I'm sadly old enough to remember it being on practically every channel for weeks every year at the holiday season when I was in my tweens. If I remember correctly, somehow the copyright was allowed to lapse in the '70s, allowing it to be legally shown without having to pay for the priviledge. Thats how I and many others first learned to love it. If you had to turn it off for some reason and missed some of it, it would literally be on again in like 3 hours. And keep in mind this was pre-cable TV. LOL. Then that bozo who owned TNT went and colorized it in the 80's. I remember buying a dollar store VHS tape of the colorized version for like two bucks back in the 90's, and literally turning down the color on my TV so I could enjoy watching it as it was meant to be. It's still in a three-way tie for my top Holiday movie with the original Grinch and A Charlie Brown Christmas. What's so great about it is that it manages to be relevant and meaningful even if you aren't religious. I'm an atheist, and I can still respect and appreciate it's message. EDIT: And OMG Donna Reed was sooo beautiful!