Hallmark Loses Chief Exec Following Elstein Takeover

Jeff Henry, UK chief executive of Hallmark TV, has left the channel after its purchase by a conglomerate group led by former chief executive of Five, David Elstein.

The deal, said to be worth £127 million, saw private equity groups 3i and Providence Equity Partners back Elstein’s acquisition of the Hallmark Channel’s international operations earlier this week (see Elstein Successful In Bid For Hallmark Channel).

Henry has worked with Hallmark TV for five years, running the European, Middle East and African operations, and is said to be leaving the company in about six weeks after rejecting an offer to stay, according to a report in the Guardian.

The purchase of Hallmark sees Elstein become chairman of the group and, according to a spokeswoman, the broadcast heavyweight “will be acting chief executive until such a time as the new mangement team is announced.”

Speculation over Elstein’s bid had circulated for several months prior to this week’s purchase, fuelled in part 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

Recent Television Stories from NewsLine Ad-Funded TV Sees Challenge Provide Lottery Coverage ITV To Face Channel 4 Over Empty Freeview Slot Holmes Quits GMTV After More Than A Decade

Subscribers can access ten years of media news and analysis in the Archive