HALLMARK CHANNEL�S ORIGINAL MOVIE �THICKER THAN WATER� SETS HIGH-WATER MARK RANKING THIRD IN THE TIME PERIOD FOR HOUSEHOLDS AND KEY DEMOS

Movie Is 2nd Highest-Rated Basic Cable Movie for the Day

The premiere of �Thicker Than Water,� a Hallmark Channel Original Movie, made a ratings splash for its first run ranking third in the time period in households with a 2.3 HH rating. The movie also ranked third in women 25-54 (1.4) and third in adults 25-54 (1.2).

The movie, which aired Saturday, March 12, 9-11 p.m., was the second-highest rated ad-supported cable movie for the day. It was also the fifth most-watched telecast in network history, and was seen by 3.3 million unduplicated viewers Persons 2+ (Nielsen Media Research, 3/12/05).

�Thicker Than Water� more than doubled its time period average (1.0 HH rating/665,000 homes) in the first quarter �04 among women 25-54 (+192%), among adults 25-54 (+169%) and among households (+132%). The Original also topped the charts by ranking fourth in alltime delivery of adults 25-54 and seventh among women 25-54.

�Thicker Than Water� doubled the strong ratings of its lead-in, Hallmark Channel�s Original movie, �The Long Shot,� (1.2 HH/819,000 homes), which aired from 7-9 p.m.

In �Thicker Than Water,� urban attorney Natalie Jones (Melissa Gilbert, �Little House on the Prairie�) becomes devastated once she learns that her recently deceased father � a wellrespected judge � was once married to a rodeo queen and sets out to uncover her dad�s secret past. Her pursuit of the truth takes Natalie to unfamiliar territory � the wide open spaces of horse country. There she meets the rodeo queen�s daughter, Jess Jarrett (Lindsay Wagner, �The Bionic Woman�), a woman struggling to keep the wild horses on her property alive and safe. Moved by Jessie�s commitment to nature and attracted to the local veterinarian (Brian Wimmer, �China Beach�), Natalie finds herself becoming part of a family she never dreamed possible.

Hallmark Channel is a 24-hour basic cable channel that provides a diverse slate of highquality entertainment programming to a national audience of 68 million subscribers. The program service is distributed through 4,800 cable systems and communities as well as directto- home satellite services across the country. In 2004, Crown launched its 24-hour second linear channel, Hallmark Movie Channel. Through its subsidiary, Crown Media Distribution, LLC, Crown also distributes titles from its award-winning collection of movies, miniseries and films for exhibition in a variety of television media including broadcast, cable, Video-on-Demand and High Definition Television.

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For more information visit www.hallmarkchannel.com and www.hallmarkmoviechannel.com.