Hallmark Channel, Greeting Cards Get Together on Screen

Hallmark Channel and majority investor Hallmark Cards are getting together on-screen for the first time, according to the companies.

Hoops & Yoyo, characters featured on Hallmark animated greeting cards, will host a movie night on Hallmark Channel Friday nights between Thanksgiving and Christmas as part of the channel's "Countdown to Christmas" programming initiative. It will become a feature of a year-round holiday countdown cross-platform initiative.

The H oops & Yoyo characters are also available in greeting card, stuffed animal, bobblehead and mug form.

The characters will be providing running commentary for the holiday films, as well as in promos and on a customized microsite.

Hallmark Channel said this would be the first "of many synergistic programming and marketing opportunities we will forge with Hallmark Cards."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.