ABN Group, Inc. is an American multinational, mass media and entertainment conglomerate that is headquartered in both Seattle, Washington and Charlotte, North Carolina. It is primarily responsible for the free-to-air television network American Broadcast Network (ABN). The company was originally founded on June 5, 1943 by Lee Winston as the Champion Television Group until his grandson Taylor G. Winston took over and the company later evolved into the ABN Domestic Television Corporation in 1985. The company underwent a major restructuring in 2023 and divestitures.
The DTC is a large chain of cable and satellite networks created for the purpose of serving a particular demographic for the content covered on each respected network.
The DTC also handles the programming rights, production and distribution throughout the United States and also deals with imported programming rights.
New or existing stations contract with the ABN DTC to be an affiliate of ABN and carry other ABN related programming on associated networks like ABN Plus, Mundovision, TRC and more.
History[]
Winston's vision[]
Opening in 1943, Champion Television Group began operations in Seattle and Charlotte. Founded by Lee Winston, the company chartered five television distributors including ABN's predecessor, American Television Company (ATC).
It was Lee Winston's vision to bring entertainment to the home viewers without the cliche material most pre and post-World War II footage had at the time. It was an enormous task undertaken by many of Champion's staff. In a press release, Winston wrote the following:
It is my vision that Champion Television Group will be the best organization to represent the Western United States and beyond. It is my hope that we bring to the viewers at home the best in high quality entertainment and that they are satisfied with our services. It is my vision that we only produce programming that is appropriate and suitable to the consumer's ideals and liking. We at Champion Television Group believe in our peers to suggest and to help maintain our presence in the community. We are eager to see what will become of this organization in the years to come. I am very proud to represent Champion Television Group along with Mr. Carl Winston, Mr. Donald Winston, Mrs. Camile Doral, Mr. Jack Laverty, Mr. Henry K. Sabana and Mrs. Candaline Lacey (Champion's first Director of Quality Control). Your support will greatly bolster our future and affect the communities we serve in the near future.
- Lee W. B. Winston
Champion's early years on the air[]
On July 3, 1943, one day before Independence Day, Champion Television Group launched its first owned and operated television station, KKBY. It was also the first day of Champion's parent company, American Television Company, the predecessor to American Broadcast Network. It began at 12:30 PM Pacific Standard Time with a ribbon cutting ceremony at the studios in downtown Seattle and at KKBY's transmitter site two miles to the south of the city.
The first children's show was called Cat Tales, which ran for six seasons between August of 1943, and July of 1948 to August of 1952. Due to World War II, Cat Tales was on a four year hiatus before returning back on the air on July 5, 1948. Cat Tales transitioned to the Champion Green and Yellow Radio Network, a strong competitor of NBC's Red and Blue Networks.
Frederick Winston provided the news in the Northwest region on KKBY from opening day to March 4, 1964 when KKBY became what is now KABN, SABH's flagship television station. Winston retired the day after KABN signed on after a 21 year run.
Henry Sabana, grandfather of SABH owner, Richard Sabana, provided the sports coverage for the Seattle Commodores (now known today as the Seattle Thunder) Major League Football team, Vancouver Islanders basketball, and Rangers baseball team between 1948 to 1974, a 26-year run before his passing a year later in 1975. Sabana called the memorable moments and was the first man to broadcast in both the Champion Television Group and Sabana-Winston Television Company era. Sabana also co-founded the ABN Sports network in 1964.
Champion's prominent live performances included The Jack Laverty Show, of which today, is survived by the nighttime talk show The Late Show with Vince Laverty, hosted by Jack Laverty's grandson.
The passing of the torch: Champion becomes SWTD[]
Lee Winston passed away in 1963 and passed the ownership to Don Winston, Jr., who then rebranded Champion Television Group as Sabana-Winston Television Distribution. It was the primary owner of ABN until the rebranding in 1985 to the then-current Sabana-American Broadcast Holdings.
Sabana-Winston Television Distribution era[]
The leadership was passed down to the relatives of Lee Winston beginning this second era of Champion Digital Broadcasting's history. SWTD began broadcast in 1964 starting with the ribbon cutting ceremony at the newly remodeled facility, the reveal of the first ABN logo, the continuation of the Jack Laverty Show until 1979 when succeeded by The Late Show with Vince Laverty. More stations across the country began broadcasting ABN programming between 1965 to 1982.
Sabana American Broadcast Holdings era[]
Beginning in 1985, SWTD was rebranded as Sabana American Broadcast Holdings (SABH). It was owned by Thomas G. Sabana and Donald Winston, Jr. The company moved closer to downtown Seattle in 1986 by the bay until moving again in 2004 to central Seattle following the earthquake that damaged the Alaskan Way viaduct and parts of Washington State Highway 99. Several newer networks launched between 1988 to 2012.
Official launch of ABN and ABN Sports[]
American Broadcast Network officially launched in March of 1964 as the successor of American Television Company and Champion Television Network. Later, ABN Sports was officially on the air. It continues presently as the number one 24-hour commercial-free network in the country. The network covers an expansive demographic between 12 months to 66 years of age with a large library of programs suited for specific demographics.
Official launch of The Racing Channel[]
Beginning in 1980 as the American Motor Racing Network (AMRN), The Racing Channel aired regional and national motor racing events and continues to this day. It is the most successful cable and satellite motorsports network of its time winning several regional and national motorsports Emmy's, National Star's, and earning the recognition by the National Motorsports Press Union. TRC is an extension of ABN Sports and covers the 18-37 year demographic. It launched January 2016 as the new ABN Motorsports.
Official launch of ABN Market Network[]
Beginning broadcast in 1988 one year before its rival, CNBC, the ABN Market Network follows local, regional and national stock markets with consumer news and information programming. There are also special consumer programming shows on certain upcoming products coming to the market. They also include live interactive infomercial shows, which has never been done by any marketing company. By 1990, ABN Market Network had already topped the Hanson and Nielsen ratings over CNBC. Over the past 25 years, ABN Market Network had swept CNBC numerous times including several sweeps in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014. It had also been nominated as the best consumer news and information television network by several publications including Market World Magazine. It covers the 28-70 year demographic.
Official launch of Mundovision[]
In a merger with Telemundial Global in 1991, the Spanish-based Mundovision network was created for Spanish speaking audiences. It competes directly with other Spanish-based networks including Mundomax, Univision, Telemundo and Azteca America. It is co-operated by the ABN Domestic Television Corporation and ABN-Telemundial Dual Partnership, Ltd.
Official launch of ABN Animation Network[]
Launching on February 4, 1994 as Toonopolis, ABN Animation Network is the 24-hour cable and satellite network airing Western traditional animation, Japanese anime, and adult-specific animation. The demographics are between ages 12-35 with specific programming blocks. The network launched two years before ABN Kids and was being planned to be linked with ABN Kids as one entire network.
Official launch of ABN Kids[]
ABN Kids was introduced to North American audiences on March 1, 1996 as the first cable network in ABN's history dedicated to the younger demographic, primarily children between the ages of 12-months to 8 years. ABN Kids was slated to be folded into ABN Animation Network as one operation, but the ABN Domestic Television Corporation kept them separate. To this day, ABN Kids airs a variety of preschool to grade school level programming, kids affairs, and special kids programs.
Official launch of ABN News and G-ABN[]
G-ABN (short for Google and ABN), began broadcast in 1998, two years after the launch of MSNBC, of which the acronym mixes the names of Microsoft Network, the internet website and search engine, and NBC, hence MSNBC. G-ABN launched two months after the Google website officially launched on September 4, 1998. It was known at the time to be MSNBC's rival, but later in 2000, G-ABN moved over to the Hanson viewer ratings system citing that the Nielsen ratings were too vague and didn't account for the audience G-ABN serves. It serves an 18-65 year demographic with news, political analysis, special interest news, and documentaries. By 2006, G-ABN flipped to special interest news and documentaries only removing themselves from the political arena citing numerous criticisms by other networks not scaled by the Hanson viewer rating system. In 2012, Google announced the Google Plus application and Google Hangouts launching the web-only service G-ABN 2. At the last release of the Hanson viewer ratings for fourth quarter 2014, G-ABN was shown seven points ahead of its counterpart, ABN News.
In the same year of 1998, ABN News began broadcasting as a chief rival to FOX News, PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN. Over the past five years, ABN News has topped the Hanson viewer ratings over their rivals and swept FOX News for seven consecutive years being awarded the best cable news network by National Star. The Nielsen ratings reflect differently placing ABN News in third behind FOX News and MSNBC. It serves the 21-65 year demographic and mainly focuses on local, regional, national and global news topics of the day with ABN Market Network and ABN WeatherMax updates. However, as of late, dissent among the staff and management of ABN News along with low ratings and the introduction of "time appropriate" topic discussions have led to the shut down of ABN News. G-ABN will assume network news operations beginning November 1, 2015.
Official launch of ABN Women[]
As a part of the network's expansion, on April 14, 2011, ABN signs on ABN Women, the network is created for American female audiences between 18-55 with a variety of female-oriented programs. The network has no competitors at present. It was supposed to be ranked with Lifetime, but because the network is scaled with the Nielsen ratings and ABN Women is scaled with the Hanson ratings, it cannot compete with two different viewership rating systems.
Merger of XtreemTV and Launch of ABN Maxx[]
ABN launched the latest network aimed at the male demographic between 18-37 called ABN Maxx after a merger with XtreemTV Network coming upon heavy competition with Ion, and TNN. The subchannel offically launched April 9, 2013 after the merger.
Launch of Big Sky Channel[]
On March 2, 2011, ABN launches the Big Sky Channel which airs Western lifestyle programming along with Montana based sporting programs. The networked is aimed at the demographic of 12-65 with a blend of children's programming, lifestyle, and extreme sports for the 18-27 year demographic. The network is based in Butte, Montana and is seen nationwide as a subchannel. As of February 2014, it has been rebranded as Big Sky Network.
Launch of ABN WeatherMax[]
The network was launched on March 20, 1980 as The National Weather Network. It was acquired by ABN Domestic Television Corporation and agreed to purchase Jasper Communication's, NWN's parent company to form what is now ABN WeatherMax. ABN WeatherMax covers a range of demographics based on the consumers needs. Mobile demographics are said to cover 18-35, ABNWeatherMax.com 18-50, and 18-50+ for television and radio.
Launch of the United Broadcasting Company[]
UBC was one of the original five networks owned by Champion Television Group in the mid-40's. It closed operations in 1975, then it was revived and launched by ABN Domestic Television Corporation in 1992 as United Broadcasting Company. It was originally known as Universal Broadcast Corporation. The demographics are 16-65 years. The company is based in Denver, CO and Nashville, TN.
Launch of ABN Mobile[]
Launched in 2010, ABN Mobile was developed by ABN Digital Entertainment first for Android and iPad devices. Since 2012, ABN Mobile has been applied to Chromebook, Windows Phone, iPhone, along with Apple and Microsoft tablets.
Conversion from ABN O&O to non-ABN O&O status[]
If for some reason Champion Digital Broadcasting is perceived to be too far over the projected budget, the company will have a sale on some stations for other operators to buy. Non-ABN owned and operated stations will still receive the same amenities as ABN owned and operated stations do. Plus, Non-ABN O&O stations will have the ability to air their own programming.
WBTN in Memphis will be the first of several stations converting to Non-ABN O&O status allowing the station to still air ABN programming, but also have more flexibility to air their own sports and news programming in the Memphis market.
Gallery[]
Logos[]
.png "Champion Digital Broadcasting logo (2014).png (22 KB)"){kind=logo}
