| ABC1 | |
| Logo Alt: | ABC1 logo |
| Picture Format: | 576i (SDTV) |
| Owner: | Disney–ABC Television Group (50%) Sky plc (50%) |
| Replaced By: | Playhouse Disney + (Sky) Sky Arts |
| Website: | www.abc1tv.co.uk (archive) |
| Availability Note: | (at time of closure) |
| Terr Serv 1: | Freeview |
| Terr Chan 1: | Channel 15 (except Wales) (06:00 - 18:00) |
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.
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]
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[1] 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.[2] [3] In December 2004, it was expanded on Telewest's digital cable service,[4] and on 14 December on the NTL digital cable service.[5]
In March 2005, ABC1 took its first advertisement from Procter and Gamble.[6] 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.[7] In Summer 2006, a Playhouse Disney block was added to the schedule in the morning.[8]
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, a day before its third anniversary. 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.