Joe Ortiz Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

There probably has been no other television network that has changed its brand identity more times than Freeform. Starting as CBN Satellite Service 45 years ago, it was subsequently renamed CBN Cable Network, CBN Family Channel, The Family Channel, Fox Family Channel and ABC Family until Disney’s younger-skewing network adopted its current Freeform moniker in 2016.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Freeform is “F”-ing around with its look. Literally. The Disney cabler’s new logo centers on two stylized “F”s (in “free” and “form”) that perpetually wiggle and move around in the network’s IDs. It’s part of a brand refresh instituted by Freeform president Tara Duncan, who took over the network in summer 2020, and her content marketing senior VP, Joe Ortiz, who joined the following spring. “As Tara Duncan came to Freeform, we really wanted to refine who we were and who we were serving, and then ultimately connect the dots visually,” Ortiz says of the new logo and graphics package, which was launched on-air and online the week of Sept. 12 (tied to the premiere of new series “The Come Up”). “What we wanted to do is to create something that was modern and ownable and ultimately emotive, much like our audience. So, it was just a full Freeform evolution.”

Joe Ortiz has joined Freeform as SVP Content Marketing. The industry veteran will be tasked with executing the creative marketing vision for the Disney-owned cable net’s originals and all content marketing activities across both linear and digital platforms.