wfn.org | Hallmark, Henson and Odyssey finalize partnership

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 17, 1998 Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
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By United Methodist News Service

Hallmark Entertainment and The Jim Henson Co., two of the country's most
successful entertainment brands, have finalized an agreement to partner
with the Odyssey Channel cable network.

The Odyssey Channel will be re-launched next spring, incorporating
programming from the two companies. The network's offerings include News
Odyssey, the cable news show produced by United Methodist Communications
(UMCom) in Nashville, Tenn.

As part of the re-launch, Odyssey's headquarters are being moved from
New York to Los Angeles, but the network will still have offices in New
York as well as Chicago and Denver. It also is getting a new chief
executive officer. 

The re-launch, announced Nov. 16, follows the news in June that Hallmark
and Henson had signed a letter of intent to invest $100 million in the
Odyssey Channel, for a 45 percent stake in the religious network.

The new Odyssey will have access to exclusive cable airings of both
original and existing Hallmark and Henson programs.

Hallmark Entertainment, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards Inc., produces
and distributes miniseries and television movies. It owns Hallmark
Entertainment Network and Hallmark Home Entertainment. Jim Henson Co. is
a multimedia production company and publisher of children's books. It
includes Jim Henson Television, Jim Henson Pictures and Jim Henson's
Creature Shop.

The National Interfaith Cable Coalition Inc. (NICC)  and Liberty Media
Corp. will continue to be partners in the reformed venture.

NICC founded Odyssey in September 1988 as VISN (Vision Interfaith
Satellite Network). In 1995, NICC joined in a partnership with Liberty
and, through its VISN Management Corp., became the majority and managing
partner of the channel. NICC is a consortium of nearly 70 Protestant,
Jewish, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and other faith groups, and the
United Methodist Church is among its members.

Margaret Loesch has been named president and chief executive officer of
the new Odyssey. She has been president of the Jim Henson Television
Group since February. She is an Emmy Award-winning television producer
and a 28-year veteran of network TV and production. In her new position,
she will have complete oversight responsibility for the network and will
report to a board of directors consisting of representatives from all
four partners.

In a Nov. 16 press conference by telephone, Loesch said the network will
continue to provide quality programming, and she wants to allow the
partnership to build a channel that is unique. 

The channel will continue to provide the programs that have been
successful and other opportunities will be explored, Loesch said. She
wants to further enhance the Odyssey Channel's base by including more
talk and interview-oriented shows as well as the type of faith- and
values programming that has characterized the channel since it was
started 10 years ago. 

"We're going to redefine television for 'today's family' to make it
relevant, entertaining and meaningful for viewers," Loesch said. "I
couldn't be more excited about Odyssey's potential or more pleased to be
a part of its re-launch."

She said the quality programming and commitment of the Odyssey partners
already gives the channel a "sizable advantage." But there are more
opportunities as the network emerges.

"There is tremendous value and respect built into the Hallmark, Henson
and Odyssey brands," Loesch said. "This combination of well-respected
entertainment programming and quality, faith-based programming will make
the network uniquely appealing and relevant to today's family, which is
defined very differently than in the past and which has very different
expectations of television."

With more than 4,000 hours of television programming, the combined
Hallmark and Henson library is known in the entertainment industry for
its award-winning programming, including such television shows as
"Merlin," "Gulliver's Travels," "The Muppet Show," "Jim Henson's
Storyteller," "Moby Dick" and a variety of Hallmark Hall of Fame
presentations. Odyssey's new offerings will include original movies and
comedy-drama series that will be created by Henson and Hallmark.

The partnership represents a "wonderful" opportunity to help viewers get
a new vision of both religious and family television, said Wil Bane,
president of Vision Management Corp., NICC's managing partner, and a
staff executive with UMCom. "By weaving exceptional values-based
entertainment programming with broad-based and inquiring religious
programming, we hope our channel will more closely reflect reality -
where values and searching for meaning are part of everyday lives.'

With the re-launch of the Odyssey Channel, the United Methodist Church
will continue to be very active in providing programming for the network
and oversight in its governance, Bane said. "Our expectation with
Hallmark and Henson programming is that Odyssey will become more widely
known, perhaps a household name." 

Odyssey is available to about 30 million of  the 68 million U.S.
households that receive cable. It is carried by  1,500 cable systems,
the Primestar direct-to-home satellite service and the C-Band dish
system.

Under the restructure, Liberty Media will retain a 32.5 percent common
equity stake on the cable network. Hallmark Entertainment and the Jim
Henson Co. will share equally a 45 percent stake, and NICC will retain
22.5 percent.

According to the Rev. Bob Bonnot, senior vice president of religious
affairs at the network, the partnership should be seen as one of the
latest steps on the journey of providing ventures of faith on cable
television. He said he welcomes Hallmark and Henson as they will help
make faith more visible on the channel.

"The concern of the faith groups on Odyssey has not been just to be on
television but to be visible on television," he said. "The principles
used to build an audience are honored in the channel, and that will
continue to be the case."

In increasing an audience, Bonnot said the Hallmark and Henson
partnership on the channel provides a new emphasis for people to make it
known to their local cable systems how much the channel and faith and
values television mean to them. "This is the perfect occasion for people
to make a fresh and energetic press on cable operators."

Robert Halmi Jr., president and CEO at Hallmark Entertainment, said
partnering with Odyssey is an extension of the working relationship the
two companies have shared. "In Odyssey, we are teamed with a company
which shares our programming vision and which has a significant and
established distribution system, giving us an important jumpstart as a
cable network.

Charles Rivkin, president of The Henson Co. agreed. "We believe that his
collaboration between mission-driven companies will forever change the
television landscape." 

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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