“Tune in to the Affirmative”: The Family Channel and the Politics of Positive Programming

Abstract

The Family Channel, which evolved out of Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network, created a new brand of family television and redefined the “family audience” in the 1990s. The channel capitalized on the vacuum produced by the major networks’ pursuit of advertiser-friendly demographics, and created a safe space for traditional family television viewing. By promoting “positivity” as its brand and relying on the nostalgic appeal of older television properties, the Family Channel became the first cable channel to build a “values-based” brand and audience. The Family Channel normalized an ideologically conservative model of commercial family television in an expanding cable landscape, and capitalized on social conservatives’ discontent with mainstream television content. This article analyzes the branding, programming, and public-facing statements of the channel’s executives to reveal how the Family Channel implicitly and explicitly connected this new “family audience” with the ideology and politics of social conservatism.