ABC1 (British and Irish TV channel)

For other uses, see ABC1 (British and Irish TV channel) (disambiguation).

ABC1

Ownership
Owner	Disney-ABC Television Group

ABC1 was a United Kingdom based television channel from Disney utilizing the branding of the Disney owned American network, ABC.

The channel initially launched exclusively on the British digital terrestrial television platform Freeview on September 27, 2004. On December 10 2004 it was launched on Telewest's digital cable service, and soon afterwards on the NTL digital cable service. On August 30, 2005, ABC1 was launched on the Sky Digital satellite platform. The channel was encrypted as part of the basic Sky package, and therefore was not free-to-air, in contrast to its unencrypted status on Freeview and cable television. In October 2005, ABC1 was carried on the NTL Ireland digital TV platform. On September 26 2007 at around 12 noon, ABC1 ceased transmission on all UK television platforms (Freeview, satellite and cable), one day shy of three years since it first started broadcasting.

Programming

The schedule consisted entirely of American drama and comedy. The channel generally made use of the ABC Television Studio back-catalogue. Programmes were mainly from the ABC network, such as Sports Night. It broadcasted Ellen, the 90s sitcom by comedian Ellen DeGeneres and the Geena Davis sitcom The Geena Davis Show. Some of its programmes such as 8 Simple Rules, Daddio and Home Improvement were also seen in the UK on Disney Channel, but were later moved over completely to ABC1, when it started airing on Sky Digital, to coincide with the full cartoon evenings.

On February 28 and March 1, 2005, the network shook up its schedule by introducing two major new comedies, Hope and Faith and Less Than Perfect to sandwich around the big ratings success of 8 Simple Rules. On May 31 the channel introduced Rodney to its schedule at 4pm weekdays and from the July 4 ABC1 began to air Scrubs, which is also seen on other UK channels, E4, Channel 4, Sky One and Paramount Comedy 1.

For the first year after launching ABC1 broadcast from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm only. Commencing 26 September 2005, the channel broadcast 24 hours a day on Sky Digital and NTL (now Virgin Media) services. However, the channel did not go 24-hours on the Telewest (now also Virgin Media) digital cable service until 21 October 2005, and remained a 12 hour service on Freeview due to space restrictions on the platform. It is known that Disney would have liked the channel to go 24 hours on Freeview to boost its audience share in the evenings. NTL Ireland carried ABC1 24-hours, but for unknown reasons (a problem at ABC1, according to NTL) the guide reported "Channel Off Air" at 6:00 pm every day .

ABC1 added US drama Kevin Hill to its schedule on 26 September 2005 as well as the second seasons of Less Than Perfect and Sports Night towards the end of the year . 8 Simple Rules Season 3 was shown in March 2006, followed by Commander In Chief, and The Guardian, which joined the channel in April 2006.

File:8simplerulesxmas.JPG

A screenshot of the show 8 Simple Rules, note the second circle of the logo is gold because of Christmas idents, the usual year round colour was grey except for Valentines Day when the second circle was pink

On June 5 2006, ABC1 introduced a block of programming from Playhouse Disney, including Higglytown Heroes, JoJo's Circus and Stanley. In July 2006, ABC1 started to air the second season of Scrubs and cult 90s drama Party of Five. In August more new programming was made available from ABC1 from the likes of Rodney season 2 and a change in the schedule for Playhouse Disney on ABC1 with the addition of Little Einsteins.

As of August 2006, all drama programming had been removed and the channel consisted of back to back sitcoms, though some drama programming did come back in 2007. In September 2006 Hope and Faith season 3 started and broadcasting every Thursday in double bills from 9:00 pm. Season 3 of Less Than Perfect also started in October.

ABC1 was keen for its viewers to be able to see all of its programming on offer, and many programmes that premièred on the channel during non-Freeview hours were repeated at another time when the channel was available on Freeview (exceptions to this were The Guardian due to its subject matter, Ghost Whisperer and In Justice; although promotions for these programmes would air during the day whilst the channel was available on Freeview). It was also the only channel to time its running schedule so that Freeview viewers did not crash in and out of programmes at the 6:00 am/6:00 pm junctions.

The vast majority of shows shown on ABC1 had ended, with only two shows still in production, Ghost Whisperer and Scrubs (although ABC1 did not have the rights to later seasons of Scrubs and only the right for series 1 of Ghost Whisperer.)

Commercial placement

Unlike most UK broadcasters, for its first six months ABC1 did not carry any commercials. However, it did have full-length ad-style breaks featuring trailers for its own shows and those of the Disney Channel.

On ABC1, the advertising slots were placed in the American style of being close to the beginning and end of the programme, unlike the European fashion of between programmes and in the middle. The American style usually has the adverts at approximately 5, 15, 25, 35, 45 and 55 minutes past the hour as opposed to the standard European style of 0, 15, 30 and 45 minutes past, although ABC1 often did without the breaks at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour. The exact placing of adverts varied from show to show and from episode to episode and could be anything from half a minute to eight minutes before or after the beginning and end of a show. On ABC1, hour-length programmes (such as Commander In Chief) were often split into just three parts with the two ad-slots either end of the programme and the third roughly at the halfway point. ABC1 breaks were considerably longer than is customary in the UK due to the shortening of American TV series which has been ongoing for decades, as of 2007 the average American sitcom runs at 20 minutes while the average Drama runs at 40 minutes, ABC1 often filled long breaks with bumpers and promotions of its own, or Disney Channel UK's, programming. http://www.abc1tv.co.uk/close.jsp

Closedown

It was announced on 7 September 2007 that ABC1 will cease broadcasting on all UK TV platforms, due to a failure of agreement for increasing its broadcasting hours on Freeview. ABC1 closed down on all UK TV platforms at midday, September 26 2007, even though it was scheduled to cease transmission on October 1 2007.

It is as yet unknown what channel will replace its current 12 hour slot on Freeview.

ABC1 was removed from the Sky EPG slot channel 170 at 12:04:28 pm. The channel was also removed from the Freeview platform 18.3 seconds later. On Virgin Media a screen informing of the close down is showing on the old abc1 channel 161.

The ABC1 website, has the following quote:

We regretfully announce that Walt Disney Television will no longer be transmitting abc1 on any of the UK TV platforms (Freeview, cable or satellite) after September 2007. Walt Disney Television would like to thank its viewers for watching the channel and interacting with the website. It's been a great few years and we appreciate your viewership.

The final 'nail in the coffin' for ABC1 was evidenced by the fact that its broadcasting label on Sky (which is seen when manually adding channels) 10.862, H, 22.00, 5/6, under ident 9010, now been relabelled "Play Disney +" is now airing a timeshifted version of Playhouse Disney, a channel which launched Tuesday 30th October 2007 on Sky 612, on the same day that all the Disney Channels were reshuffled to allow Playhouse Disney & Playhouse Disney + to be next to each other on the Sky EPG.

Petitions to the closure

A major petition site was set up on google pages before the closure to campaign to Disney to keep the channel broadcasting , the site includes a link to a petition on petitiononline.com, a youtube video about the closing, several groups on Facebook, Myspace and Yahoo Groups and an effort called 'Bombard Disney day' which happened on the 16th October in which many people sent a mass letter to various email accounts of ABC and Disney UK. The site has closed but still retails a holding page saying

THANKS FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION AND INTEREST IN THIS CAMPAIGN.

AFTER 35 DAYS OF CAMPAIGNING, WALT DISNEY TELEVISION HAVE NOT LISTENED TO US OR EVEN TAKEN NOTICE OF OUR CAMPAIGN. THEY HAVE ALSO SAID THAT THEY HAVE NO PLANS TO BRING BACK ABC1 TO THE UK.

UNFORTUNATELY WE HAVE TO COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT ABC1 IS NOT COMING BACK, SO FROM 15/10/07 THIS CAMPAIGN IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS FOR CAMPAIGNING!

As of 04 November 2007, there are 1544 signatures on petitiononline.com to bring back ABC1 however the petition has closed and the only other petition available is on Care2: the petition site which so far has only managed to gain 250 signatures and needs at least 1000 by 2008.

Programmes that were shown on ABC1

At time of closing

• Scrubs (NBC) (ABC Studios) - (Also shown on E4, Channel 4, Sky One and Paramount Comedy 1)*
• 8 Simple Rules (ABC) (ABC Studios) - (Currently broadcasting on Five)
• Ellen (ABC) (ABC Studios)
• Hope & Faith (ABC) (ABC Studios)
• Less Than Perfect (ABC) (ABC Studios) - (Also shown on Paramount Comedy 1)
• The Geena Davis Show (ABC) (ABC Studios)
• Home Improvement (ABC) (ABC Studios)
• Rodney (ABC) (ABC Studios)
• Ghost Whisperer (CBS) (ABC Studios, CBS Paramount Television) - (Also shown on E4 and Living)
• In Justice (ABC) (ABC Studios)

Playhouse Disney on ABC1

• Stanley
• JoJo's Circus
• Higglytown Heroes
• The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Little Einsteins
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Cancelled before closure

• The Sinbad Show (FOX) (Sony Pictures Television)
• Kevin Hill (UPN) (ABC Studios)
• Moonlighting (ABC) (ABC Circle Films) (now ABC Studios)
• Once and Again (ABC) (ABC Studios)
• Sports Night (ABC) (ABC Studios)
• Commander in Chief (ABC) (ABC Studios)
• The Guardian (CBS) (Sony Pictures Television)
• Daddio (NBC) (ABC Studios)
• Party of Five (FOX) (Sony Pictures Television)
• Mad About You (NBC) (Sony Pictures Television) - (Also shown on Living)
• Brotherly Love (NBC)
• Empty Nest (TV series) (NBC)
• Nurses (TV series) (NBC)
• Unhappily Ever After (The WB)
• Soul Man (TV series)
• Thunder Alley
• General Hospital
• Wild Rules
• Beg, Borrow and Deal

See also

• ESPN Classic (UK)
• NASN

External links

• Official site (Holding Page)
• Official Website (The Old ABC1 Website Still Online With Full Content)