Hallmark Channel is an American cable television network owned by Hallmark Media, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies.
The channel has its origins in the religious broadcasters American Christian Television System (ACTS) and the Vision Interfaith Satellite Network (VISN). The two services timeshared on a single satellite signal, which was later rebranded as The Faith & Values Channel in 1993. After Liberty Media acquired a 49% stake in the channel in 1996, it relaunched as the Odyssey Network. As Odyssey, the channel gradually phased out religious programming in favor of family-oriented films and television series—a pivot that intensified after Hallmark Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company acquired major stakes in the channel in 1998.
In 2001, after a corporate reorganization, Odyssey rebranded as Hallmark Channel. By the 2010s, Hallmark Channel had established a focus on made-for-TV movies—particularly romance films and comedies—themed around specific seasons and holidays throughout the year. The strategy sought to create synergies with Hallmark's core greeting card business, and build upon the strength of the "Countdown to Christmas" programming event it first introduced in 2009.
In 2019, The New Yorker magazine published an article about the Hallmark Channel and its dominance over North American cable television and the cable industry using Christmas themed movies to gain popularity. , Hallmark Channel is available to approximately 70 million pay television households in the United States—down from its 2015 peak of 90 million households.
History
The Hallmark Channel traces its history to the launch of two separate religious cable channels, the American Christian Television System (ACTS) and the Vision Interfaith Satellite Network (VISN). The two networks began alternating time on a shared transponder slot on the Galaxy III satellite in 1992. Under the original timeshare agreement, the network was branded as VISN/ACTS. Each network was provided time for its programming blocks, and would use their own logos.
VISN launched on July 1, 1988, and was founded by the National Interfaith Cable Coalition (NICC), in cooperation with several cable providers. The coalition's membership consisted of 65 different religious groups. It aired for about 16 hours a day and ran religious programs from mainline Protestant denominations such as the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ. In addition, Roman Catholic, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jewish, and Islamic faiths also provided some programming. VISN aired during the morning and evening hours. ACTS commenced operations in 1984, and was owned by the Southern Baptist Convention. It aired programming from evangelical and fundamentalist non-charismatic Christian groups such as the SBC, the Christian Reformed Church, and the Association of Regular Baptist Churches, as well as well-known evangelists such as Jerry Falwell, Charles Stanley and D. James Kennedy. Both channels aired several hours a week of religious children's programs, some of which overlapped, including Sunshine Factory, Joy Junction, Davey and Goliath, and Jot.
In 1993, VISN-ACTS was relaunched as the Faith & Values Channel; it began adding a few secular programs during this time, including news, information, and lifestyle programming
Odyssey Network In 1995, cable conglomerate Tele-Communications Inc.'s Liberty Media acquired a 49% ownership stake in the Faith & Values Channel, and took over operational control of the network. It added more secular programming to the network and reduced religious programming to about 10 hours a day. In 1996, the network was rebranded as the Odyssey Network (although on-air promotions often referred to the network simply as "Odyssey"), and launched a website, Odysseyfamily.com.
Hallmark Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company bought significant stakes, paid partly through programming commitments, in Odyssey in late 1998; by this time, Odyssey carried a mix of religious programming and family-friendly secular shows, with a limited amount of original productions. Liberty had convinced Hallmark not to launch its own domestic channel, citing difficulty in getting carriage for a new network on existing cable systems. The NICC and Hallmark-Henson would hold equal shares while Liberty increased their stake, and the three groups shared control of the board. Hallmark and Henson would have say over chief executive selection. While adding Henson's and Hallmark's libraries, the channel could not make major programming format changes, so cable systems could not drop them. Hallmark hired former Fox Kids Network worldwide vice-chairman Margaret Loesch that year to overhaul Odyssey into a family channel (Loesch had quit Fox in late 1997, ironically after News Corporation acquired Odyssey's rival, The Family Channel, with plans to revamp that network; however, she had to wait out a non-compete clause in her contract before officially joining Odyssey).
Under the new ownership structure, Odyssey underwent a major programming revamp on April 4, 1999; the revamp decreased the amount of religious programs on the network down to an average of four hours a day, although more hours were religious on the weekend. The channel began to focus more on family-targeted entertainment programming, including classic sitcoms and variety series (such as ALF and The Muppet Show), children's programs (such as The Archie Show, Fraggle Rock, and Zoobilee Zoo), and family-oriented films and miniseries (such as the cable broadcast premiere of Hallmark and Henson's 1996 adaptation of Gulliver's Travels). The afternoon block Leonard Maltin Presents featured films from the RHI Entertainment-owned Hal Roach Studios library, while Wednesday nights featured classic Hallmark Hall of Fame productions.
Loesch explained that the three owners shared a commitment to "quality programming" and "raising the bar on television", and that the channel was being programmed in a direction reminiscent of television in the 1950s and 1960s, where broadcasters "really had quite broad fare, but you never had to ask anyone to leave the room, like your children".
Hallmark Channel In 2000, Odyssey's ownership group was re-organized as Crown Media Holdings, with Hallmark, Chase Equity Associates, Liberty Media, and the NICC transferring their shares in Odyssey to the company. There were plans for the company to go public; Hallmark received all of Crown Media's class B shares, which were worth ten votes each, thus giving it control of Crown Media. After The Jim Henson Company was sold to German company EM.TV & Merchandising in February 2000, it sold its remaining stake in Odyssey the following month in exchange for 8% of Crown Media's stock.
In March 2001, Crown Media announced that Odyssey would rebrand as Hallmark Channel on August 6, taking advantage of the better-known Hallmark brand to encourage wider carriage. Loesch commented that some viewers had mistaken Odyssey as being a travel or science fiction channel rather than family entertainment, and that Hallmark Channel's main goal would be telling "great stories". Crown Media negotiated with the NICC to reduce the amount of religious programming Hallmark Channel would air to 14 hours per-week (as well as allow for less overtly-religious programs with broader, spiritual themes), and help fund and distribute a digital cable network for the NICC. The channel's launch programming included the miniseries The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells, a new slate of original movies, and acquired programming such as Tales from the Neverending Story.
In 2002, the Hallmark Channel premiered a weekday morning talk show, New Morning. A Sunday morning version, hosted by Naomi Judd, titled Naomi's New Morning, debuted in 2005 and lasted two years before being pulled from the schedule in early 2007. In 2004, the network launched a sister channel, Hallmark Movie Channel.
Hallmark Channels in international markets were sold for about $242 million in 2005 to Sparrowhawk Media, a private equity group backed by Providence Equity Partners and 3i. The channel in 2005 had its highest-rated year with 34% increase in viewers, being ranked seventh in growth, and the highest-rated movie on a basic cable network (Meet the Santas).
With the expiration of RHI Entertainment's exclusive contract with Hallmark Channel, Larry Levinson Productions became the channel's sole producer. In 2007, additional producers were added as suppliers as the channel increased the number of original films by 50% from 20 in 2007 to 30 in 2008.
In January 2008, the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign purchased an hour of Hallmark Channel's primetime slots under a paid programming arrangement to run a town hall special promoting Clinton's campaign for President of the United States on February 4, the day before the multi-state "Super Tuesday" primaries. The wheel series "Mystery Movie" was discontinued in 2008 as the channel was doing better with lighter romances. Reporting on Hallmark Channel's 2009 upfronts, The New York Observer noted that the channel had built a brand on formulaic romantic movies, explaining that "while other media companies were thrashing around in a tumultuous, confusing sea of unpredictability, the Hallmark Channel was thriving with the television equivalent of comfort food."
Bill Abbott era, Martha Stewart agreement In May 2009, William J. "Bill" Abbott—who had previously held an advertising sales role—succeeded Henry Schleiff as president of Hallmark Channel. Abbott planned to retool its programming to appeal to younger viewers without alienating its core audience of baby boomers, aiming for Hallmark Channel to become "a destination for lighter fare, for comedies and quality programming" that was "true" to the Hallmark brand. In a 2019 interview, Abbott explained of these goals that "you should turn on our channel and almost feel like you're walking into a [Hallmark Gold Crown] store." The channel also began to experiment with abbreviated commercial breaks featuring one 30-second advertisement, with these slots costing twice the amount of a normal 30-second slot.
Later that year, Hallmark Channel held the inaugural "Countdown to Christmas"—a seasonal programming event featuring four original holiday film premieres, and a Movie Night with Hoops & Yoyo block on Friday nights—the first cross-promotional campaign between Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Cards.
In January 2010, Hallmark Channel announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO), under which first-run episodes of The Martha Stewart Show would move from syndication to Hallmark Channel beginning that September, and MSLO would produce a series of primetime specials for the channel (which would begin with specials focused on Halloween and Christmas). It was reported that Abbott had sought to reposition Hallmark Channel as a lifestyle-oriented channel to compete with the Scripps Networks Interactive channels, and shift its television films exclusively to Hallmark Movie Channel to appeal to younger demographics.
On March 16, 2010, Hallmark Channel also acquired rights to MSLO library content, announcing a daily daytime block (lasting for seven hours on weekdays, and a shorter block on weekends) of these programs beginning March 26. Crown Media and MSLO were also reportedly exploring the formation of a lifestyle cable network as a joint venture, tentatively named "Hallmark Home". In June 2010, the channel ordered several additional MSLO-produced series to accompany Martha, including Mad Hungry with Lucinda and Whatever with Alexis and Jennifer.