"We're trying to get kids to sit down with their parents and watch together. That doesn't happen very much nowadays," Richard Cronin, chief executive officer of Fox Family Channel told Reuters in an interview.

Fox Family Channel has invested $500 million to totally revamp The Family Channel, which it bought last year from televangelist Pat Robertson for $1.9 billion. Fox Family Channel is a division of Fox Family Worldwide Inc, which is jointly owned by News Corp Ltd and privately held Saban Entertainment.

All the old Family Channel programming, except for "The 700Club." has been scrapped in exchange for a slate of quirky, but wholesome and family-friendly programming, said Cronin.

"Our goal is to be much more family than old Family Channel and to have more programmes for what istraditionally defined as a family -- households with kids at home," Cronin said.

"The old Family Channel had a lot of acquired shows like' Bonanza.' The main audience was older viewers. While we still think we'll keep the older viewers, we think we can bring younger viewers to the mix," Cronin said.

The idea appears to be spreading. Fox is set to compete with Pax Net, another new family-oriented channel being launched August 31 by Paxson Communications Corp.

While some industry experts feel there is a dearth of quality programming aimed at the entire family, they see such a focus as a risky endeavour.

"Clearly a number of people think there's a void for family quality programming. It's a vision of Bud Paxson's and he's betting the whole farm on family programme," said Steve Cesinger, managing director for Greif & Co.

"There are a lot of camps out there. Some say it's not possible because Dad likes Sports, Mom likes the Discovery Channel and kids like cartoons. That's the gambit," he said.

"Itremains to be seen if the wholesome audience is an attractive demographic to advertisers," Cesinger said.

Cronin said he has had success in obtaining advertising dollars. "We've expanded on the Family Channel's advertisers. We kept the originals but (picked up) a lot of advertisers who wanted to reach younger families. Others previously wouldn't advertise on a channel with re-runs," he said.

Cronin believes Fox Family's edgy and hip content will pull in the whole family.

"There are networks out there that have a stodgy old-fashioned attitude and we think this does not attract families," he said.

Fox Family, which will reach an estimated 72 million households, is focusing on 6 P.M.-9 P.M. weekdays.

"Our shows are designed for families to watch together. The alternative in that timeframe is news on other channels or tabloid talk shows or sitcom re-runs," he said.

Weekday and weekend daytime hours will be primarily filled up with children's programming.

Cronin said Fox Family's children'sprogramming is very distinct from Fox Kids Network, is the children's programming service broadcast on News Corp's Fox Broadcasting Corp six days a week.

Fox Kids is home to the popular "Power Rangers" show and primarily consists of action, adventure comedy entertainment for kids.

Fox Family also has earmarked $125 million to produce 26 big-budget original movies to run in the evenings from 9 P.M. to 11 P.M. geared towards families.

While analysts feel it may be a bit of a gamble, they feel that Fox Family may have more wherewithal to pull it off.

"If you look at Fox historically, they've been on the edge of what's acceptable in society. A family-oriented block just fills out their portfolio," said one analyst.

"If it doesn't work, Fox will basically be out of some money. But Paxson is throwing the whole switch," Cesinger said.