What is GAC Family?

Hallmark star Candace Cameron Bure made headlines when she announced she was leaving the network to work with GAC Family. The actress has signed a contract to produce and star in content for the network, which is run by former Crown Media CEO Bill Abbott.

While the move had lots of people talking, some had only one question: What is GAC Family, anyway?

GAC Family was launched in June 2021 by Abbott, who had previously led programming at Hallmark Channel’s parent company, Crown Media. In a deal Bloomberg valued at $90 million, Abbott worked with Dallas-based Hicks Equity Partners to buy two cable networks.

The networks, GAC Family and GAC Living, began airing content in September 2021. GAC Family premiered a slew of original movies in time for the holidays and is already working on more for the 2022 holiday season.

Who else is working with GAC Family?

Candace Cameron Bure joined Hallmark veterans Danica McKellar, Jessica Lowndes, and Jen Lilley in signing an exclusive contract with the network. Other Hallmark stars have also made movies for GAC Family, including Trevor Donovan, Brendan Fehr, Jennie Garth, Maggie Lawson, Sarah Lind, Daniel Lissing, M Chad Michael Murray, Sam Page, Merritt Patterson, Becca Tobin, Jill Wagner, and Dewshane Williams.

Who is Bill Abbott?

A native of Long Island, Abbott started his career in advertising after earning a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the College of the Holy Cross. He quickly became interested in television ratings and programming and moved on to work as a manager representing television stations around the country.

“I learned so much about what works, what doesn’t, what programming resonates,” he said in an appearance on the Up Next with John Contratti podcast.

He spent 20 years at Crown Media producing original content for Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, and Hallmark Drama. He left the network in early 2020.

On Contratti’s podcast, Abbott said that a quantity over quality mentality had taken hold at too many networks. His plan with GAC Media is to provide family-friendly content for viewers.

“There’s so much need for family content in the market and in this space,” he said. “You know, it’s pretty scary, quite frankly, the amount of content that’s out there…the vast majority of content that’s salacious and just is not appropriate for any member of the family.”

What’s on GAC Family and GAC Living?

In addition to movies, GAC Family has been showing reruns of I Dream of Jeannie, Full House, Fuller House, Who’s the Boss, and Bewitched.

GAC Living has been airing episodes of Hazel, Father Knows Best, Aloha Builds, First Time Flippers, Going RV, Growing Up Gator, Seaside Snacks and Shacks, Kimberly’s Southern Kitchen, Southern Fried Everything, Mountain Mamas, and Tiny House, Big Living.

Where can I find GAC Family?

We have a breakdown here of which cable companies have it. Where possible, we have included the channel numbers. Since channel numbers vary by region on some cable providers, we have included links to their websites where you can access the channel numbers for your area.

No cable? No problem. GAC Family is available to stream on the following subscription services: