How Holiday TV Became Cable's Hottest Battleground

AMC, Food Network and Lifetime are challenging Hallmark and Freeform

On cable TV, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas—and not just on Freeform’s 25 Days of Christmas and Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas, which for the past decade have dominated the season by airing round-the-clock holiday content throughout December (Hallmark has been at it since Oct. 27). This year, several of their cable competitors, who had previously stuck to occasional holiday specials or movies, have ramped up their own holiday offerings in hopes of getting a bigger slice of the December ad revenue pie.

AMC’s Best Christmas Ever, running from Nov.

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This story first appeared in the November 26, 2018, issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.