December 10, 2009

CableFAX: 41. Answer Man: Bill Abbott

Bill Abbott

Title: President/CEO, Crown Media Holdings/Hallmark Channels
Age: In the family friendly demo
Education: BA, College of the Holy Cross
Social Media Quotient: 3

Why Him? There’s nobody more different in style from Henry Schleiff than understated former ad-sales chief Abbott, who replaced Jaunty Henry in May. Plenty of questions surround Hallmark. Can Hallmark Channel recover its Top 10 ratings spot this holiday season? Will ad sales grow? (Q3 sales were down 7% vs the ’08 period. Affiliate revenue offset much of that drop.) Will Hallmark launch a series? One thing’s certain, the man who doubled ad sales for Crown in the past four years knows from questions. He was one of the few 100 to answer nearly all of ours. Many thanks, Bill.

Favorite Food: Pizza

Drink: A glass of ice water!

Favorite Restaurant: Christiano’s, Syosset, NY, Billy Joel wrote Scenes from an Italian Restaurant about it.

Last Book Read: ESPN — The Company

When I Need to Recharge, I: Walk my dogs.

Cable in ’10: Up, up, up

In ’10 the Economy Will: Be better than expected.

Favorite iPhone/Blackberry App: None

A Day Without Facebook is: A good day

Twitter is: Just awful

Favorite Part of My Job: Analyzing ratings

Worst Part of My Job: Being away from my family and animals.

Trait I Most Admire in People: Integrity

Fave Show Not on Hallmark: Meet The Press

3 Things I’d Take to a Deserted Island: My dogs, my wife, my kids (not in that order!)

Childhood Hero: Bryan Trottier

I Wish My Kids Would: Grow up to be solid citizens with good educations and respected in their trades.

Best Business Advice: Be prepared.