ABC Family to Air Starz Christmas Feature

BURBANK: ABC Family has picked up the U.S. cable rights to the live-action holiday movie The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation from Starz Media, to air as part of its Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas programming event. 

A sequel to last year’s The Dog Who Saved Christmas, the movie will make its worldwide debut on ABC Family on November 28 at 8 p.m. Paris Hilton is featured in her first voice-over role, along with Mario Lopez. The movie also stars Dean Cain, Gary Valentine, Elisa Donovan, Casper Van Dien and Catherine Oxenberg. 

“We had great success last year with The Dog Who Saved Christmas, so it was an easy decision to revisit our favorite dog, Zeus, the Bannister family, and their holiday misadventures,” said Gene George, Starz Media’s executive VP of worldwide distribution. “And we couldn’t be happier to once again help ABC Family kick off its Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas event. ABC Family is the ideal place for this family film to debut.”

“We’re very excited to be partnering again with Starz Media on this sequel,” added Tom Zappala, the executive VP of program acquisitions and scheduling at Disney ABC Television Group. “Last year’s The Dog Who Saved Christmas stood as one of the network’s biggest hits during our enormously popular holiday programming event.”