Family Channel

World Screen Weekly, September 13, 2007

COUNTRY: Canada

LAUNCH DATE: September 1, 1988

OWNERSHIP: Astral Media

DISTRIBUTION: 5.4 million subscribers

DESCRIPTION: With the tagline “never a dull moment,” Family Channel is a commercial-free network that aims to offer the best in family entertainment. The channel airs a mix of animated and live-action series, movies and specials targeted primarily at tweens aged 8 to 14, with a large portion of the programming supplied from the Disney Channel. Family Channel’s other main programming source is Canadian commissions.

VP & GENERAL MANAGER, FAMILY CHANNEL: Joe Tedesco

SENIOR VP, PROGRAMMING,

ASTRAL TELEVISION NETWORKS: Kevin Wright

SENIOR VP, MARKETING & SALES,

ASTRAL TELEVISION NETWORKS: Domenic Vivolo

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: In its early days, Family Channel skewed younger than it does today, with a target audience of 2- to 6-year-olds. “We had a lot of preschool programming and we also carried a lot of classic movies, so I think that at that time, we were more [for] preschoolers and their grandparents,” says Kevin Wright, the senior VP of programming at Astral Television Networks.

Over the years, the channel has shifted its core demographic to 8- to 14-year-olds. “We rebranded the service in 1999 and gave it a much more focused appeal on tweens,” says Wright.

The network discovered that 8- to 14-year-olds—a group the channel also refers to as “middle-aged kids”—were drawn to live-action series. “What we found is that the kind of programming that seems to resonate—at least for our audience—is humor-based live-action programs,” observes Wright.

In fact, the channel’s top-rated show is the Disney Channel live-action series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Top-performing shows on the schedule also include other live-action series such as Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana, the original Canadian commission Life with Derek from Shaftesbury Films and acquisitions like Nickelodeon’s Zoey 101.

About 60 percent of the Family Channel grid is supplied by a Disney Channel output deal, and 30 percent is original Canadian fare. “The only time we play library or repeat programming is in our movie slots, which is a fairly small percentage of our overall schedule,” notes Wright.

From 9 a.m. to noon, Family Channel caters its schedule to 2- to 5-year-olds, with a preschool block that airs the new Disney series My Friends Tigger & Pooh, the CGI-animated Mickey Mouse’s Clubhouse, and the DECODE Entertainment commission Franny’s Feet, among other offerings. As the day progresses, Wright says the channel ages up its programming, and “hits full-stride” in the afternoons for it’s Mad Dash after-school block, which features animated series like The Emperor’s New School and Kim Possible. Then at 6 p.m. on weekdays, the channel has a Non-Stop block that targets the tween set with live-action series like Hannah Montana.

While the channel does a four-day prime-time strip Monday through Thursday, it offers viewers different fare on Fridays. “We look at [Friday] as almost part of the weekend,” says Wright. For example, starting from 7:30 p.m., the channel will air a Popcorn Pix block that highlights a movie targeted to its prime demographic of 8- to 14-year-olds and their families, such as Disney Channel’s High School Musical.

Family Channel also employs a different approach for its weekend schedule, opting to air primarily live-action programming like Zoey 101 on Saturday and Sunday mornings. “That’s done very well [in time slots] where animation has traditionally played for kids,” says Wright.

The emphasis on “middle-aged kids” is a strategy that seems to have paid off for the Family Channel. “We’ve been very well received by our audiences, and in fact, compared to other networks, including conventional networks, we’re number-one with kids aged 8 to 14 and teens 12 to 17,” says Wright.

WHAT’S NEW: Family Channel will be rolling out a number of new series over the next several months, including the Disney Channel show The Wizards of Waverly Place this October to coincide with Halloween. “We try to synchronize the launch of new shows with events in kids’ lives,” explains Wright. The Disney animated series Phineas and Ferb, in which Ashley Tisdale (High School Musical, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) voices one of the characters, makes its debut in January 2008. Wright is also excited about DECODE’s new live-action Canadian comedy The Latest Buzz, which will air in March 2008.

In the interactive space, Wright says that the channel has a “very popular” games area on its website and is actively working on expanding its online content. “Our website is a phenomenal place to provide tweens with a bit of hands-on interaction with the brand,” says Wright. “We recently launched a broadband player where kids can sample short- and long-form programming. We actually did a tease of the new season of Life with Derek, which we played first online—it did very well for us.”

WEBSITE: Family.ca

—By Irene Lew