GAC Media, LLC,

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

Great American Media, is a

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...

-based media company. It is the owner of the U.S. cable networks

Great American Family Great American Family is an American cable television network owned by Great American Media. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming such as television series and made-for-TV movies—some of which containing f ...

and Great American Faith & Living, and streaming service Great American Pure Flix with

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

History

The company was announced on June 7, 2021, through its acquisition of the cable networks

Great American Country Great American Family is an American cable television network owned by Great American Media. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming such as television series and Television film, made-for-TV movies—some of whi ...

and

Ride TV Great American Faith & Living is an American cable television network owned by Great American Media, who also operates Great American Family. The channel primarily broadcasts westerns and lifestyle programming. Established in 2014 as Ride TV, t ...

from

Discovery, Inc. Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1982, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chan ...

and Ride Television Network, Inc. respectively. The company is led by private equity investor

Tom Hicks Thomas Ollis Hicks Sr. (born February 7, 1946), is an American private equity investor and sports team owner living in Dallas, Texas. ''Forbes'' magazine estimated Hicks' wealth at $1 billion in 2009, but it dropped to $700 million in 2010 ...

, and Bill Abbott—who formerly served as CEO of

Crown Media Holdings Hallmark Media (formerly Crown Media Holdings) is an American media production company with corporate headquarters located in Studio City, California, and is a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. Hallmark Media consists of Crown Media Productions an ...

. After taking over the channels, they were rebranded as the "Great American Channels", with GAC itself being relaunched as GAC Family and taking on a

family-friendly A family-friendly product or service is one that is considered to be suitable for all members of an average family. Family-friendly restaurants are ones that provide service to families that have young children. Frequently, family-friendly produc ...

entertainment format not unlike Abbott's former employer

Hallmark Channel Hallmark Channel is an American cable television network owned by Hallmark Media, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies. ...

, and Ride TV becoming

GAC Living Great American Faith & Living is an American cable television network owned by Great American Media, who also operates Great American Family. The channel primarily broadcasts Western (genre), westerns and lifestyle programming. Established in 2 ...

. GAC Family would emulate many of Abbott's programming decisions at Hallmark Channel, including a focus on original television films and holiday-themed content. It also signed deals with various actors associated with Hallmark Channel productions. In April 2022, GAC Media hired

Candace Cameron Bure Candace Helaine Cameron Bure (; Cameron; born April 6, 1976) is an American actress and talk show panelist. She is known for portraying D.J. Tanner on ''Full House'' and its sequel series ''Fuller House (TV series), Fuller House'', and a number ...

–who had worked with Hallmark Channel since 2008–in an executive role, which would see her develop and star in original productions for its networks. During its upfronts, Abbott stated that the company planned to expand into

over-the-top content An over-the-top media service (also known as over-the-top television, or simply OTT) is a digital distribution service of video and audio delivered directly to viewers via the public Internet, rather than through an over-the-air, cable, satel ...

ventures, with plans for a lifestyle-based

free ad-supported streaming television Free advertising-supported streaming television (FAST) is a category of streaming television services which offer traditional linear television programming ("live TV") and studio-produced movies without a paid subscription, funded exclusively by a ...

(FAST) channel known as Great American Adventures, and a "fan portal". In May 2022, GAC Media announced Great American Community, a planned service launching in September that would carry short-form programming featuring GAC talent and personalities, and feature online forums allowing users to interact with them. The service would be free and ad-supported, but GAC Media did not rule out a premium tier in the future. In July 2022, GAC Media launched Great American Adventures on

Xumo Xumo, LLC ( ) is an American internet television and consumer electronics company. It is a joint venture of Charter Communications and Comcast that operates the free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) and advertising video on demand (AVOD ...

, which carries lifestyle and entertainment programming oriented towards "

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana music, a genre or style of American music * Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1981 film), an American drama film * ''Americana'' (20 ...

". Later that month, GAC Media announced that it would change its trade name to Great American Media, as part of a corporate rebranding that also saw GAC Family and Living renamed Great American Family and Great American Living respectively on August 20, 2022. GAC Media will remain the company's legal name. In May 2023,

Pure Flix Great American Pure Flix, formerly Pure Flix and sometimes stylized as Pureflix, is an American Christian media subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Great American Media and Sony Pictures. History The service was first establ ...

—a

-owned streaming service for faith-based content—announced that it would merge with Great American Media. Terms of the proposed merger were not disclosed, but GAC Media would hold a controlling stake in the new entity, with Abbott as CEO. In February 2024, the company signed a multi-film deal with actor

Mario Lopez Mario Lopez (born October 10, 1973) is an American actor and television host. He has appeared on several television series, in films, and on Broadway theatre, Broadway. He is known for his portrayal of A.C. Slater on ''Saved by the Bell'', ''S ...

. In 2024, the company re-located its headquarters from

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

Arlington Arlington most often refers to: *Arlington, Virginia **Arlington National Cemetery, a United States military cemetery *Arlington, Texas Arlington may also refer to: Places Australia *Arlington light rail station, on the Inner West Light Rail in S ...

Assets

Linear networks

* Great American Faith & Living

Over-the-top services

* Great American Adventures * Great American Community *

(joint venture with

Affirm Films Affirm Films is an American independent Christian film studio producing, marketing, and acquiring faith-based films. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions, the studio's highest-grossing faith-based dramas are '' Miracles from Heav ...

)

References

External links

* {{Great American Media 2021 establishments in Texas American companies established in 2021 Companies based in Fort Worth, Texas Entertainment companies established in 2021 Mass media companies established in 2021 Entertainment companies of the United States