William J. "Bill" Abbott (born April 25, 1962) is the President and CEO of GAC Media since 2021. He is the former president and CEO of

Crown Media Hallmark Media (formerly Crown Media Holdings) is an American media production company with corporate headquarters located in Studio City, California, and is a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. Hallmark Media consists of Crown Media Productions and ...

Family Networks, the parent of

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies and ...

and

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (formerly known as Hallmark Movie Channel, and also known as HMM) is an American digital cable and satellite television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings. The channel was spun off from sister network Hallmark Chann ...

. When he became Crown Media CEO in 2009, he spearheaded the addition of scripted series for primetime, including '' Cedar Cove'' and ''

When Calls the Heart ''When Calls the Heart'' is an American television drama series, inspired by Janette Oke's book of the same name from her ''Canadian West series'', and developed by Michael Landon Jr. The series began airing on the Hallmark Channel in the Unit ...

'', 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 also received the Diversity Partner Award from the T. Howard Foundation in 2016.

Early life and career

Abbott grew up on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

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 to 1987, and a research manager for

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...

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 ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Television that is responsible for the operations of the U.S. cable network Freeform. The company was originally formed as International Family Entertainment, a spin-off of the Christian Broad ...

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 The American cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and six different name changes) during its hi ...

and Fox Kids Network for advertising sales, working with

Margaret Loesch Margaret Ann Loesch () is an American television executive and producer. She is the former President and CEO of Discovery Communications and Hasbro Inc's joint venture television network Hub Network. On June 12, 2014, she announced that she would ...

, whom he followed to the

Odyssey Network The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies an ...

as it transitioned to Hallmark Channel.

Crown Media

Abbott joined Crown Media Family Networks in 2000 as its executive

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

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, he oversaw the launch of

Hallmark Movie Channel Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (formerly known as Hallmark Movie Channel, and also known as HMM) is an American digital cable and satellite television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings. The channel was spun off from sister network Hallmark Cha ...

. During his tenure as EVP of advertising sales, Hallmark Channel's annual advertising revenue increased from $10.2 million to $223 million.

As CEO

Abbott succeeded Henry Schleiff as president and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Crown Media, June 1, 2009. In his first year, Abbott made a deal with

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pub ...

to create a lifestyle block on Hallmark Channel that premiered in March 2010. The following year, Abbott launched Hallmark's "Countdown to Christmas" campaign, and in 2015 featured

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

in her directorial debut in ''

A Christmas Melody ''A Christmas Melody'', also known under its working title of ''Mistletoe & Melody'', is a 2015 American Christmas television film directed by Mariah Carey, who co-stars with Lacey Chabert. It was filmed in Ohio during October 2015, and premiered ...

'', with 17 new original movies. In 2012, he revived the daytime Emmy-nominated lifestyle program ''

The Home and Family Show ''Home & Family'' (formerly ''The Home and Family Show'') is an American daytime talk show. The series originally premiered on April 1, 1996, on The Family Channel, and was dropped by the network immediately prior to its 1998 relaunch as the Fox ...

''. Abbott also diversified and expanded the network's content to include primetime scripted series including '' Cedar Cove'' and ''

,'' an honoree of the 2016 Christopher Spirit Award. Separately, he oversaw the 2014 rebranding of Hallmark Movie Channel to

. In January 2020, Abbott stepped down as

of Crown Media, a little more than a month after the network apologized for removing advertisements featuring same-sex couples from the air which were restored a few days after being removed

Great American Media

In June 2021, Abbott became a partner with Hicks Equity Partners on GAC Media, a newly formed media company that acquired the cable channels

Great American Country Great American Family is an American cable television network. Owned by Great American Media, it broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies. It was originally established in ...

and Ride TV. GAC was relaunched as GAC Family in September 2021, repositioning it as a family-oriented network with a similar format to Hallmark Channel. The network acquired the ''When Calls the Heart'' spin-off ''

When Hope Calls ''When Hope Calls'' is an American drama television series. The series is a spin-off of Hallmark Channel's ''When Calls the Heart'', which is based on the ''Canadian West'' book series by Janette Oke. It premiered on August 30, 2019 as the inau ...

'', and began hiring talent associated with Hallmark Channel productions to appear in its own competing slate of made-for-TV movies (with the channel establishing "Great American Christmas" as a direct competitor to Hallmark's Countdown to Christmas lineup).

Family

He had been married more than once and has four children; his eldest daughter is from his first marriage.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, William J. Living people 1962 births American chief executives in the media industry College of the Holy Cross alumni 21st-century American businesspeople