Here’s Why Freeform Is Still Stuck With ‘The 700 Club’
Viewers watching Freeform (previously ABC Family) at 11/10c encounter one of TV’s most jarring program transitions. That’s when the network flips from edgy, young fare — such as, in the past Pretty Little Liars, The Fosters, and Shadowhunters — to the televangelism of The 700 Club’s Pat Robertson.
It’s TV whiplash, and even after ABC Family changed its name to Freeform in 2016, there was little the network and parent Disney/ABC could do about it.
“They don’t promote it, they don’t lead up to it,” one insider said of how Disney/ABC deals with 700 Club. “It’s just this little island. They treat it like an infomercial.”
ABC Family/Freeform began in 1977 as CBN, part of Robertson’s religious mission. By the late 1980s, the channel had gone mainstream and adopted the name The Family Channel. The network became too profitable to remain a part of Robertson’s nonprofit CBN, and was spun off in 1990 as International Family Entertainment.
At the same time, CBN and IFE struck a deal to keep The 700 Club on the network in desirable time slots. Robertson sold the Family Channel to Fox Kids in 1997, keeping the stipulation that CBN can program The 700 Club on the channel, no matter its name, in perpetuity.
When Disney/ABC bought Fox Family Channel for $5.3 billion in 2001, it too was saddled with that agreement. The deal says The 700 Club can’t be buried in the middle of the night, but must air during certain dayparts.
The 700 Club airs in the morning at 9/8c and nightly at 11/10c. That late night slot, in particular, has become a desirable time period for cable networks — but with The 700 Club there, it prevents Freeform from developing a late night franchise.
“We all thought as time would go by, we could eventually get rid of the show,” said one insider familiar with the transactions. “We thought we could negotiate it and give him a lot of money. But that was never [Robertson’s] intention. The language is ironclad. I don’t know what it would take at this point to get rid of it.
“As far as Pat Robertson and his son, they are there for at least their lives, or as long as they wanted 700 Club to exist,” the source added. “At a certain point we decided, it is what it is, and we were going to ignore it.”
According to insiders, Disney has approached Robertson in the past about buying him out and removing 700 Club from the lineup. But the price he was requesting is astronomical. One of CBN’s tax audits claimed that its airtime on ABC Family/Freeform was worth $42.4 million annually. CBN pays Disney/ABC around $1.2 million a year to cover the direct costs incurred by ABC Family for giving up the program time.
A nonprofit religious organization, CBN’s total assets are worth more than $320 million. “It’s shocking how much money they make off that show,” said one insider. “They are tough, shrewd businessmen.”
For Disney, the bigger internal debate was whether to give up the word “family” from the channel’s name. Contrary to popular belief, there was no stipulation from Robertson that “family” had to remain in the name.
“That is a bold move,” an industry observer said of the change to “Freeform.” “They’ve abdicated the word ‘family.’ But the channel name ABC Family didn’t reflect the demo they wanted.”
Meanwhile, that means Freeform viewers of returning shows like Good Trouble and Single Drunk Female will also still run into The 700 Club.
“Despite the name and the programming changes, something CBN has no control over, the CBN contract remains in place and The 700 Club will continue to be broadcast on the channel in the same time periods,” said CBN spokesman Chris Roslan.
When asked in 2016 about whether The 700 Club might finally move out of the 11/10c slot, Freeform president Tom Ascheim admitted that the show was “holding steady” in his slot. “He seems fond of it,” Ascheim said. “It pre-dates our particular choices here.”
A 2001 New York Times story pointed out how Robertson has in the past denounced Disney. But even back then, sources told the newspaper that there was no “easy resolution” to removing 700 Club from ABC Family — and so it has persisted, all these years later.
“The 700 Club will continue to air on Freeform,” the network said in a statement. “It was part of a longstanding agreement that was made when Disney first acquired the network.”
That will continue to make for strange bedfellows. While Freeforrm series address certain issues, such as same-sex marriages, The 700 Club’s viewpoint is often wildly divergent and on the other end of the social and political spectrum.
“While The 700 Club may not be reflective of the new programming, it continues to bring in a big audience for the network, with upwards of a million viewers,” Roslan said. “The 700 Club will continue to air now and in perpetuity on the network, no matter what the name.”
Conversation76 Comments
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Comments are closed on this story.
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Could they air it like "Mystery Science Theater", with animated commentators?
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Wouldn't be likely since it's you soul in danger! It's real and even science is providing what we Already KNOW...
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Don’t confuse Pat Robertson’s actions and beliefs with what Jesus taught.
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Joy we may all need jesus. But we sure as hell dont need pat robertson. Or his twisted view on how to find him.
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Confusion is damaging to yourself. The BIBLE is very clear, We ACTUALLY NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE PAT ROBERTSON!!!!
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We all need Jesus.
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No! Just the ignorant and gullible.
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YOU need fake Jesus. Get a life.
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Amen
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Who hurt you?
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Sheesh. I thought that show would have died already. Just shows how ignorance and hateful rhetoric continues to draw in the scummiest people around... just like a particular orange faced individual we know.
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We all need Lord Jesus.
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You need a crutch and a reason to hate others of different colors and lifestyles. It's sad you are so weak. We all die and that is that. Get over it.
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Uhm you seem quite familiar with hatred and ignorance!!!
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It's not comfortable when you are faced with your sins and wrongdoings. Truth can hurt when you have be so deceived. The Orange face will be reelected AGAIN and TAKE back what Stupidity has tried to abolish!!!
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After Orlando, declare him unfit to broadcast for advocating killing.
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He doesn't advocate killing. He shares how to be free in Christ.
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Were does it say that your free in Christ? I'm betting you can not find it anywhere not this type of wording! Your making up words that he and others like him have drilled into your head, best to leave organized religion alone and read the Bible by yourself as Jesus said my Father is not in a temple (building) of Fake Faith!
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Tomahto, Tomato
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THIS is why you prove to be mentally ill. You hear what YOU want to hear. Pat is a sick angry old man. There is no god and it's too bad there is no way to prove something that doesn't exist.
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There is, actually.
It depends upon how counter-Patty are you, though.
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“The left is having a dilemma of major proportions and I think for those of us who disagree with some of their policies, the best thing to do is to sit on the sidelines and let them kill themselves,” - Pat Robertson
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Now that's a sinful thing to say! WWJS? what would Jesus say? He turned over the money changing table's because it was a sham for making money and actually laundering money because they changed the currency! Organized Religion is the biggest sin known to Man, and as Jesus said Religion is Man made! My Father is of Spirit! save your eternal soul and stop bringing politics into Religion, it's what got Christ murdered!
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You're the one who sounds insane.
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Does ABC have the right to bombard the relevant time slots with "inappropriate" promos and advertising? That ought to enlist the 700 Club viewership to revolt. They should try that for a year and see if it gets them off the good night time slots at least. Every time they break for an ad it should be something the bible-thumpers would find vulgar - really pushing the limits of what US television can say and show.
Basically it's the reverse of what places like 7-11 did to drive away teens from loitering in their stores and parking lots. They played stuff like Pat Boone and other crooners non-stop. I bet many 700 Club viewers will not be able to hit that mute button fast enough and the imagery will be deplorable to them as well. Maybe some hairy biker dudes french kissing... that kind of thing.
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You meant red-band OAPs which won't make them any money but count towards marketing expenditure and mayhaps, just mayhaps, those classic GoDaddy® and PETA® adverts — eh?
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We need a PLL & 700 Club crossover show!
Pat can pray that Aria's former teacher and sometimes boyfriend doesn't creep on jailbait and that he and Aria fall back in love now that she is over 18.
Pat can pray the gay away and Allison will no longer have confusing feels toward her BFF Emily!
Pat can also go to Ravenswood and cleanse that foul place of both bad TV making and Mrs. Grunwald. Srsly she scares me.
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Make a deal with Penthouse or one of the more hardcore Adult Entertainment channels to buy the station for, say, one to two years. That might do it.
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So.. Like a lease to them? That would invite complications of their own.
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Pat Robertson is a TERRORIST and calls for the death of lgbtq people's his message is nothing more than a terroristic threat he should be incarcerated tortured and treated as such the fact that ABC family chooses to continually air this propaganda and Terrorist message means I can no in good conscience watch any show produced by an shown on the ABC family network.
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He doesn't call for the death of anyone. He shares how to be free in Christ.
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His greed not so much.
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You sure believe that huh? Pat Robinson is a notorious hate monger who has publicly denounced the lgbt community, place all blame of the pulse incident on their lifestyle, and even goes so far as to put in quite a pretty penny in eliminating the lgbt community.
He is a con artist the plays on people's emotions. Classic pathos manipulation, which he and a lot of faith healers have done.
How can you say he is telling people how they are to be free with Christ when he out placing blame for stuff that he pulls completely out of his bum?
He only gave up his channel to avoid paying taxes. He so tightly placed his show on there that he continues make money on his cash cow that he literally pay nothing for because there are people who sheepishly fall for his false hope.
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I listen to Pat Robertson. He says it takes repentance. If he mentions death, he's talking about dying to our sin and being free in Christ. We do have to die, we have to die to our sins OR we die IN our sins.
Romans 6:1-14
Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
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Stop misquoting the Holy word & reading from different authors so that you can make it sound like it's what Jesus said! Southern preaching is known for this sham of preaching! Sounds like you're at a auction! Well you are it's not art but he's selling supposed 1 way tickets upstairs!
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You have mental problems Joy.
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Brainwashed Fool. All these "so-called" preachers do is HATE what they think is against their Comic Book (bible).
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Ouch!
You're a counter-radical.
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Judgement day is coming soon.
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...And the likes of Patty shall be the first in line!
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Also, his name is satan. Show some respect!
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The word is common sense, but yeah, keep pretending you have ANY sense.
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Yes. Sexist, racist, control freak and terrible to work for. Definitely need more of this in the world.
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Love the 700 club and don’t need a warning before watching it but sure need it before some of the other programs with vulgar language and topics that no child should hear or see!
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"Joy", are you a radical terrorist and expert in sock-puppetry?
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What if they still don't play ball?
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Pam, settle down.
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Have you Read what JESUS taught??? Doesn't appear that you have!
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Untrue
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Do 500 million then lol.
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Tell me EXACTLY what Pat taught that wasn't Biblical?
The 700 Club is a Wonderful program
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Love the 700 Club!! We need more positive guidence, people need hope when they are lost and hurting. Freefome Is Not productive in ANY aspect! Who wants deception, lies and destroying your body to be their source of entertainment? How does this help anyone?
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Explain just exactly you mean by this?!
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I think Freeform is not "stuck" with The 700 Club but blessed to have the opportunity to have The 700 Club in their lineup.
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Sorry to see here the hurt you've been through, To give such thoughts from your heart thru your mouth, we still pray for you & your family
Paul and Carol
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If more MEN where of his Integrity OUR NATION WOULD NOT BE IN THE SHAPE WE ARE IN!!!
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Yeah, stop watching if you must. Shame you have such vile thoughts. We pray for you, regardless if you "see" the need of Christians praying for you & your family. May you & your family be blessed!
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I also love the 700 Club and watch it every day. News and Christian inspiration everyday that is refreshing and inspirational!!!
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Shutter the station!
Relaunch the network on a new FCC licence.
Unless, of course..
Just like CNN®'s Warner Bros®, the ratings from Christofascist audiences is too good to ignore.
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Welp..
SHEDDING RETROACTIVITY: Turns out, it may not be that easy, in the years since that comment's timeline( based on the post's own) while one commenter on a queer blog dubbed West Wing Best Wing echoed the same solution quite cynically..
...A redditor pointed out how many oh-so-righteous linear TV platform providers have hassled TWDC for new stations. And my own prior original-research confirms that they have hassled them for lower-rated existing cablers. This, in light of Patty croaking himself off this Earth!
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Then stop 🛑 watching! You are the Demon !
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Buy out for say a billion, and you should be good IMO.
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silly trolls.
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Make CBN report to the IRS, firstly!
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Jesus would like you to think about any further insults I imagine. If you need to be hateful, you can be forgiven if you are a Christian; however you are not forgiven if you are not a Christian. The 700 Club is worthwhile! You might consider praying to Christ to let you know how to proceed--even if you are not a Christian. A Real Miracle might ensue! You might begin to understand what the 700 Club is talking about!
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The 700 club is Fox entertainment media company and ABC purchased the Fox family channel! FOX Misinformation is not fact based because it doesn't have a news license it only has a entertainment media license! End of subject! There are authentic preachers or Ministries on TV and unfortunately the 700 club isn't one of them!
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I heard Pat got a tiny one
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Its disturbing reading this article the hatred and disgust toward this Christian show abd ministry that millions of Americans have loved for years. You mentioned the millions of dollars they "make" as if they're stealing from people. They do an incredible amount of good in helping people here and abroad....Operation Blessing is just one of many ministries they provide. The hatred is blaring on your part and just reminds me of the day and age we're living in.
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GLAD he does!! We need more voices of Good Commen Sence! Sad to see how many people have become puppets for satin....
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It’s quite disturbing how horrible Disney has become since the Disney family lost control when Roy Disney, Jr. passed away. Walt Disney was a Conservative Presbyterian man and if he could see this horrible channel Freeform and all of the destruction Disney has done to his parks in quite sure he’d be very upset and take back control in a heartbeat l.
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That's FFFFed up. Need more 700 club
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You sure are exhibiting the hypocrisy of televangelists bazillionaires like Patty. Repent!
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I second that! Walt Disney would have too! He was even against anything but marriage between a man and a woman.
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I love 700 Club
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I can’t believe the political brainwashing that goes on daily by Pat Robinson. He continually props up Donald Trump the most vile president ever elected. Today he went on a rant about Sanders and everything he said was exaggerated beyond believe and was not based in any facts. It was stated as though the world would end, old people would die in the streets, etc. etc. I can’t watch him one more time. He’s the antithesis of Christianity.
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I watch the 700 Club on Freeform and try to turn the channel as soon as it’s over to avoid the Motherland commercial that always comes on immediately afterwards. I’m disappointed to know that Disney is so anti Christian and wants to be sure everyone knows it. Really didn’t expect this from a company that we think of as more innocent, pro family and children.
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