ABC1 (British and Irish TV channel)

This article is about a defunct British television channel. For a grouping of social grades in the United Kingdom, see NRS social grade. For other uses, see ABC1 (disambiguation).

ABC1 was a television channel owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company (50%) and Sky plc (50%), available to the viewers in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. ABC1 used the branding of the Disney-owned American network, ABC.

ABC1

Programming
Picture format	576i (4:3 SDTV)
Ownership
Owner	Disney–ABC Television Group (50%) Sky plc (50%)
History
Launched	27 September 2004; 20 years ago (2004-09-27)
Closed	26 September 2007; 17 years ago (2007-09-26)
Replaced by	Playhouse Disney + (Sky) Sky Arts
Links
Website	www.abc1tv.co.uk (archive)
Availability (at time of closure)
Terrestrial
Freeview	Channel 15 (except Wales) (06:00 - 18:00)

The channel had general entertainment programming with programming from the US parent channel, apart from the weekend morning programming block Playhouse Disney, which was aimed at children and also aired on Disney Channel in the United States of America.^[1][2]

History

ABC1 channel initially launched exclusively on the British digital terrestrial television platform Freeview on 27 September 2004 but it only broadcast daily from 6am to 6pm^[2] with the expectations to eventually broadcast 24/7 by 2010. The channel was not available on Freeview in Wales as the space on multiplex A was taken by S4C. The channel was ad-free for the first few months to build up viewers.^[3][4] In December 2004, it was expanded on Telewest's digital cable service,^[5] and on 14 December on the NTL digital cable service.^[6]

In March 2005, ABC1 took its first advertisement from Procter and Gamble.^[7] Unlike other channels in the UK and Ireland with advertisements generically every 15 minutes, ABC1's advertisement breaks were similar to channels in the US, with advertisements being run straight after a show's title sequence and before the end credits, with no further advertisement breaks during a show or between shows. Also in 2005, Sky started carrying the channel.^[8] In Summer 2006, a Playhouse Disney block was added to the schedule in the morning.^[1]

It was announced on 7 September 2007, that ABC1 would close down, due to Disney deciding to concentrate on their other channels and lack of primetime availability on Freeview UK.^[9] Despite being scheduled to close down on 1 October 2007, ABC1 stopped broadcasting early on all UK and Republic of Ireland TV platforms at noon on 26 September 2007 after three years on-air. The channel was removed from the EPGs immediately afterwards.

On 30 October 2007, the channel's former Sky EPG slot was replaced with Playhouse Disney +, a 25-minute timeshift service of Playhouse Disney.

Former Programming

• 8 Simple Rules^[10]
• America's Funniest Home Videos (Seasons 6-8)^[11]
• Brotherly Love
• Commander in Chief
• Daddio
• Ellen
• Empty Nest
• Family Matters^[11]
• Full House^[10]
• The Geena Davis Show
• General Hospital^[12]
• Ghost Whisperer^[13]
• George Lopez^[12]
• The Guardian
• Higglytown Heroes
• Home Improvement^[11]
• Hope & Faith^[10]
• In Justice
• Jojo's Circus
• Kevin Hill^[10]
• Less than Perfect^[10]
• Mad About You
• Moonlighting^[11]
• My Wife & Kids^[10]
• The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Nurses
• Once and Again^[12]
• Party of Five
• Rodney^[11]
• Sabrina the Teenage Witch^[13]
• Scrubs
• The Sinbad Show
• Sports Night
• Stanley
• Step by Step^[12]
• Unhappily Ever After

References

1. Stewart, Lianne (1 April 2006). "New kid on the U.K. Freeview block". Kidscreen. Brunico Communications Ltd. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
2. Deans, Jason (5 August 2004). "ABC spells out plans for Freeview channel". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
3. (5 August 2004). Disney plans Freeview TV channel. BBC News. Accessed on 19 February 2014.
4. (5 August 2004). Disney plans ad-free start for new channel. BroadcastNow.co.uk. Accessed on 19 February 2014.
5. (7 December 2004). ABC1 expands on to UK cable. C21 Media. Accessed on 19 February 2014.
6. Shelley, Darren (14 December 2004). "ABC1 comes to ntl". digitalspy.com. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
7. "ABC1 takes first ads". Broadcast Now. 24 March 2005. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
8. Welsh, James (26 September 2007). "Disney pulls plug on ABC1". Digital Spy. Retrieved 26 September 2007.
9. "Disney closes U.K.'s ABC1". Variety. 10 September 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
10. "ABC1". Archived from the original on 27 February 2006. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
11. "ABC1". Archived from the original on 7 April 2006. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
12. Deans, Jason (5 August 2004). "ABC spells out plans for Freeview channel". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
13. "ABC1". Archived from the original on 16 January 2007. Retrieved 31 January 2021.

External links

• Official site (archived)