Loss Widens at Crown Media

STUDIO CITY, March 8: Crown Media, which today announced a
renewed agreement with EchoStar Communications Corporation for carriage of
Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel, has reported a 2006 net loss of
$389 million, versus last year’s $232.8 million loss, on revenues of $201.2
million.

Advertising revenues for the year increased 19 percent to
$174.2 million, and subscriber fees gained 33 percent to $24.9 million.
Licensing fees fell to $1.8 million from $21.7 million in the prior year.
Sublicense fees and other revenue decreased to $305,000 in 2006 from $10.8
million in 2005 due primarily to the sub-licensing of Little House on the
Prairie to a third party in 2005.

For the quarter, meanwhile, revenues fell 3 percent to $58.4
million, but the company was able to halve its net loss from $59.8 million to
$30 million. Ad revenues were up 28 percent to $52 million, while subscription
revenues gained 16 percent to $6.2 million. Licensing fees for the film library
decreased to $38,000 during the quarter, from $14.3 million in the prior year's
quarter, due to the sale of those assets to RHI Entertainment.

As at the end of the year, Hallmark Channel had 74.6 million
subscribers, a 6 percent gain in the year.

Announcing the results, president and CEO Henry Schleiff
commented: "During the year ahead we will focus our efforts on the
continued emphasis of our brand through the production of original movies and
related programming, the successful renewal of our distribution agreements, and
the ability to derive the financial benefits from a fixed cost structure with
increasing advertising and subscriber fee revenues."