Hallmark Wants to Talk to AT&T

By John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 9/6/2010 12:01:00 AM

WASHINGTON — Hallmark Channels said Friday (Sept. 3) that negotiations had not resumed with AT&T over carriage of its channels on the 2.5-millionsubscriber U-verse TV service, but that it was “ready and willing” to talk.

An AT&T spokesperson had no comment on the offer beyond citing AT&T’s Sept. 1 statement, which said the telco’s customers “had been denied a fair deal by Hallmark and Hallmark Movie Channel” and that U-verse no longer had the rights to carry the channels as of one minute after midnight on Aug. 31, after the two sides could not come to terms on a new carriage agreement.

Hallmark said AT&T sent it a termination notice, while AT&T said it offered to keep the channels on during the impasse, under existing terms, but Hallmark declined.

Both sides have declined to comment on the specifics of the impasse.

The channels were replaced on U-verse by Starz Kids and Turner Classic Movies programming.