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ONLY TWO WEEKS SHY OF FOURTH ANNIVERSARY, THE HALLMARK CHANNEL HAS MUCH TO CELEBRATE!
Network Unveils Fall Slate at Television Critics Association Press Tour; Celebrates Current Ranking of #10 in Total Day And #9 in Prime Time
When Hallmark Channel met members of the Television Critics Association at this
year�s summer press tour in Beverly Hills, its network executives were clearly upbeat.
The network presented its Fall Preview to the nation�s TV writers/editors/critics with this
message -- Two weeks shy of the network�s fourth anniversary, but what a year it has
been!
David Kenin, Executive Vice President, Programming for the Hallmark Channels,
unveiled 14 reasons why the network feels bullish about the fall, and the future.
� The Hallmark Channel Mystery Movies � �Mystery Woman,� �McBride� and �Jane
Doe� -- return with a new spoke for the popular mystery wheel, �Murder 101.�
TV icon Dick Van Dyke stars in his first cable series, which follows a leading
professor of criminology who bumbles through daily minutia. But, inside a
criminal investigation, the professor has a steel trap mind for details and a
strategy for tricking and catching unwary suspects. �Murder 101� rotates once
each month on Sundays as part of the Hallmark Channel Mystery Movie.
� �Supernova,� a 3-hour sci-fi thriller about the day the earth caught fire, stars
Luke Perry, Tia Carrere and Peter Fonda. �Supernova� premieres Monday,
September 5 (8/7 c).
� �Landslide,� a two-hour movie event about an environmental disaster that has
swallowed up a community, stars Vincent Spano, Alexandra Paul and Kathryne
Dora Brown. �Landslide,� the race to get above ground, premieres Saturday,
September 10 (9/8 c).
� �Jules Verne�s Mysterious Island,� a three-hour movie event, is the most thrilling
adventure unknown to man. Starring Kyle MacLachlan, Omar Gooding, Gabrielle
Anwar and Patrick Stewart, �Jules Verne�s Mysterious Island� is directed by
Russell Mulcahy (�3: The Dale Earnhardt Story�) and premieres Saturday,
September 17 (8/7 c).
� �Coronado,� a two-hour movie event, is the story of a missing wealthy
businessman and the fiance who follows him off the map on a dangerous quest
for his safe return. From the Academy� Award-winning producers of
�Independence Day,� �Coronado� premieres in October.
� �The Reading Room,� a two-hour movie event, is the story of humanity, dignity
and one man�s legacy. �The Reading Room� stars James Earl Jones, Georg
Stanford Brown, Joanna Cassidy, Keith Robinson, Douglas Spain and Kathryne
Dora Brown and premieres this Thanksgiving.
� �A Man Who Became Pope,� the first U.S. television premiere on the life and
times of Pope John Paul II, premieres on the Hallmark Channel Monday, August
15 (8/7 c). The four-hour movie event chronicles the transformative journey of
Karol Wojytla from a young man, student, artist and war protestor to becoming a
priest, a bishop, and finally, the Bishop of Rome. �A Man Who Became Pope,�
produced on location in Italy and Eastern Europe, was seen by Pope John Paul II
before he died. The late Pontiff was quoted as being �impressed and
appreciative.�
� �Celebrate! Christmas with Maya Angelou,� a one-hour special, stars America�s
mesmerizing poet celebrating Christmas in her North Carolina home with family
and friends, including musical legends Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson.
�Celebrate! Christmas with Maya Angelou� premieres in December.
� �Naomi�s New Morning,� a one-hour weekly series, is a thought-provoking,
unbiased talk show for the intellectually curious which premieres Sunday,
November 27 (Time TBD). �Naomi�s New Morning� delves into mind-expanding
topics, with the potential for creating broader personal awareness and a
genuinely transformative experience for viewers and is hosted with the
warmhearted clarity and wise simplicity Naomi Judd is known for.
The twelve program announcements did not account for all of the reasons for
Hallmark Channel�s celebratory mood during the TV Critics Press Tour.
The network also announced a more aggressive programming stance for the
Hallmark Movie Channel.
Hallmark Channel completed its TCA Fall Preview with a reminder that the
network is also touting continuous ratings successes that began during the 2003
holidays. In particular, in 2005, the network is highlighting record-breaking First and
Second Quarters and the highest-rated June in the network�s history.
Third quarter 2005 to date (6/27-7/10/05), Hallmark Channel ranks #10 in Total
Day (.7 HH rating) and #9 in Prime Time (1.2 HH rating) among all 59 ad-supported
cable networks.
Hallmark Channel is a 24-hour basic cable channel that provides a diverse slate
of high-quality entertainment programming to a national audience of 69 million
subscribers. The program service is distributed through 4,800 cable systems and
communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Crown
Media Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWN) owns and operates Hallmark Channel. In 2004,
Crown launched its second 24-hour linear channel, Hallmark Movie Channel. Through its
subsidiary, Crown Media Distribution, LLC, Crown also distributes titles from its awardwinning
collection of movies, miniseries and films for exhibition in a variety of television
media including broadcast, cable, Video-on-Demand and High Definition Television.
For more information please visit www.hallmarkchannel.com or
www.hallmarkmoviechannel.com
-- HALLMARK CHANNEL --
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