Hallmark Channel is backing the 25th-anniversary airing of classic
miniseries Roots with an affiliate marketing campaign that kicks off
Wednesday.
Sponsors in the promotion include genealogy site RootsWeb.com and restaurant
chain Red Lobster.
Contest entrants will be asked to send in a brief history of their family
roots. One national winner will receive a reunion for 50 family members, with
festivities tailored to their heritage.
Hallmark affiliates at 37 cable systems are promoting the contest to local
schools and families.
In each market, one family will receive a complete DVD collection of the
miniseries, and five students will be honored with $100 donations in their name
to the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation, named for the series' main character
and the author of the best-selling book that spawned the television event.
As a salute to Black History Month, winning entries will be posted on
Hallmark.com in February.
Roots will air on Hallmark Sunday, Jan. 20, through Friday, Jan. 25, from
9 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Hallmark late last month added 159,000 Time Warner Cable customers in Los
Angeles to its roster.
The programmer said Tuesday that the cable operator plans to fully distribute
the channel to all 350,800 of its Los Angeles subscribers by the end of this
year.
