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The Family Channel

(April 2006)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
SO
southwestman
Today I unearthed a video of the Family Channel from 1996ish and the Family Challenge weekend, with such classic gameshows as, A word in your ear, Through the Key, Family catchphrase, Roll with it. Loads of classic gameshows you just see on TV these days. Does anybody else have memories of this channel.

I find it weird that back then calls to enter the competition cost 49p per minute and people complain today of having to pay 60p a call for something like Quizmania.

SWM
NW
nwtv2003
Towards the end of it's life, The Family Channel was just a mere forerunner to Challenge TV, which it eventually became sometime in Spring 1997.

Though they carried on the Family themed programmes on a strand called Family Late which was broadcast between 12.30am and 5.00am, though within 18 months they switched the format to gameshows and eventually became Challenge TV anyway. Though it makes me think that you can't picture any families watching a Family entertainment channel that runs in the middle of the night!

I've got a few bits and pieces of Challenge Prize Time from 1997 and 1998, and I can say the calls were cheaper, the prizes were better and the games had more imagination put into them and seem less conning, than some that are around today, Challenge had such things as Instant Catchphrase that ran every night and offered the viewer a decent prize.
BF
Bewitched_Fan_2k
The Children's Channel and the Family Channel timed shared remember?

Children's Channel became Trouble
Family Channel became Challange TV
NW
nwtv2003
Bewitched_Fan_2k posted:
The Children's Channel and the Family Channel timed shared remember?

Children's Channel became Trouble
Family Channel became Challange TV


TCC had the channel from 6.00am to 5.00pm, Challenge TV had it from 5.00pm to 5.00am, but there was some Teleshopping or some Travel Industry thing on between 5.00am and 6.00am.

What it was with TCC is that it didn't become Trouble overnight, for a year both channels ran alongside each other, the difference now being that Trouble took up Daytime space that once belonged to Bravo. When Trouble launched, all of TCC's programmes for older kids moved onto Trouble, with TCC being left for younger kids, with programmes like Art Attack and Dennis The Menace being shown constantly, though when I was 10, I wasn't complaining. Laughing
DJ
DJ Dave
They had a kids program called Tiny & Crew which ran on Tiny TCC, last time I heard it was moved to living and was called Tiny Living, Not sure if they still do that. As for TCC i use to watch california dreams and other shows like that.
BF
Bewitched_Fan_2k
The reason I asume these sites like tv ark have screen shots and footage of the old idents is because people out there had some of old footage of the channel on tape right????

Why why why why why why did I sell all my old tapes off at a car boot sale at 20p each daym if I could of gone back and looked what was on them all the footage i'd of unearthed the childrens channel being just 1 of them at least.

Had stuff from (old style) Bravo and (very old) style UK gold aswell somewhere im sure. Oh hang on I do have some footage and idents from Granada Plus stored that will come in handy for a site somewhere one day Very Happy
NJ
Neil Jones Founding member
southwestman posted:
I find it weird that back then calls to enter the competition cost 49p per minute and people complain today of having to pay 60p a call for something like Quizmania.


But the thing then was you paid your 49p a minute and you were guaranteed to leave your name and contact number on the answer machine. Today you pay 60p for Quizmania per call whether you get a chance to take part or not.

Of course, its argued that doing it this way puts the winning callers into a smaller pot from which to draw the winner means you have more chance of taking part/winning, but you pay more money because you can't be guaranteed to go into that pot every time you ring.
RW
RWT
I think it was more of less what was left of TVS maidstone - lots of TVS shows including CATS Eyes and Perfect Scoundrels and live continuity from Glen Tomsett, Erica ??, Andy Marriot... great stuff
SO
southwestman
Watching this video further the presenter Andy Crane of CBBC fame is on for the first 4 hours taken over by Andrea Boardman; anyone remember her she is funny to watch comparing her with Debbie King is a good game, its like the smae person 10 years later.

SWM

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