History Creator / Freeform

Disney planned to revamp the channel into a young-adult-aimed channel named "XYZ," but these plans were scrapped[[note]]It was said that a contractual stipulation from network founder Pat Robertson was keeping the "Family" name on the network, but these rumors were soon denied by ABC Family representatives. (the "Family" name was actually written into various contracts with other cable companies)[[/note]]. The network also has to give up a full day of programming in late January so Robertson can air his annual CBN {{Telethon}}, but these days the only thing that's lost is the usual Sunday movie marathon.

The channel eventually [[LoopholeAbuse abused a loophole]] and changed their slogan to "A new kind of family". It was pretty much ABC Family's way of saying that they may have to keep "Family" in their name, but [[NetworkDecay that wouldn't stop them from becoming a not-so-family-friendly channel]]. From then on, the channel began airing programs with sexual content and other edgy material you wouldn't normally associate with a network with "Family" in the name. Eventually, ABC Family also got actual original programming too, mainly targeting young women. The end result is something akin to being the Creator/AdultSwim to Creator/DisneyChannel... or the channel itself being "Teen Disney", the channel's answer to Creator/TeenNick (Minus the old Disney shows in it).

Freeform is [[TheArtifact still contractually obligated]] to air ''The 700 Club''. They do their damned best to make sure nobody watches it and to make everyone know they do ''not'' stand behind anything Pat Robertson has to say: they bury the show at 10AM, 11PM, and 3AM[[note]](which does give the ''CBN News'' segments potential credibility as an alternate news source against the 10AM and 11PM newscasts)[[/note]], airs commercials before it (after the closing credits of the previous show), shows a [[ContentWarnings very snarky disclaimer]] which encourages viewers to watch Freeform programming on other legit sources while completely disavowing the views expressed by the program, and remove all Freeform branding from the screen during the show's airtime. Considering the very controversial views presented by Robertson's crew and ''700'''s socially conservative demographic directly clashing with the socially progressive one Freeform aims for, the way the network [[ScrewedByTheNetwork screws it over]] is not that surprising. Despite the fact that ''700'' also airs on local stations and religious network Creator/{{TBN}}, CBN refuses to terminate Freeform's contract to air the show, much to the chagrin of Disney.

* ''Series/TrivialPursuit'' (1993-94; as The Family Channel) [[note]]Also a Wink Martindale-produced and hosted series; aired as an hour-long pair of half-hour shows: ''The Interactive Game'', where 12 (later nine) players were whittled down to three; and the "classic game" (simply called ''Trivial Pursuit''), played by the aforementioned three finalists)[[/note]]

* ''Trivial Pursuit'' (1993-94; as The Family Channel) [[note]]Also a Wink Martindale-produced and hosted series; aired as an hour-long pair of half-hour shows: ''The Interactive Game'', where 12 (later nine) players were whittled down to three; and the "classic game" (simply called ''Trivial Pursuit''), played by the aforementioned three finalists)[[/note]]

* ''Boggle: The Interactive Game'' (1994; as The Family Channel) [[note]]Along with ''Jumble'' and ''Shuffle'', one of three interactive game shows produced and hosted by [[Series/TicTacDough Wink]] [[Series/HighRollers Martindale]] and announced by [[Series/SupermarketSweep Randy West]][[/note]]

* ''Jumble: The Interactive Game'' (1994; as The Family Channel) [[note]]Along with ''Boggle'' and ''Shuffle'', one of three interactive game shows produced and hosted by [[Series/TicTacDough Wink]] [[Series/HighRollers Martindale]] and announced by [[Series/SupermarketSweep Randy West]][[/note]]

* ''Shuffle: The Interactive Game'' (1994; as The Family Channel) [[note]]Along with ''Boggle'' and ''Jumble'', one of three interactive game shows produced and hosted by [[Series/TicTacDough Wink]] [[Series/HighRollers Martindale]] and announced by [[Series/SupermarketSweep Randy West]][[/note]]

The channel is notable for two popular seasonal month-long blocks of programming, ''25 Days of Christmas'' and ''31 Days of Halloween''. The station had holiday blocks prior to Disney but were routinely of the direct-to-home variety; once Disney and its expanded, popular library and rights took over, the channel began to air more mainstream, holiday-themed movies (such as ''Film/HomeAlone'' and ''Film/TheSantaClause'') from morning through primetime every day through the first 25 days of December, providing viewers with a Christmas staple at most hours of the day (whereas other competing channels usually just offer them in the prime time block). Freeform saw such a noticeable bump in ratings that Halloween followed suit, originally starting with ''13 Days of Halloween'' and eventually expanding to ''31'' covering the entire month of October. Of note, this block was the genesis of ''Film/HocusPocus'''s revitalization amongst younger generations after a middling theatrical release in 1993; its newfound popularity both garnered it a sequel and its own 24-hour marathon during ''31 Days of Halloween''.

* ''Thursday Night Baseball'' (2000-02; as Fox Family) [[note]]moved from Fox [=SportsNet=] and shared with FX (using FSN announcers), then moved to ESPN after Disney buyout; Division Series coverage included[[/note]]

* ''Famous In Love'' (2017-18)

Disney acquired [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 21st Century Fox]] in 2019, which gave them ownership of Creator/FXNetworks, and reunified Freeform with the former corporate sibling. Freeform has began sharing programming rights with FX; namely [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons two adult]] [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy animated comedies]] seen on their [[Creator/{{Fox}} "other" former corporate sibling]].

* ''Series/MotherlandFortSalem''' (2020-2022)