HALLMARK CHANNEL'S "COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS" IS BIGGER THAN EVER!

TERI POLO, PAUL ESSIEMBRE AND TESS HARPER STAR IN "THE CHRISTMAS HEART," EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY EMMY(R) AWARD WINNER PATRICIA HEATON A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE WORLD PREMIERE HOLIDAY 2012

Original Screenplay Written By Heaton's Brother, Michael Heaton, Award-Winning Journalist for Cleveland Plain Dealer

A boy in need of a new heart learns the meaning of a miracle this Christmas when Teri Polo ("Meet the Parents"), Paul Essiembre ("Rescue Heroes") and Tess Harper ("No Country for Old Men") star in "The Christmas Heart," a Hallmark Channel Original Movie, premiering Holiday 2012. Executive produced by Emmy(R) Award winner Patricia Heaton, the film tells the heartwarming story of a neighborhood who bands together to save the life of one of their own. "The Christmas Heart" is written by Cleveland Plain Dealer "Minister of Culture," pop culture journalist and Ms. Heaton's brother, Michael Heaton. Hallmark Channel's "Countdown to Christmas" is the biggest holiday destination on television, premiering more original holiday programs than any other network.

The tight-knit neighbors on Arthur Avenue have proudly lit Christmas luminaries for 40 years, but that long-standing tradition is cancelled this year when Matt Norman (Ty Wood, "The Haunting in Connecticut"), a teenage boy in the neighborhood, is hospitalized in desperate need of a heart transplant. As his parents Ann (Polo) and Mike (Essiembre) anxiously pray by his bedside, a donor is found, while in Detroit, a mother (Harper) is in anguish at her own son's bedside. The Life Flight team quickly gets the heart airborne on Christmas Eve, fighting a winter storm with no time left to lose. The neighborhood lights the luminaries in honor of Matt and his family, and are surprised to find their loving exhibition turns out to be the miracle that save's Matt's life.

"The Christmas Heart" is A Xmas Heart Films production in association with Julijette Inc. Patricia Heaton, David Hurt, A.J. Morewitz, Norman Denver, and Dale Cornick are the executive producers. Juliette Hagopian is the producer. Gary Yates directed from a script by award-winning journalist Michael Heaton.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming available in high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) to a national audience of over 87 million subscribers. The top-tier program service is distributed through approximately 5,500 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel is the nation's leading destination for quality family programming with an ambitious slate of original TV movies and specials, as well as some of television's most beloved sitcoms and series, including The Golden Girls, Frasier, Little House on the Prairie, and The Waltons. Since 2010, Hallmark Channel has also been home to original daytime lifestyle programming and is debuting two new daily series, Home & Family and Marie, on October 1, 2012. Hallmark Channel's sibling network is Hallmark Movie Channel, also available in HD and SD, which focuses on family-friendly movies with a mix of classic theatrical films, presentations from the acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame library, original Hallmark Channel movies and special events.