COME "HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS" AT HALLMARK CHANNEL WITH LAUNCH OF UMBRELLA MARKETING CAMPAIGN

This year, Hallmark Channel debuts its brand-centric umbrella holiday marketing campaign, "Home for the Holidays." The multi-million dollar, cross-platform effort supports Hallmark Channel's original holiday movies on-air, online, in nearly 4,000 Hallmark Gold Crown Stores, on national radio, TV and in print advertising, place-based and, for the first time, in Wal-Mart stores. There will also be a local ad sales cross-channel promotion.

"Holidays are an important time of the year for us, so we want to take the opportunity to build equity in them and to create awareness and drive ratings not only for our original holiday movie premieres, but also for our daily, month-long schedule of holiday movies airing from November 22 to December 27," said Laura Masse, Executive Vice President, Marketing.

"'Home for the Holidays' springs right from the core of the Hallmark brand essence and invites viewers to see Hallmark Channel as their destination for great holiday stories each and every day," she added.

The campaign will begin Nov. 10 in Hallmark Gold Crown Stores and also on a holiday microsite at the consumer website www.hallmarkchannel.com. On November 22, the consumer site will be re-wrapped with the new "Home for the Holidays" look and feel; on-air spots for "Home for the Holidays" are scheduled to start running November 22 and will continue through December 27.

"Home for the Holidays" messaging will be running not only across a wide variety of traditional national media, but also on TV's at check-out in Wal-Mart stores and in malls throughout the United States. This is the first time that Hallmark Channel has ever appeared in Wal-Mart stores.

Beginning Nov. 1 and continuing through December 24, there will be an in-store promotion at over 4,000 participating Hallmark Gold Crown� stores via customer appreciation packs featuring tune-in information, customized messages from the network's local distribution partner, and coupons for up to $50 in savings on specific holiday merchandise.

Under the "Home for the Holidays" promotional umbrella, this year Hallmark Channel affiliates will be participating in the channel's "Holiday Homecoming Sweepstakes" -- a national watch-and-win and shop-and-win sweepstakes that supports the channel's original holiday programming. The sweepstakes will be sponsored nationally by NESTLɮ Toll House�. This year, affiliates representing 46 million subscriber homes have signed up to participate in the promotion. Four (4) grand prizes will be awarded featuring $25,000 cash and a hosted, holiday homecoming party for up to 20 of the winners' family members. Ten (10) first place prizes of $10,000 cash will be awarded, and one-thousand (1,000) second-place winners will receive a Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Collection.

Hallmark Channel will also sponsor a local ad sales promotion designed to support affiliates' local advertising efforts.

The cross-platform campaign supports Hallmark Channel's four family-friendly original holiday movies, airing every Saturday night, 9-11 p.m., ET/PT, as follows:

� "Moonlight & Mistletoe," Saturday, November 29, starring Tom Arnold and Candace Cameron Bure;

� "The Christmas Choir," Saturday, December 6, starring Jason Gedrick and Rhea Perlman;

� "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," Saturday, December 13, starring Henry Winkler, Brooke Burns and Warren Christie; and,

� "Our First Christmas," Saturday, December 20, starring Julie Warner, Steven Eckholdt, Dixie Carter and John Ratzenberger.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming to a national audience of 86 million subscribers. The top tier program service is distributed through more than 5,450 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel consistently ranks among the top 10 ad-supported cable networks in Prime Time and Total Day household ratings and is the nation's leading network in providing quality family programming. Crown Media also operates a second 24-hour linear channel which plays the greatest family movies of all time, Hallmark Movie Channel, and launched Hallmark Movie Channel HD in April, 2008. Hallmark Movie Channel is available in over nine million U.S. homes.