Contact: Mark Braff, 201-612-0707

ATLANTA, April 13, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- GMC, America's favorite channel for uplifting music and family entertainment, announced today that the recently-acquired family drama Heartland will make its network premiere on Thursday, April 14 with back-to-back episodes at 7 and 8 pm ET (encores at 9 and 10 pm ET and 11 pm and midnight ET, and on Sunday at 11 pm and midnight ET). The hour-long Heartland, a top-rated series in Canada called "a modern-day Little House on the Prairie," was acquired by GMC in a U.S. cable rights deal with Genesis International Television and Film.

Starring Amber Marshall (The Elizabeth Smart Story), Heartland is the struggle of a debt-ridden family of Rocky Mountain horse ranchers fighting to keep a dream alive against a backdrop of young love, conflict and intrigue. Veteran actor Shaun Johnston (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee); Michelle Morgan (Stargate: Atlantis) and Graham Wardle (In the Land of Women, Yesterday) also star.

"Heartland fits like a glove onto our family-friendly programming lineup," said Leslie Chesloff, executive vice president, programming for GMC. "It tells the type of inspiring and uplifting story that we have made our own in the cable landscape, and the production values are first-rate."

In Canada, the series -- now in its fifth season -- leads in households and all key individual female and male demos in its 7 p.m. time slot on Sundays on CBC Television (Canada's national broadcaster).

Heartland is produced by SEVEN24 Films and Dynamo Films for CBC.

About Genesis International Television and Film
Genesis International TV produces and/or distributes first-run and off-network programming to syndication, broadcast and cable networks in the U.S. and Canada.

About GMC
GMC (www.watchGMCtv.com), the fastest-growing network in television and the number one digital network in perceived value (source: BETA Research), is America's favorite channel for uplifting music and family entertainment. In 2010, The Parents Television Council™ awarded its Entertainment Seal of Approval™ to GMC for being "an authentic family-friendly cable network." GMC was the only television network to receive the highly coveted honor last year. GMC can be seen in nearly 48 million homes on various cable systems around the country, on DIRECTV on channel 338 and on Verizon FiOS on channel 224.