Hallmark grants fans’ wish in moving films to streaming in 2024
Hallmark grants fans’ wish in moving films to streaming in 2024
The one major complaint from Hallmark lovers about the launch of Hallmark+ was that they couldn’t watch new movies on the streamer.
It appears that Hallmark fans are getting their wish. The feel-good entertainment company had been attempting to thread a particularly difficult needle with the rebranding of its subscription video-on-demand streaming service Hallmark+. In an effort to not upset their linear distribution partners, when Hallmark refreshed and relaunched its streamer, its library was highlighted by a handful of exciting original movies and series, built on the foundation of years of films that originally aired on the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Mystery. However, what was noticeably lacking and increasingly frustrating to fans was that those channels’ new films were not available to stream on the service. Now, it appears that will change in the new year.
Key Details:
- All new Hallmark and Hallmark Mystery films will be available on Hallmark+ next day in 2025.
- Hallmark has made three dozen 2024 holiday films available on the service now.
- Currently, the only way to watch Hallmark movies via an on-demand streamer is through Peacock.
According to a report from Variety, all new films that premiere on Hallmark’s two main channels (Hallmark Family does not currently premiere new titles) will be available to stream on Hallmark+ the day after they air on the cable channels. to prepare, this week alone, the company has made 36 films available on the service that had previously only been available on the linear channels. Soon, Hallmark+ subscribers will have access to over 40 new films, including all of the 2024 Countdown to Christmas films that have been debuting for the past three months.
Ahead of Hallmark+’s launch, the company’s EVP of programming Lisa Hamilton Daly told me that while things were somewhat fluid, there would generally be about a nine-month window between when films debuted on the cable channels and when they would be available on streaming, and vice versa for streaming premieres.
Currently, the only place to stream new Hallmark cable channel releases on-demand is on Peacock which inked a deal with the rom-com specialists in 2022 that allowed new films to stream for 72 hours following their initial release. It appears that this partnership will continue, but by Hallmark+ beginning to stream movies the next day, it is likely better for Hallmark fans to now migrate over to the brand’s in-house streamer, since it will almost certainly not be burdened with the same contractual three-day limited window.
In addition to a curated Hallmark on-demand library, Peacock also airs around-the-clock streams of all three of Hallmark’s cable channels, something that — as of now — Hallmark+ does not offer. The reason that the streamer hasn’t incorporated its linear channels is likely the same for why it did not initially make Hallmark+ the streaming home for its original films. While there has been much discussion across the entertainment industry about the declining reliability of linear broadcast and cable channels, as Hallmark is still considered one of the cornerstones of the cable bundle, the company does not want to do anything to jeopardize its relationships with cable and satellite distributors that could undercut its carriage fees in the future.
“We still are protecting that linear experience for our linear-first customers and giving them something that feels exclusive,” Daly told me in September. “We hope that everyone signs up for SVOD, but that may not be possible for everyone, so we want to still be sure that that experience is protected and special for them.”
Hallmark movies made available on Hallmark+ this week:
Hallmark+
Hallmark+ is a cable-free subscription service that offers thousands of hours of Hallmark’s signature feel-good programming in the form of movies and ongoing series. Nearly all media found on the service is exclusive to the Hallmark brand, created either specifically for Hallmark+, or pulled from another source such as Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Mystery, or Hallmark Family. The service can be added as a channel to Prime Video.