Freeform (TV channel)

==Related services==
{| class="wikitable" text-align: center; width="100%" style="background-color: #FFFFFF"
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! style="background-color: #1D6A6E"| Service
! style="background-color: #1D6A6E"| Description
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| align="center" width="200pt" |'''Freeform HD''' || '''Freeform HD''' is a [[High-definition television|high definition]] simulcast feed of Freeform that broadcasts in the [[720p]] format (the preferred HD resolution for The Walt Disney Company's television properties); it was launched as ABC Family HD in early 2008.<ref>{{cite news|title=Disney To Launch HD Networks on DirecTV|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/programming/disney-launch-hd-networks-directv/30271|author=Glen Dickson|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=Reed Business Information|date=March 13, 2007|access-date=October 8, 2015|archive-date=January 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107085914/http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/programming/disney-launch-hd-networks-directv/30271|url-status=live}}</ref> All of the network's original series and made-for-TV films, and many of its acquired programs are currently produced in high definition, which are presented in a [[letterboxing (filming)|letterboxed]] format on the [[standard-definition television|standard definition]] channel; films airing on the channel are also broadcast in HD whenever possible. The vast majority of pay-TV providers carry the network.
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| align="center" width="200pt" |'''Freeform On Demand''' || Freeform On Demand is the channel's [[Video on demand|video-on-demand]] service, offering recent episodes of the channel's original series and select made-for-TV movies to digital cable and [[IPTV]] providers. Freeform On Demand's rotating program selection incorporates select new titles that are added the day after a program's original episode airdate (or every two weeks for its original movie selections), alongside existing program titles held over from the previous two weeks.
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| align="center" width="200pt" |'''Watch Freeform''' || Watch Freeform (stylized as "WATCH Freeform") allows [[TV Everywhere|subscribers to Freeform on participating television providers]] to stream Freeform programming live or on-demand via the Freeform website or Watch Freeform [[mobile app]]s. It launched on January 7, 2014, replacing the original ABC Family app on mobile devices.<ref>{{cite news|title=Disney To Expand Authenticated Streaming To ABC Family Shows|url=https://www.deadline.com/2014/01/disney-expand-authenticated-streaming-watch-abc-family/|website=Deadline.com|publisher=Penske Media Corporation|date=January 5, 2014|access-date=April 17, 2020|archive-date=March 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320185735/http://www.deadline.com/2014/01/disney-expand-authenticated-streaming-watch-abc-family/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Disney/ABC To Launch Watch ABC Family App|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/technology/disneyabc-launch-watch-abc-family-app/128232|author=George Winslow|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=[[NewBay Media]]|date=January 3, 2014|access-date=February 13, 2014|archive-date=February 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222163253/http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/technology/disneyabc-launch-watch-abc-family-app/128232|url-status=live}}</ref>
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| align="center" width="200pt" |'''[[Hulu]]''' || The network also makes mention of the programming the network offers streaming on '''Hulu''', which through its part-ownership by the Walt Disney Company has full season "stacking rights" to several of the network's self-produced series since the network's "ABC Family; a new kind of family" era, excluding series such as ''Pretty Little Liars'', ''Shadowhunters'' and ''The Fosters'' that have instead been licensed to [[Netflix]].
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===International versions===

====ABC Spark (Canada)====
{{Main|ABC Spark}}
On October 26, 2011, The Walt Disney Company and [[Toronto]]-based media company [[Corus Entertainment]] entered into a partnership to launch a [[Canada|Canadian]] version of ABC Family, '''ABC Spark''', which launched on March 23, 2012.<ref>{{cite press release|title=New Millennial Focused Channel, ABC Spark, to Launch in Canada|url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2011/10/26/new-millennial-focused-channel-abc-spark-to-launch-in-canada-789303/20111026abc01/|publisher=Disney–ABC Television Group|via=The Futon Critic|date=October 26, 2011|access-date=October 26, 2011|archive-date=September 11, 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120911211258/http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2011/10/26/new-millennial-focused-channel-abc-spark-to-launch-in-canada-789303/20111026abc01/|url-status=live}}</ref> The channel, which is licensed by the [[Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission]] as a [[Category B services|Category B specialty channel]] (which under CRTC rules, allows Canadian digital cable and [[direct-broadcast satellite television|direct-broadcast satellite]] providers to optionally choose to carry the channel), is aimed at teenagers and young adults between 15 and 34 years of age.<ref>{{cite news|title=ABC Spark launches in Canada|url=https://variety.com/2011/tv/news/abc-spark-launches-in-canada-1118045086/|author=Jennie Punter|website=Variety|publisher=Penske Media Corporation|date=October 26, 2011|access-date=December 11, 2017|archive-date=June 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170619220422/http://variety.com/2011/tv/news/abc-spark-launches-in-canada-1118045086/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The ABC Spark name was purposefully chosen to avoid conflicts with [[pay television|premium service]] [[Family Channel (Canadian TV network)|Family Channel]]. Before the exclusive Canadian television rights to their programming formally transferred to Corus in January 2016 (through a broader deal struck in April 2015 that involved the launches of domestic English and [[French language]] versions of [[Disney Channel (Canada)|the]] [[Disney Junior (Canada)|three]] [[Disney XD (Canada)|channels]] as sisters to ABC Spark), Family maintained a licensing agreement with [[Disney Channels Worldwide]] that gave it territorial rights to the programming libraries of Disney Channel, [[Disney Junior]] (as well as its predecessor preschool programming block, [[Playhouse Disney]]), and [[Disney XD]] ([[Allarcom]] and [[The Movie Network|First Choice]] first proposed the "Family Channel" name for the Canadian service in 1987, and jointly launched it in September 1988, one month after the American channel changed its name to The CBN Family Channel).<ref name="corus-pr">{{cite press release|title=Corus Entertainment and Disney/ABC Television Group Join Forces in Landmark Licensing Agreement|url=http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1518997/corus-entertainment-and-disney-abc-television-group-join-forces-in-landmark-licensing-agreement|agency=[[Canada Newswire]]|publisher=Corus Entertainment|date=April 16, 2015|access-date=April 17, 2015|archive-date=April 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417062006/http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1518997/corus-entertainment-and-disney-abc-television-group-join-forces-in-landmark-licensing-agreement|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="fp-corusdisney">{{cite news|title=Corus Entertainment snaps up Disney content from DHX Media, plans to launch Disney channel in Canada|url=http://business.financialpost.com/fp-tech-desk/corus-entertainment-secures-rights-to-disney-channel-content-in-canada?__lsa=0f27-3aec|newspaper=[[Financial Post]]|publisher=[[Postmedia Network]]|date=April 16, 2015|access-date=April 17, 2015|archive-date=April 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417055718/http://business.financialpost.com/fp-tech-desk/corus-entertainment-secures-rights-to-disney-channel-content-in-canada?__lsa=0f27-3aec|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=ksn>{{cite news|title=DHX TV reveals fall skeds for rebranded channels|url=http://kidscreen.com/2015/08/21/dhx-tv-reveals-fall-skeds-for-rebranded-channels/|author=Jeremy Dickson|website=KidScreen|date=August 21, 2015|access-date=August 21, 2015|archive-date=August 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150823041353/http://kidscreen.com/2015/08/21/dhx-tv-reveals-fall-skeds-for-rebranded-channels/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Decision CRTC 87-905|url=http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1987/DB87-905.htm|publisher=[[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]]|date=December 1, 1987|access-date=June 15, 2013|archive-date=July 8, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708020007/http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1987/DB87-905.HTM|url-status=live}}</ref>

While ABC Spark did not follow the lead of its U.S. counterpart and change its name to Freeform, it did adopt similar branding elements.

====The Family Channel/Challenge (U.K.)====
{{main|Challenge (TV channel)}}
In 1993, International Family Entertainment, in partnership with [[Living TV Group|Flextech]], launched an international version of The Family Channel in the [[United Kingdom]],<ref>{{cite news|title=UK media group Flextech. (invests in UK Family Channel) (Brief Article)|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-13966243.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026130142/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-13966243.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 26, 2012|website=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=Cahners Business Information|date=June 7, 1993|access-date=January 18, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Robertson wins TVS|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=January 23, 1993}}</ref> featuring a mix of original family-oriented programming, reruns of American series and programming from the [[MTM Enterprises]]/[[Television South|TVS]] library. In April 1996, International Family Entertainment sold its 61% controlling interest to Flextech,<ref>{{cite web|title=Buy-up strategy covers all exits|url=http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/buy-up-strategy-covers-all-exits/2037326.article|periodical=[[Marketing Week]]|publisher=[[Centaur Media|Centaur Communications]]|date=April 5, 1996|access-date=January 18, 2015|archive-date=October 17, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017053413/http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/buy-up-strategy-covers-all-exits/2037326.article|url-status=live}}</ref> giving that company full control of the channel.<ref>{{cite web|title=International Family Entertainment Agrees To Consolidate The Family Channel Uk Into Flextech Plc.|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/INTERNATIONAL+FAMILY+ENTERTAINMENT+AGREES+TO+CONSOLIDATE+THE+FAMILY...-a018107792|agency=[[Business Wire]]|via=[[The Free Library]]|date=March 20, 1996|access-date=January 18, 2015|archive-date=January 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118232705/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/INTERNATIONAL+FAMILY+ENTERTAINMENT+AGREES+TO+CONSOLIDATE+THE+FAMILY...-a018107792|url-status=live}}</ref> On February 3, 1997, the network was relaunched as '''Challenge TV''', which changed the network's primary focus to [[game show]]s.