Elstein Successful In Bid For Hallmark Channel

Former Five chief executive, David Elstein, has succeeded in his purchase of the Hallmark Channel’s international TV operations, completing the long-rumoured deal worth an estimated £167 million.

The purchase was backed by private equity group 3i and Providence Equity Partners, who reportedly put in half the money to buy the Hallmark property from Crown Media Holdings.

Elstein will now gain control of The Hallmark Channel in the UK, as well as Hallmark operations in over 120 countries worldwide. He will also own the rights to nearly 600 films in the channel’s library, including Moby Dick and Gulliver’s Travels.

Hallmark’s US channel has expanded recently, and now can be seen by approximately 68 million viewers, with the international channel reaching about 60 million people in 152 countries. The UK channel is among the 10 most watched digital channels in Britain, and according to industry sources, is the single profitable operation amongst the vast international portfolio.

Elstein will take on the role of chairman of Hallmark, and is said to be appointing a five-strong management team to support in due course.

Crown Media has been looking to find a buyer for its non-US TV channels since last year, with other contenders for the business being BSkyB, Time Warner and Sony Pictures Television International.

However, the closing price of Elstein’s takeover bid is much lower than originally estimated. Reports last year suggested that the broadcast boss’s bid was around the £500 million mark (see Former Five Boss Enters Bidding War For Hallmark Channel).

Speculation of Elstein’s bid was fuelled by his earlier involvement with the channel in the run up to ITV’s merger in 2003, when he prepared an alternative, but ultimately unsuccessful, bid backed by Hallmark to take control of the commercial TV network (see Elstein’s ITV Bid Boosted By Hallmark Link).

Crown Media: www.crownmedia.net

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