I just ran across
post on Media Matters, which is asking ABC Family to drop Pat Robertson and the 700 Club from its lineup.
Following his August 22 call for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Media Matters for America is urging ABC Family to stop showing Pat Robertson's The 700 Club. ABC Family shows The 700 Club three times a day.
I've seen this demand from a number of people, and while it's an attractive request, it's an impossible one for Disney (who owns ABC Family)
A bit of history.
The Family Channel was originally launched by a company called International Film Entertainment, Inc.
IFE was founded by Robertson in 1990, and its principle business was The Family Channel. IFE sold the network to Fox Kids Worldwide in 1997 for $1.9 Billion.
Part of that deal reportedly forced Fox to air the "700 Club" three times a day, a deal that Disney agreed to continue in 2001 when it purchsed the channel in 2001 for $5.3 Billion.
No one knows for sure precisely what the terms of the deal are, other than the fact that executives from both Fox and Disney have said in interviews that they had attempted to buy out his interest in the channel. Several stories published around the time of the ABC takeover suggested Robertson had turned down offers in the range of several hundred million dollars.
Believe me, if Disney could drop Robertson, they would.
But rather than demanding they drop him, it might be more interesting to find out details of the deal that keeps him on ABC Family three times a day.
Rick Ellis
http://www.allyourtv.com