When more people are watching the Hallmark Channel than CNN, you know we’ve reached a new level of interpersonal isolation.
There are a lot of lifeless bodies haunting cable television these days, and we’re not talking about the ones still flailing about on AMC’s Walking Dead spinoffs. Iconic cable brands like A&E, TBS, TNT, USA, and TV Land — which just a few years ago were all still churning out a steady supply of tentpole comedies and dramas — have dropped all ambitions they once had of competing in TV’s scripted-content wars. Meanwhile, most of the basic-cable networks still in the fray (AMC, FX, Paramount) have shifted their focus to making shows for streaming rather than playing the ratings game. The cable landscape in 2023 is exceedingly bleak, and yet amid all this carnage, there’s one big bright spot: Hallmark Channel.
Hallmark’s former queen of the holidays is taking her act to a new and more conservative channel, Great American Family: “My heart wants to tell stories that have more meaning and purpose and depth.”
The NBCUniversal-owned streaming platform announced a wide-ranging content deal with Hallmark Media on Monday, a deal that include streaming simulcasts of Hallmark’s linear channels, as well as a branded streaming hub comprising a library of on-demand and next-day content.
Exclusives
In the seven days ending Nov. 21, Hallmark Channel dominates B+C’s new Promo Mojo ranking, grabbing first place to promote its original movie A Kiss Before Christmas, plus fourth for The Christmas Contest and fifth for A Christmas Together With You.
Crown Media Family Networks had a round of staff cuts Monday. “As part of a restructure to realign roles and responsibilities, some positions were eliminated,” the company said in a statement to Deadline. “This was done in an effort to decrease redundancies, optimize effectiveness, and create more support level roles.” The company would not comment on the number or size of layoffs involved.
Sheryl Crow leads a long list of performers and celebrity guests who will appear in a Jan. 1 television special replacing the 132nd Rose Parade, which was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Rose Parade’s New Year Celebration presented by Honda will air on ABC, NBC, Hallmark Channel, Univision, RFD-TV and KTLA Los Angeles featuring performances filmed at locations across the country to limit travel and ensure safety.
Bill Abbott is leaving a month after the Hallmark Channel faced an outcry over a decision to pull an ad with a lesbian couple kissing. No reason was given for his departure, and no replacement was immediately named.
The Hallmark Channel’s decision to pull, then reinstate a commercial that featured a same-sex couple kissing shows how controversy can generate more publicity than simply ignoring it.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Hallmark Channel, reversing what it called a “wrong decision,” said Sunday it will reinstate commercials featuring same-sex couples that it had pulled following a complaint […]
Loughlin’s career and the Hallmark Channel were deeply intertwined. She’s been among its so-called “Christmas queens” who topline a slate of popular holiday movies, and also starred in the ongoing Garage Sale Mysteries movies and the series When Calls the Heart. The move came after a federal investigation of a college admissions scam involving more than 30 parents, many of them prominent, was revealed Tuesday
Donald J. Hall Jr., chief executive officer of Hallmark Cards, announced that Hallmark has completed the short-form merger with Crown Media Holdings, home of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, and has taken the company private.
Two of the hottest cable networks don’t have dark dramas about bloodthirsty zombies, drug-addicted hackers or Russian spies. Instead, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries rely on a feel-good diet of romance, holidays and family. Its saccharine programming has always been popular with viewers over the age of 50. Now it is striking a chord with Gen Xers as well.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — In the decade that “Touched by an Angel” executive producer Martha Williamson has been away from series TV, much has changed. A new golden age has […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hallmark Channel and Marie Osmond are parting ways. In a statement Tuesday, the TV channel said it won’t renew Osmond’s talk show, “Marie,” for a second […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Hallmark Channel is making a new Friday night home for family movies. The channel announced Wednesday that it will launch the showcase March 15 with […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Andie MacDowell will be a pioneer for the Hallmark Channel, starring in the network’s first prime-time series.Hallmark said Wednesday that MacDowell will portray municipal court Judge […]
