ABC Entertainment Channel To Launch Without Commercials
Disney’s ABC Television Network in the United States is making its first foray into UK broadcasting with launch of a new daytime channel called ABC1 on the Freeview platform.
The new general entertainment channel will initially broadcast twelve hours a day from 6am and will screen programmes sourced entirely from Disney’s ABC Network in the US including the award winning General Hospital and Sports Night from the creators of West Wing.
The channel will be totally free from advertising when it launches on 27 September and Disney is thought to have raised enough money to sustain the project unaided until next March, in an attempt to encourage as many viewers as possible.
Adverts will eventually be sold on the service and may be handled by a dedicated ABC1 sales house, which would seek to leverage the channel’s target audience of ‘people who are busy at home during the day’. Disney’s aim is for ABC1 to become one of the UK’s top ten commercial offerings.
The launch will be overseen by John Hardie, Disney’s senior vice president and managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Hardie is a former marketing and commercial director at ITV and was managing director for Proctor & Gamble’s cosmetics and toiletries divisions in Europe.
Commenting on the launch, Hardie said: “Our objective is to become a top ten commercial channel in the UK. When we are there, we will consider moving on to the next stage. The Walt Disney Company is incredibly serious about this new channel. It would have given its the ABC name if it wasn’t.”
It is understood that Disney wants ABC1 to be broadcast 24 hours-a-day by the end of the decade. It will also look to extend the channel to other platforms as its success grows.
Earlier this year it was revealed that ESPN, which is also owned by The Walt Disney Company, is holding talks with BSkyB about launching a special version of its 24-hour sports channel in the UK. Rival Fox International also recently announced plans to launch its youth television network, Fuel, in Europe offering 13 to 24 year-old viewers a mix of extreme sport, music and entertainment (see Fox Launches Digital Channel To Fuel Youth Viewing).
ABC: www.abc.go.com
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