The American cable and satellite television network ABC Family has gone through several different owners during its history. Stipulations in sales terms for the network require that the network maintain the word "Family" in its name in perpetuity. On August 1, 1988, the word "Family" was incorporated into the channel's name to better reflect its programming format, rebranding as The CBN Family Channel. The logo that the channel used until the sale to News Corporation consisted of a blue ring with "The" written on the top and "Channel" at the bottom with a blended yellow and red "Family" script font overlaid on the ring and an orange/yellow striped sphere. Advertisements promoting the channel were changed as well, featuring a series of promos known as "Family Moments," depicted situations such as a family playing checkers, a grandfather bonding with his grandson, and a woman hugging her husband on their wedding day.
By 1990, the network had grown too profitable to remain under the CBN banner without endangering the Christian Broadcasting Network's non-profit status. CBN spun it off to a new company called International Family Entertainment Inc. (run by Pat Robertson's son, Timothy Robertson, and operated as a joint venture between the Robertson family and John C. Malone, owner of Denver-based cable television provider Tele-Communications Inc. and multimedia firm Liberty Media.[1]); the channel's name was also modified to simply The Family Channel on September 15, 1990 (although on-air and print promotions for its programs referred to the channel under that name while still known as "The CBN Family Channel"). As a stipulation of the sale to International Family Entertainment, the channel was required to continue to carry The 700 Club (a stipulation that Pat Robertson also imposed when the channel was sold to Fox Family Worldwide in 1997 and then to The Walt Disney Company in 2001).
