Country | United States |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Nationwide |
Headquarters | Studio City, Los Angeles, California |
Programming | |
Language(s) | English |
Picture format |
|
Ownership | |
Owner | Hallmark Media |
Sister channels | Hallmark Channel Hallmark Family |
History | |
Launched | January 20, 2004 |
Former names |
|
Links | |
Website | www |
Availability | |
Streaming media | |
Service(s) | Frndly TV, fuboTV, Philo, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV |
Hallmark Mystery (formerly known as Hallmark Movie Channel (HMC) and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (HMM)) is an American digital cable and satellite television channel owned by Hallmark Media, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. The channel was spun off from sister network Hallmark Channel, and airs family-oriented feature and television films along with a limited number of murder- and mystery-themed television series.
As of February 2015, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries is available to approximately 55,827,000 pay television households (48% of households with television) in the United States. [1]
The Hallmark Movie Channel was launched in January 2004 as an outlet for additional movies and series available to the Hallmark Channel (HC) that the station did not have the airtime to run. Two series were initially picked up, with Magnum, P.I. available at launch and Diagnosis: Murder available in January 2005. [2] Crown Media shifted showing their Mystery Movie film series in 2008 from Hallmark Channel to this channel as they were having more success with lighter romances. [3] [4] On April 2, 2008, the channel was switched over to HD format. [5]
AT&T U-verse dropped Hallmark Channel and sister channel Hallmark Movie Channel on September 1, 2010, due to a carriage dispute. [6] As of July 23, 2015, both channels have returned to U-verse. [7] In July 2012 during a retransmission consent dispute with Hearst Television, the network was slotted by Time Warner Cable in place of Hearst's broadcast television stations as a 'free preview' and make-good for viewers until the dispute was settled. [8]
On March 14, 2014, Crown Media Holdings announced that Hallmark Movie Channel would be rebranded as Hallmark Movies & Mysteries in October 2014. [9] In rebranding, the company was trying to differentiate between the two channels, which feature different programming. With the new name, Hallmark reestablished a mystery wheel series under the name "Original Mystery Wheel" in 2015, [9] having previously had one on the Hallmark Channel from 2004 to 2008. [3] [10]
After running several repeats of the Jesse Stone films in 2015, the channel agreed to pick up the next two films in the series from Sony Pictures Television. [11] On Monday, November 11, 2015, Hallmark Movie Channel started its first "The Most Wonderful Movies of Christmas" seasonal programming. [12]
On July 28, 2017, it was reported that Crown Media would add a brand new cable network titled Hallmark Drama (now Hallmark Family), which launched on October 1, 2017, and a subscription video on demand streaming service titled Hallmark Movies Now on October 3 of the same year. [13] [14]
Two new development deals along with new installments of existing movie series were announced by the channel. Al Roker signed a deal for his The Midnight Show Murders: A Billy Blessing Novel and Scandal inspiration Judy Smith, a crisis communications specialist, made a deal for the movie The Adjuster. [15] Although The Adjuster never made it into production, in 2021, Smith was developing a new film titled Redemption in Cherry Springs. [16]
On February 6, 2024, Hallmark Media announced Hallmark Movies & Mysteries would be renamed Hallmark Mystery on March 6, 2024. [17]
The channel features mystery, western, and family-friendly movies and mini-series mainly from the Hallmark Channel library, notably original films that had once premiered on Hallmark Channel at an earlier date. The channel also has featured a small number of films from Hallmark Hall of Fame, Walt Disney Pictures and Touchstone Pictures. It also broadcasts the McBride , Murder 101 , Jane Doe , and Mystery Woman film series, as well as later Perry Mason and Matlock made-for-TV movies produced after the end of those series.
The first original movie to premiere on the channel was Son of the Dragon on April 2, 2008, this was followed by a continuous stream of original movie premieres. [18] In July 2010, the channel began airing scripted television series to its schedule. Currently, these syndicated series mostly include mystery series and Hallmark Channel original series.
As a companion to Hallmark Channel's "Countdown to Christmas" event, the network also airs a large number of Christmas-themed films during the later months of the year, branded as "Miracles of Christmas". [19]
In March 2009, the network announced that it was partnering with the NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and TV to showcase short films by the school's students and alumni. The shorts began airing in October, and were also available for viewing online at the network's website hallmarkmoviechannel.com. Alec Baldwin is a Tisch alum who served as one of the judges to determine which films would appear on the network. [50] [51]
Lacey Nicole Chabert is an American actress. One of her first roles as a child actress was the part of Bianca Montgomery, the daughter of Erica Kane, on All My Children from 1992 to 1993. She gained further prominence for her portrayal of Claudia Salinger in the Fox television drama Party of Five (1994–2000).
Hallmark Media is an American media production company with corporate headquarters located in Studio City, California, and is a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards.
Hallmark Channel is an American cable television network owned by Hallmark Media, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies.
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.
Cameron Arthur Mathison is a Canadian-American actor and television host. From 1997 to 2011, he played Ryan Lavery in All My Children. Since 2021, he has portrayed the role of Drew Cain on General Hospital.
Kristoffer Polaha is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles on television as Jason Matthews in North Shore, Nathaniel "Baze" Bazile in Life Unexpected, and Henry Butler in Ringer. He has also appeared in films Devil's Knot (2013), Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).
Peter Sullivan is an American screenwriter, film director, and film producer. He has more than 150 producing credits and directed more than 40 movies, most of them was made-for-television.
Niall Matter is a Canadian actor. Following recovery from a serious accident sustained while working on an oil rig, Matter chose to pursue a full-time acting career. He received his first significant break in 2007, with a main role in teen drama The Best Years. Later in the same year, he joined the cast of Eureka as bad-boy genius Zane Donovan. In 2009 he had a small supporting role in Zack Snyder's film Watchmen. He went on to star as Evan Cross in the short-lived 2012 series Primeval: New World. His career subsequently moved away from science fiction, seeing him star in several television movies, as well as joining Canadian series such as Remedy, Arctic Air and When Calls the Heart.
Brad Krevoy is a film producer, entrepreneur, and founder and chairman/CEO of the Motion Picture Corporation of America. Over his 37-year career, Krevoy has been involved in the production and distribution of more than 250 film and television projects, most notably Dumb and Dumber, and Christmas-themed entertainment, including the A Christmas Prince and The Princess Switch trilogies, as well as Falling for Christmas and Irish Wish.
Motion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA) is an American film production company specializing in the production, acquisition and distribution of low-budget films.
Aurora Teagarden is a fictional character created by author Charlaine Harris. She is the protagonist of a series of eleven crime novels written from 1990 to 2017. Hallmark Movies & Mysteries began adapting the novels in 2014 for their original film series The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries with Candace Cameron Bure in the title role, part of the network’s "Mystery Wheel" umbrella series.
Erin Krakow is an American actress and producer. She appeared in the Lifetime TV series Army Wives, and stars as Elizabeth Thatcher in the Hallmark TV series When Calls the Heart.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered, also known as Lost Letter Mysteries, is a drama/romantic comedy television series that aired on the Hallmark Channel in 2014 from April 20 through June 22. Created by Touched by an Angel's Martha Williamson, Signed, Sealed, Delivered focuses on four dedicated United States Postal Service employees who work in the dead letter office. They take it upon themselves to track down intended recipients of undeliverable mail. Similarly to her previous program, the show promotes Williamson's Christian beliefs through the faith of the characters. It is set in Denver, Colorado but filmed mostly in the Vancouver area. On October 12, 2013, a two-hour pilot movie aired on Hallmark and was a ratings success. It was the number-one television movie on its airdate and the number-two movie for that week. The movie was watched by 1.72 million viewers. Following one season of the TV series, Hallmark announced Signed, Sealed, Delivered would transition to a series of television films on its Hallmark Mystery channel.
Hallmark+ is subscription video on-demand service owned by Hallmark Media. It primarily carries family-friendly movies, documentaries and short films, including Hallmark Hall of Fame movies and original content tied to Hallmark's cable networks.
Murder, She Baked is an American/Canadian television film series based on the cozy mystery novels written by Joanne Fluke. The television films are centered around small-town baker Hannah Swensen, portrayed by Alison Sweeney, and Detective Mike Kingston, played by Cameron Mathison. Five films for the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel were created based on Fluke's book series, with the fifth movie airing on March 26, 2017. The films took a four-year hiatus before returning as the Hannah Swensen Mysteries. The films are set in the fictional town of Eden Lake in Minnesota, reverting to Lake Eden like in the novels in the sixth film.
Hallmark Family is an American cable television channel owned by Hallmark Cards' Hallmark Media. It is the sister channel to Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Mystery, and focuses on family-friendly dramatic storytelling.
The Father Christmas film series is an American/Canadian trilogy, starring Erin Krakow and Niall Matter, based on the novels of Robin Jones Gunn. The films were originally broadcast in the USA on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, as part of the channels' "Miracles of Christmas" seasonal programming.
Hailey Dean Mysteries is an American/Canadian mystery film series that stars Kellie Martin as the titular character, Hailey Dean, a prosecutor working with the District Attorney's office who later quits her job to become a marriage counselor and therapist and is based on characters from Nancy Grace’s best-selling series of “Hailey Dean Mystery” novels. The series is set in Atlanta and airs on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel in the US. Kellie Martin is not the first actress to portray Hailey Dean. Jennie Garth took on the role in a 2012 Lifetime movie based on Nancy Grace's first book in the series, "The 11th Victim". This movie was also produced by Nancy Grace.
Christopher McNally is a Canadian-born actor most noted for his role as Lucas Bouchard in the Hallmark Channel series When Calls the Heart (2019–present).