and was replaced with a telecast version of its

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

's QUB Radio channel. Two days later on August 18, 2023, Bell Media announced that the channel would be closing on October 1, 2023, owing to "challenges" in the broadcasting sector, lack of viewers and regulatory affairs deemed "outdated" by Bell Media. On September 25, the CRTC confirmed it had revoked Vrak's licence at the request of Bell Media, with the channel shut down on October 1, 2023.

Family Jr. and Télémagino

On November 30, 2007, Family launched Playhouse Disney Channel, a separate channel featuring programming aimed at a

preschool A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...

audience, based on Disney's

brand. Subject to carriage, the

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: Science and technology * Multiplex communication, combining many signals into one transmission circuit or channel ** Multiplex (television), a group of digital television or radio channels that are combined for broadcast * ...

channel was made available at no additional charge to television providers and subscribers who receive its parent network. It was rebranded as

on May 6, 2011, following the launch of the brand in the U.S. earlier that year. On September 18, 2015, due to Corus Entertainment's acquisition of rights to Disney's children's programming and brands, the channel was re-branded as Family Jr. As Family was licensed as a premium service, it is allowed to operate multiplex channels that carry additional programming consistent with its licensing and nature of service. A French-language version of the channel, now known as Télémagino, was launched on July 5, 2010 as Playhouse Disney Télé. Unlike Family Jr., Télémagino operates under a separate Category B license.

WildBrainTV

On June 1, 2011, Family launched a Canadian version of

under a separate license. It rebranded as "Family Chrgd" on October 9, 2015. It was renamed once more to WildBrainTV on March 1, 2022.

Other services

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

– From October 2011, Family Channel offered a live audio

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

of U.S. children's music network Radio Disney throug
Family.ca

References

Notes

Citations

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Family (Tv Channel) WildBrain English-language television stations in Canada Commercial-free television networks Television channels and stations established in 1988 Specialty television channels in Canada Former Corus Entertainment networks 1988 establishments in Canada