FAMILY CHANNEL DEBUTS A FANGTASTIC PROGRAMMING LINEUP TO CELEBRATE WIZTOBER

Season Three Finale of Wizards of Waverly Place on Friday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT
Halloween Weekend Movie Marathon on October 30 and 31 beginning at Noon ET/PT

TORONTO, Sept. 22 /CNW/ - Astral's Family Channel gets batty as witches, wizards, ghosts and vampires take over the network during Wiztober, a month-long celebration of Halloween. Throughout October, Family offers spooky series and magical movies that will ignite the Halloween spirit early. The seasonal schedule features all-new episodes of Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place including an episode guest-starring Wilmer Valderrama (That 70s Show) and the season three finale.

Every Friday night in October, from Friday, October 8, Family premieres a new episode of Wizards of Waverly Place at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT, with the third season finale airing Friday, October 29. This series follows the Russo family who live a normal life in Manhattan with one significant difference - they come from a long line of wizards. On Friday, October 8, Wilmer Valderrama (That 70s Show) guest stars as Uncle Ernesto, the Wizards' uncle who comes to visit but is unaware of the Wizards' secret powers. On October 15, a special one-hour episode features the Wizards trying to rescue Alex who has been captured by a country wizard family who lost their portal. In the season finale "Wizards Exposed," the Russos are captured by a government agency interested in studying them. The family is at risk of being exposed and must find a way to escape as well as save the other Wizards who have already been captured.

Special Wiztober episodes this month include a new episode of Baxter at 8:35 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday October 10. Baxter convinces Ms. Mansfield to let him and Emma (with Jackal's help) film a vampire video but has trouble casting the right leading lady. Becky suspects that City Hall may be haunted in a new Majority Rules on Thursday, October 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT and it is a whole episode of So Random Halloween sketches in a brand new Sonny With A Chance at 10:30 a.m. ET/PT on Sunday, October 24,

Adding to the excitement of Wiztober, all month long Family airs spooky movies each Friday night at 8 p.m. ET/PT and Saturdays and Sundays at 12 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. ET/PT. The spellbinding movie magic line-up features viewer favourites including Halloweentown 1, 2, 3 and 4, Twitches, Twitches Too, Roxy Hunter and the Horrific Halloween, Phantom of the Megaplex, Haunted Mansion, Don't Look Under the Bed and Wizards of Waverly Place The Movie. Throughout Halloween weekend, Family offers a movie marathon beginning with Twitches and Twitches Too airing back-to-back on Saturday, October 30 starting at noon ET/PT. On Sunday, October 31, also kicking off at noon ET/PT, Family will air the entire Halloweentown line-up. The first three movies air back-to-back, with the fourth and final installment airing at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Family OnDemand subscribers get their fill of scary programming when the subscription video on demand service serves up spooky episodes of viewer favourites, including Wizards of Waverly Place, Phineas and Ferb and Sonny With A Chance. 

Family Channel is a premium, commercial-free network offering the best in family television entertainment in over 6 million homes across Canada. Dedicated to celebrating family life and providing a fun experience for all, Family airs a unique mix of series, movies and specials, with a large portion of programming supplied by Disney. Family Channel also offers Family OnDemand in select areas, a Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) service that features hit Disney movies and series, top-rated Canadian series and Playhouse Disney programming, and Family OnLine, a broadband service offered to Bell TV subscribers. Visit us at Family.ca.

Family Channel is a member of the Astral family. Astral is one of Canada's largest media companies. It operates more than 100 of the country's most popular pay and specialty television, radio, out-of-home advertising and digital media properties. Astral plays a central role in community life across the country by offering diverse, rich and vibrant programming that meets the tastes and needs of consumers and advertisers. To learn more about Astral, visit astral.com.

For artwork and series information, visit http://tv.astral.com

For further information:

Jaime Werby at 416-956-8547 or [email protected]