I don’t know about you, but I’m struggling to remember to call what was once ABC Family by its new name Freeform. I know it’s been about a year since the name change, but old habits die hard. A tradition that carried over to Freeform was the frequent and beloved Harry Potter weekend marathon, aka a chance to binge-watch all of the HP flicks throughout the weekend. But soon, we won’t even have this sweet reminder of ABC Family days. Hello Giggles reports that starting Jan. 1, Freeform will lose the rights to air the Harry Potter movies. Well, goodbye childhood.
While this deadline still means we’ll have one last Harry Potter marathon over the holidays (Happy Christmas, Harry!), it marks a crucial change in the network’s content and audience appeal. The channel made the transition to Freeform to maintain older, millennial viewership, and shows such as The Bold Type have emerged as a result. So the changes haven’t been all bad, right?
However, there’s still hope for those who want plenty of access to the Harry Potter franchise. HBO has acquired the rights to all eight films, allowing its subscribers to access them at any time and watch whenever they actually air on the channel. This may not be the same as marathoning the movies on a chill weekend and having built-in bathroom breaks, but I certainly can’t complain.