William J. Abbott

William J. "Bill" Abbott (born April 25, 1962) is the President and CEO of Crown Media Family Networks, the parent of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. He is a veteran of the entertainment industry, with more than 25 years of leadership experience in family television. Abbott piloted Hallmark’s signature marketing and programming initiative, “Countdown to the Holidays,” including its “Countdown to Christmas” campaign. Since becoming CEO in 2009, he spearheaded the addition of scripted series for primetime, including Cedar Cove and When Calls the Heart, as well as the launch of the yearly special Kitten Bowl. Abbott has been featured in the Cablefax 100 list of top power players every year from 2009 through 2016. He is married with four children.

Abbott joined Crown Media Family Networks in 2000 as its executive vice president of advertising sales. There, he led the national advertising sales operations for the networks, internet services and digital network development and oversaw its offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta. In 2004, Abbott launched the “Sponsorship Solutions Unit,” enabling advertisers to prominently showcase their message within Hallmark programming. The same year, he oversaw the launch of Hallmark Movie Channel. In 2008, Abbott's team secured the first upfront multi-million dollar deal of the season with ad agency Starcom. During his tenure as EVP of advertising sales, Hallmark Channel’s annual advertising revenue increased from $10.2 million to $223 million. TV Week credited Abbott as "one of the smartest, yet unsung, ad sales executives in the TV business."

As CEO

Abbott succeeded Henry Schleiff to become President and CEO of Crown Media on June 1, 2009. In his first year, Abbott made a deal with Martha Stewart to create a lifestyle block on Hallmark Channel that premiered in March 2010. He also pursued greater recognition of Hallmark, based on the volume of its original programming, including holiday projects. By 2011, Broadcasting & Cable found that Abbott's strategy of differentiating Hallmark Movie Channel was paying off. Abbott began Hallmark's "Countdown to Christmas" campaign, which most recently featured Mariah Carey's directorial debut in A Christmas Melody. He also aimed to produce content that could provide synergy between Hallmark Cards and Hallmark Media Networks, with an eye towards the channel's first scripted series.

In 2012, he revived the daytime Emmy-nominated lifestyle program The Home and Family Show. Abbott also diversified and expanded the network's content to include primetime scripted series including Cedar Cove (2013–2015) and When Calls the Heart (2014–Present), an honoree of the 2016 Christopher Spirit Award. Abbott has credited the channel's annual Kitten Bowl, which debuted in 2014 and has run annually since, as "a solid business proposition" by reaching new audiences and getting a large number of views for its digital content. A further animal-based franchise, including Hero Dog Awards and Paw Star Game have particularly appealed to advertisers. Separately, he oversaw the 2014 rebranding of Hallmark Movie Channel to Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, which has grown rapidly in terms of ratings and wider distribution.

Abbott has found advantages in having Hallmark be independent by being able to work quickly and flexibly, but has criticized The Cable Act of 1992 as creating an uneven playing field. He has found success catering to older demographics compared to other networks by "bucking the trend in the entire business."

Abbott grew up on Long Island, New York and remains a fan of the New York Yankees in baseball and New York Islanders in hockey. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1984. His early work experience includes positions as a spot buyer for the agency Nadler & Larimer in 1984-1985, a research manager for Seltel Inc. from 1985-1987, and a research manager for CBS Radio Networks in 1988. In cable television, he began work at the start of The Family Channel in 1988 and continued through its later operation as Fox Family Worldwide in various advertising sales and research positions. He was promoted to senior vice president of advertising sales for Fox Family Worldwide, and represented both Fox Family Channel and Fox Kids Network for advertising sales, working with Margaret Loesch, whom he followed to the Odyssey Network as it transitioned to Hallmark Channel.