William J. Abbott of Crown Media Holdings to Speak at The Hollywood Networking Breakfast

On April 28, 2011 The Hollywood Networking Breakfast will host guest speaker William J. Abbott, President and Chief Executive Officer of Crown Media Holdings, Inc. owner of the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel.

The Hollywood Networking Breakfast, named The Best Networking Event in L.A. by Backstage West in its "Best in L.A." issue, is a monthly meeting of producers, writers, actors, film financiers and other industry professionals that meets the last Thursday of every month.

April's speaker is William J. Abbott. of Crown Media Holdings, President and Chief Executive Officer for Crown Media Holdings, Inc., owner and operator of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel.

Bill Abbott oversees a team of seasoned executives who manage the day-to-day operations of all facets of the Hallmark channels, including programming, marketing, ad sales, distribution, finance, legal and online initiatives. Abbott is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of leadership experience in family television, the last nine of which have been at Crown Media.

Abbott and his team have positioned the channel well, and it is known for its high-quality family programming, continuous top 10 ratings leadership in C3 audience retention and length-of-tune among all ad-supported cable networks.

Most recently, Abbott served as the company's Executive Vice President, where he is credited with increasing advertising revenues for Hallmark Channel from $10.2 million to $223 million in 2008, setting the network apart as an industry leader. Prior to that, Abbott launched the "Sponsorship Solutions Unit,' a revolutionary department that provides advertisers with unique opportunities to prominently showcase their message within Hallmark Channel programming. The Unit's "movie entitlements' allow advertisers to platform their brands and products in programming with a reduced commercial load that is proven to increase viewer engagement and length-of-tune.

Abbott has been with Crown Media since 2000. Prior to that he was at Fox Family Worldwide, CBS Radio Networks, Seltel, Inc. and Nadler & Larimer Advertising. He is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.

For complete details about the Hollywood Networking Breakfast, and Bill Abbott's appearance, please visit http://www.hollywoodnetworkingbreakfast.com.

The Hollywood Networking Breakfast, named The Best Networking Event in L.A. by Backstage West in its "Best in L.A." issue, is a monthly meeting of producers, writers, actors, film financiers and other industry professionals that meets the last Thursday of every month.

Past speakers have included Academy Award, Emmy Award, Golden Globe, Directors Guild and Peabody Award winning and nominated producers, directors, writers, and others. Ron Meyer, Paula Wagner, John Singleton, Laura Ziskin, Tom Ortenberg, Craig Zadan & Neil Meron, Stan Lee, Reuben Cannon, Greg Berlanti, David Nevins, Anthony Zuiker, David E. Kelley, Garry Marshall, Penny Marshall, Wes Craven, Lynda Obst, Dayna Kalins Bochco, Marty Katz, Mike Medavoy, Ron Schwary, Ashok Amritraj, Kevin Hooks, James Burrows, Phil Rosenthal, Peter Block, Jeremy Zimmer, Simon Kinberg, Henry Winkler, George Tillman & Bob Teitel, Paris Barclay, Moctezuma Esparza, Mario Van Peebles, among many others

Sandra Lord
Changing Images In America
The Hollywood Networking Breakfast
P.O. Box 2688, Hollywood, CA 90078, U.S.A.
(323) 465-9800
news@hgenonline.com

This release was published on openPR.