25 Days of Christmas

Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas
Logo used since 2018
NetworkThe Family Channel (1996–1997)
Fox Family (1998–2000)
ABC Family (2001–2015)
Freeform (2016–present)
Disney Channel (2017–2018)
Disney XD (2017–2018)
Disney Junior (2017–2018)
ABC (2017–2018)
LaunchedDecember 1, 1996; 27 years ago (1996-12-01)
Country of originUnited States
Formerly known asThe Family Channel's 25 Days of Christmas (1996–1997)
Fox Family's 25 Days of Christmas (1998–2000)
ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas (2001–2015)
FormatChristmas-based films and programming, along with some non-seasonal films
Running timeDaily and nightly, annually from December 1 to 25
Original language(s)English
Official websiteOfficial site

Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas is an American annual seasonal event of Christmas programming broadcast during the month of December by the U.S. cable network Freeform. The event was first held in 1996, and has been an annual fixture of the channel through its various incarnations, including The Family Channel, Fox Family, ABC Family, and Freeform. The brand covers airings of classic holiday specials as well as new Christmas-themed television movies each year; generally few of the network's original series air during the time period, outside of Christmas-themed episodes. In 2006, the lineup has also included airings of general, family films that Freeform holds rights to, which included the Harry Potter films until January 2017, and other Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures films. In 2007, the block was extended to November with a Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas block. 25 Days of Christmas programming often attracts major surges in viewership for Freeform, with higher-profile film airings often attracting 3–4 million viewers or more.

For 2017-2018, Disney extended the 25 Days of Christmas branding to holiday programming shown by Freeform's sister properties in the Disney-ABC Television Group, including ABC, Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior.[1][2]

For most of the block's run, fourteen specials from the Rankin/Bass Productions library of Christmas specials (excluding the original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman specials, both of which have aired on CBS since 1972 and 1969 respectively) served as the centerpiece of the 25 Days of Christmas. Freeform lost the rights to twelve of those specials (which included The Year Without a Santa Claus), along with other content whose right was held by Warner Bros. Discovery and its predecessor companies such as Elf and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, to AMC in 2017 to serve as the linchpin of its new "Best Christmas Ever" schedule;[3] WBD also carries that content on its own All I Watch for Christmas and Christmas Maximus blocks on the WBD-owned former Turner networks.[4] Freeform still airs Santa Claus is Comin' to Town and The Little Drummer Boy In May 2019, Freeform announced it had acquired the cable rerun rights to the Rudolph and Frosty specials, reuniting the four pre-1974 Rankin/Bass programs on the same network.[5] CBS continued to hold the free-to-air rerun rights to both specials until NBC retained the rights to the 2024 airings.[6] Freeform and ABC also held rights to the Charlie Brown holiday specials until Apple TV+ acquired the exclusive rights to the franchise in 2020[7] (later sublicensing some of the specials to PBS for one-time airings that year).[8]

In November 2022, Freeform sister network ABC launched 25 Days of Christmas Past, a free ad-supported streaming television pop-up channel featuring an abbreviated selection of original films produced for the event.[9] The FAST service does not include the four Rankin-Bass specials, as NBCUniversal, which owns the underlying copyrights, did not license any streaming rights to those specials to ABC/Freeform nor CBS.[10] The FAST channel did not return for 2024, after ABC withdrew its streaming apps from the market and downsized its remaining FAST offerings.[11]

In 2018, Freeform rebranded the graphics for its 25 Days of Christmas event to align with the channel's then-current branding, which had debuted that same year. In 2023, Freeform collaborated with the design agency ROVE to update the 25 Days of Christmas graphics once again, making them consistent with the channel's latest logo and branding introduced the previous year.[12]

  1. ^ "Disney/ABC Television Group Networks Share Holiday Programming Plans". Broadcasting & Cable. October 31, 2017. Archived from the original on November 15, 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  2. ^ Adalian, Josef (November 26, 2018). "The War for Christmas TV Is More Competitive Than Ever". Vulture. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  3. ^ [Celebrate the Holiday Season With "AMC Best Christmas Ever" All Month Long]. amc press release. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  4. ^ "TBS "All I Watch for Christmas" and TNT "Christmas Maximus" Kick Off Holiday Programming on Saturday, November 2 | Pressroom". press.wbd.com. Retrieved November 2, 2024.
  5. ^ "Press Releases | Freeform". Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  6. ^ CBS holiday special schedule released. KDKA-TV. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  7. ^ Adalian, Josef (October 19, 2020). "Apple TV+ Says: Welcome, Great Pumpkin". Vulture. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  8. ^ Steinberg, Brian (November 18, 2020). "You're on PBS, Charlie Brown: Apple Will Share 'Peanuts' Holiday Specials With Public TV". Variety.
  9. ^ "Freeform's '25 Days of Christmas Past' Channel Is Now Streaming. Watch Free with No Sign-In Needed on ABC.com & the ABC App! | ABC Updates". ABC. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  10. ^ Sergent, Katie (December 13, 2023). "'Rudolph,' 'Frosty the Snowman' showings to be blacked not out on CBS streaming platforms". WWMT. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  11. ^ Bouma, Luke (August 24, 2024). "Disney is Shutting Down Disney, Freeform, FXNow, & National Geographic Channel Apps". Cord Cutters News. Retrieved August 24, 2024.
  12. ^ "Freeform | 25 Days of Christmas". ROVE. Retrieved November 3, 2024.