RHI Acquires Crown Media Film Library

STUDIO CITY, October 6: Crown Media Holdings, which operates
the Hallmark Channel in the U.S., has reached a deal to sell the U.S. rights to
its film library to RHI Entertainment (formerly Hallmark Entertainment) for
$160 million.

The agreement includes the U.S. rights to 600 television
movies, mini-series and series in the Crown Media library, which were acquired
from Hallmark Entertainment in January 2001. RHI also has acquired the
worldwide remake, prequel and sequel rights to the titles. International rights
to the library were sold in 2005 to a group of investors comprised of
Providence Equity Partners, 3i and David Elstein.

Crown Media will have the right to continue to broadcast
selected titles from the library on the Hallmark Movie Channel for up to two
years.

The proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce Crown
Media’s debt and for operating purposes.

Among the titles included in the deal are Animal Farm, Arabian Nights, Cleopatra, Gulliver's
Travels, Merlin and Moby Dick. "We are delighted to be able to repurchase many of our original
award-winning titles," said RHI Entertainment’s president and CEO, Robert
Halmi, Jr. "With this new acquisition, RHI will have a library consisting
of over 1,100 titles and more than 4.800 hours of programming."