Hallmark Channel in Acquisition Deal with CBS Television Distribution

STUDIO CITY,
November 28: Hallmark Channel has secured a range of TV series and holiday
movies from CBS Television Distribution, including 7th Heaven, Cheers and I Love Lucy.

Hallmark
Channel has also acquired additional episodes of Matlock and Touched by an Angel. The deal also includes the rights to
12 holiday movies, including Finding John Christmas, Town Without a Christmas and When Angels Come to Town.

7th Heaven, the first of the three newly acquired
series to roll out on the network, will be ready to launch as early as January
2008, while Cheers
will become available later in 2008 and I Love Lucy in January 2009. The deal includes
rights to all episodes of all three series.

Michelle
Vicary, Hallmark’s senior VP acquisitions and programming, told The
Hollywood Reporter that
the network plans to run the three series in Monday through Friday strips.
Executives also are considering weekend runs.

Vicary also
noted that the shows will appeal to Hallmark's regular viewers—the baby
boomer audience—and attract the "occasional" viewers who tend
to tune in primarily for the network's original movies. She added that the
shows will complement Hallmark's other acquired series, including M*A*S*H, Little House on the Prairie and Murder, She Wrote.

—By
Irene Lew