Cable Stands Up to Bullies

By R. THOMAS UMSTEAD -- Multichannel News, 7/18/2011 12:01:00 AM

Several cable networks will take on the issue of childhood bullying with several movie and online projects that they hope will shine a light on the growing problem.

Time Warner Inc. and Facebook will team up to launch a wide-ranging, major cross-platform partnership initiative based on Cartoon Network’s “Stop Bullying: Speak Up” campaign. As part of the initiative, news network CNN, in collaboration with the social-networking website, will develop an October town hall special that will discuss the current bullying issues confronting kids today, officials said.

ABC Family has teamed with Seventeen to help the teen-targeted magazine launch an ongoing, anti-bullying campaign dubbed “Delete Digital Drama.” Th e campaign, which encourages teens to end bullying on the web, is tied to ABC Family’s bullying-themed movie Cyberbully, which premiered Sunday (July 17),.

As part of the campaign, ABC Family will run on-air a public awareness announcement through August featuring stars from its hit shows The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Pretty Little Liars, Switched at Birth, The Nine Lives of Chloe King and The Lying Game, encouraging its target audience of millenials to do their part in helping to put an end to cyberbullying , according to network officials.

Tom Zappala, executive vice president of program acquisitions and scheduling for ABC Cable Networks Group, said the issue of bullying — and specifi cally cyberbullying — is top of mind for the network’s target 18-34 audience.“It’s a relevant issue, and one we felt was important to address, and because ABC Family’s audience is both millennials and their parents — it’s an opportunity to reach both of them.”

MTV will also jump on the anticyberbullying train this fall with an original film loosely based on Abraham Biggs, a young man who streamed his own suicide live on the Web.