Astral Media’s Family Channel is launching a new customizable online portal to further the engagement between kids and their favourite Family shows. Famclub is a fun online destination that allows members to create their own space and to connect and interact with Family’s online and on-air properties. This is the first stage in a multi-phase rollout of Family.ca’s online community. Kids are encouraged to go to Family.ca to sign up now.

Famclub offers kids an opportunity to design a Never-A-Dull-Moment page that reflects their personal style and their interests. In true Family Channel fashion, Famclub pages are customizable with Family.ca games, videos and program mini-sites – allowing visitors easy access to their favourites.

Members can create pages with their favourite colours or can choose from a selection of stylized themes designed after popular Family series and characters. For example, a pink theme modeled after the character Casey from Life With Derek. Additional elements for phase one include wacky horoscopes, birthday announcements for Famclub members, and a news feed that will keep kids up-to-date on Family’s online games, videos, and exciting new programming. New interactive elements will be announced throughout the year.

For the launch of Famclub, Family Channel has developed a set of Internet Safety Tips in partnership with KINSA to help kids understand the importance of online safety. KINSA – the Kids’ Internet Safety Alliance (www.kinsa.net) – was founded in 2005 as a proactive response to the negative aspects of the Internet that harm young people. In addition to working with this respected organization to develop tips for Family.ca visitors, Family Channel has also partnered with KINSA for an upcoming episode of The Latest Buzz which deals with the subject of Internet safety for kids.

With nearly a million unique visitors a month, Family.ca is one of the most popular kids’ sites in Canada. Providing frequently-updated, high-quality content, Family.ca is an online destination for kids and families. In addition to its games pages, Family.ca features contests, full-episode streams, video podcasts and program mini-sites, including the Gemini Award® winning mini-site for the Canadian original series Life With Derek.