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123-518: 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

246-447: A gorilla costume to represent his status as " second banana " to Malone. Yet he had a reputation as "a shrewd and sometimes vicious negotiator". In 1995, TCI acquired the cable television assets of Viacom . In May 1991 United Artists announced a merger deal with their largest shareholder TCI (now Liberty Media ) to form the largest cable operator in the US, a deal valued at $ 142.5m for

369-475: 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

492-571: 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

615-727: 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 ." 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", and for its programming to be "true" to

738-477: A collaboration with a Hallmark Cards property. By 2013, the event featured 12 new movies. Since 2012, the network has held a Christmas in July event with airings of past Hallmark Channel Christmas movies, which is used to promote Hallmark Cards' collectibles for the upcoming season. In 2013, the event included holiday tips from the cast of Home & Family . In 2014, the event added a theatrical movie premiere. By 2015,

861-644: A comeback, and Michael Mahoney of GT Capital expected the proposed deregulation of the cable and telephone industries to increase cable company revenues. Both expected TCI to benefit, especially since TCI owned 30 percent of a joint venture that included Sprint and 10 cable companies with the ability to serve 40 percent of American homes. Cable and phone companies could both offer each other's services, benefiting both companies and customers with product bundling . TCI had plans to upgrade to digital cable and offer more channels and services. Satellite TV providers would be competing to offer digital service, but TCI owned

984-500: 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 . Due to low viewership, Hallmark shortened

1107-664: 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

1230-551: 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

1353-405: A dedicated analog circuit-switched service. Other advantages include better voice quality and integration to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network providing cheap or unlimited nationwide and international calling. In many cases, digital cable telephone service is separate from cable modem service being offered by many cable companies and does not rely on Internet Protocol (IP) traffic or

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1476-571: 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

1599-519: A following among politically conservative viewers in suburban and rural areas who, according to Manhattan Institute for Policy Research 's Steven Malanga in a Los Angeles Times op-ed, feel the network and its original programming feed their desire to "express traditional family values and also to steer away from political themes and stories that denigrate religion." The network's made-for-TV movies are characterized as family-friendly and inspirational, ranging from holiday-themed films to westerns . In

1722-436: A given location, cable distribution lines must be available on the local utility poles or underground utility lines. Coaxial cable brings the signal to the customer's building through a service drop , an overhead or underground cable. If the subscriber's building does not have a cable service drop, the cable company will install one. The standard cable used in the U.S. is RG-6 , which has a 75 ohm impedance , and connects with

1845-543: A high elevation. At the outset, cable systems only served smaller communities without television stations of their own, and which could not easily receive signals from stations in cities because of distance or hilly terrain. In Canada, however, communities with their own signals were fertile cable markets, as viewers wanted to receive American signals. Rarely, as in the college town of Alfred, New York , U.S. cable systems retransmitted Canadian channels. Although early ( VHF ) television receivers could receive 12 channels (2–13),

1968-466: A higher rate. At the local headend, the feed signals from the individual television channels are received by dish antennas from communication satellites . Additional local channels, such as local broadcast television stations, educational channels from local colleges, and community access channels devoted to local governments ( PEG channels) are usually included on the cable service. Commercial advertisements for local business are also inserted in

2091-450: 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,

2214-405: A local VHF television station broadcast. Local broadcast channels were not usable for signals deemed to be a priority, but technology allowed low-priority signals to be placed on such channels by synchronizing their blanking intervals . TVs were unable to reconcile these blanking intervals and the slight changes due to travel through a medium, causing ghosting . The bandwidth of the amplifiers also

2337-553: A major threat yet, represented a possible problem in the future. The good news: satellite companies could not offer local channels or phone service, and individual dishes served only one TV. The new technologies had two benefits for TCI. First, customers would need set-top boxes, which TCI already had ordered from General Instrument. Another advantage was technology developed by a new company called Imedia which would allow four times as many channels to be delivered using existing technology, even in areas not getting fiber-optic service. On

2460-463: A microwave-based system, may be used instead. Coaxial cables are capable of bi-directional carriage of signals as well as the transmission of large amounts of data . Cable television signals use only a portion of the bandwidth available over coaxial lines. This leaves plenty of space available for other digital services such as cable internet , cable telephony and wireless services, using both unlicensed and licensed spectra. Broadband internet access

2583-469: A nationwide system upgrade. The Bell Atlantic deal also fell victim to new federal regulations that reduced cable bills up to 16 percent, costing TCI $ 300 million over two years. Higher spending coupled with lower cash receipts made TCI less attractive to investors, and the stock price dropped to $ 17 a share, half what experts believed the company was worth. Bill Nygren of Harris Associates , known for profiting from TCI's Liberty Media, said TCI could make

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2706-506: A new, over-the-top subscription service known as Hallmark Movies Now , which features new and existing original content from the network. In October 2018, the three Hallmark linear channels were added to streaming service Philo . In November 2017, the channel beat all four major broadcast networks in the ratings one night with its Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, The Christmas Train . In March 2019, Hallmark announced it had dropped Lori Loughlin from future company projects due to her role in

2829-535: A partner with Magness in establishing a partnership for cable TV in Montana. George C. Hatch and Brian Glasmann were also partners in the companies known as Community Television Inc. and Western Microwave Inc. The Magness family moved to Bozeman. Six systems were built, serving a total of 12,000 homes. In 1962, Magness purchased Collier Electric Company, which had subscribers in Wyoming , Colorado , and Nebraska , bringing

2952-410: A plan to buy TCI, second to Time Warner among cable operators with 13 million customers, for $ 32 billion in stock and $ 16 billion in assumed debt. This marked the first major merger between phone and cable since deregulation. The new company, to be called AT&T Consumer Services, planned to "significantly accelerate" efforts to offer digital telephone , data and video services as the companies combined

3075-553: A rarity, found in an ever-dwindling number of markets. Analog television sets are accommodated, their tuners mostly obsolete and dependent entirely on the set-top box. Cable television is mostly available in North America , Europe , Australia , Asia and South America . Cable television has had little success in Africa , as it is not cost-effective to lay cables in sparsely populated areas. Multichannel multipoint distribution service ,

3198-452: A receiver box. The cable company will provide set-top boxes based on the level of service a customer purchases, from basic set-top boxes with a standard-definition picture connected through the standard coaxial connection on the TV, to high-definition wireless digital video recorder (DVR) receivers connected via HDMI or component . Older analog television sets are cable ready and can receive

3321-553: 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

3444-676: A series of signal amplifiers and line extenders. These devices carry the signal to customers via passive RF devices called taps. The very first cable networks were operated locally, notably in 1936 by Rediffusion in London in the United Kingdom and the same year in Berlin in Germany, notably for the Olympic Games , and from 1948 onwards in the United States and Switzerland. This type of local cable network

3567-657: A share of Primestar , and predicted a 28 percent share of the satellite market by the end of 1995. In Fall 1995, Time Warner agreed to exchange $ 8 billion in stock for 82 percent of Turner Broadcasting System . TCI would trade its 21 percent interest in Turner for the third largest stake in Time Warner, or 9 percent. Since the resulting companies would have 40 percent of cable households, enough to cause anti-trust concern, TCI agreed to let Time Warner's Gerald Levin represent TCI. This did not satisfy federal regulators. Malone ended

3690-496: 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

3813-523: A slate of original movies that would include pilots for adaptations of the novels Cedar Cove and When Calls the Heart . In October 2012, ahead of the January 2013 premiere of its pilot movie, Cedar Cove was given a series order as Hallmark Channel's first original primetime program. When Calls the Heart was also picked up as a series in 2013, while Marie! was canceled after one season. On March 15, 2013,

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3936-417: A special telephone interface at the customer's premises that converts the analog signals from the customer's in-home wiring into a digital signal, which is then sent on the local loop (replacing the analog last mile , or plain old telephone service (POTS) to the company's switching center, where it is connected to the public switched telephone network ( PSTN ). The biggest obstacle to cable telephone service

4059-605: A type F connector . The cable company's portion of the wiring usually ends at a distribution box on the building exterior, and built-in cable wiring in the walls usually distributes the signal to jacks in different rooms to which televisions are connected. Multiple cables to different rooms are split off the incoming cable with a small device called a splitter . There are two standards for cable television; older analog cable, and newer digital cable which can carry data signals used by digital television receivers such as high-definition television (HDTV) equipment. All cable companies in

4182-480: A week after their television premieres on ABC . In January 2012, Martha was cancelled by Hallmark Channel due to its high production costs, with production ending after the conclusion of its then-current season. Hallmark Channel was still in discussions over the fate of its other MSLO-produced programming. During its upfronts for the 2012–13 season, Hallmark Channel announced the new daytime talk shows Home & Family and Marie! with Marie Osmond , as well as

4305-422: Is achieved over coaxial cable by using cable modems to convert the network data into a type of digital signal that can be transferred over coaxial cable. One problem with some cable systems is the older amplifiers placed along the cable routes are unidirectional thus in order to allow for uploading of data the customer would need to use an analog telephone modem to provide for the upstream connection. This limited

4428-626: Is branded as Countdown to New Years from December 26 until January 1 and culminates with the channel's broadcast of the Tournament of Roses Parade . Actresses frequently featured in the channel's Christmas films have been promoted as the "Queens of Christmas", including Rachel Boston , Candace Cameron Bure , Lacey Chabert , Erin Krakow , Kellie Martin , Danica McKellar , Autumn Reeser and Alicia Witt . Hallmark's "Christmas TV ratings system" has designations like "F for Family" and "J for Joy". The event

4551-543: Is known for scheduling themed programming around major holidays such as Christmas , Mother's Day , and Valentine's Day —including new original movies relevant to said holiday. With the introduction of its "Countdown to Christmas" branding in 2009, the channel gradually expanded the number of seasonal programming events it holds. By 2016, the network had divided its schedule into themed "seasons" year-round, with original programming aligned with these themes. Crown Media's then-CEO Bill Abbott explained that this strategy allowed

4674-558: Is similar to another animal-themed event that debuted nine years earlier on Animal Planet , the Puppy Bowl . Kitten Bowl II returned on February 1, 2015, and was watched by 1.3 million viewers. A new Kitten Bowl has aired every year since, running repeatedly on Super Bowl Sunday in a three-hour program that includes "playoff games". In 2019, the first edition of the Cat Bowl was shown during that year’s Super Bowl. The eighth and last edition of

4797-482: Is the need for nearly 100% reliable service for emergency calls. One of the standards available for digital cable telephony, PacketCable , seems to be the most promising and able to work with the quality of service (QOS) demands of traditional analog plain old telephone service (POTS) service. The biggest advantage to digital cable telephone service is similar to the advantage of digital cable, namely that data can be compressed, resulting in much less bandwidth used than

4920-576: The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro ). On February 2, 2014, the Hallmark Channel partnered with New York's North Shore Animal League and Last Hope Animal Rescue to debut the Kitten Bowl during Super Bowl XLVIII . The event – hosted by Beth Stern and announcers John Sterling and Mary Carillo  – is designed as counterprogramming to the Super Bowl and airs during the game's halftime show, and

5043-456: The 2019 college admissions bribery scandal . In December 2019, the channel stopped airing advertisements for the online wedding registry Zola.com that included two brides kissing each other, because of complaints that it was lesbians kissing and promoted same-sex marriages . A main complainant was One Million Moms , a division of the socially conservative American Family Association , which has been described as an anti-LGBTQ hate group by

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5166-488: The DVB-C , DVB-C2 stream to IP for distribution of TV over IP network in the home. Many cable companies offer internet access through DOCSIS . In the most common system, multiple television channels (as many as 500, although this varies depending on the provider's available channel capacity) are distributed to subscriber residences through a coaxial cable , which comes from a trunkline supported on utility poles originating at

5289-690: The Southern Poverty Law Center . Similar advertisements with heterosexual couples kissing were not pulled. As a result, social media users called for a boycott of the channel, while competitors like Netflix and the Disney -owned Freeform cable channel responded by touting their LGBTQ inclusivity. On December 15, Hallmark reversed its decision and said it would reinstate the advertisements and work with GLAAD , an LGBTQ media monitoring organization, to create more inclusive programming. The series finale of Good Witch , which aired in July 2021, featured

5412-548: The United States at one time. After going public in 1970, the company grew rapidly, and became the top cable provider in the United States. After a failed merger attempt with Bell Atlantic in 1994, it was purchased in 1999 by AT&T , whose cable television assets in select markets were later acquired by Charter Communications , Cox Communications , and then Cablevision and Comcast Corporation . After graduating from Southwestern Oklahoma State University , Bob Magness

5535-698: 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

5658-611: The high band 7–13 of North American television frequencies . Some operators as in Cornwall, Ontario , used a dual distribution network with Channels 2–13 on each of the two cables. During the 1980s, United States regulations not unlike public, educational, and government access (PEG) created the beginning of cable-originated live television programming. As cable penetration increased, numerous cable-only TV stations were launched, many with their own news bureaus that could provide more immediate and more localized content than that provided by

5781-551: The "Countdown to Christmas " programming event it first introduced in 2009. As of November 2023, Hallmark Channel is available to approximately 70,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2015 peak of 90,000,000 households. The Hallmark Channel traces its history to the launch of two separate religious cable channels, the American Christian Television System (ACTS) and

5904-520: The 15 percent discount on Turner programming that would have lasted 20 years, and Time Warner had to pay $ 67 million to cover TCI's taxes due. Magness died in November 1996, with a 26 percent share of the company. No one believed this meant the end of Malone's tenure as head of TCI, even though Malone called Magness his "mentor" and "father figure". Still, TCI had $ 15 billion in debt and negative cash flow of $ 400 million for 1996. Malone believed he could turn

6027-505: The 2017 holiday season, Hallmark Channel premiered 33 original Christmas holiday films, up from a total of 28 holiday movies in 2016. As of 2017, Hallmark had a total of 136 Christmas holiday-themed movies in their original library of films. That year, it introduced the Christmas in Evergreen franchise, which was based on a Hallmark greeting card line. For 2018, a satellite radio companion to

6150-426: The 50% not already owned by TCI. TCI and US West announced a joint venture, and in 1992 the joint venture company became Telewest Communications . By June, the deal was approved. A week later on June 8 the deal was finalized with TCI acquiring the remaining 46% of United Artists, to allow full control. During the autumn of 1993 talks were also held with Flextech (a British television programming provider). Under

6273-599: The CATV provider for the city of Denver, Colorado and the city of Glendale, Colorado . Mile-Hi Cablevision had been in business since 1983. And prior to the merger, TCI served only the suburbs around the city & county of Denver. In Spring 1993, Bell Atlantic began looking at merger partners, including cable companies. TCI and Liberty Media would be acquired for $ 11.8 billion in stock and assumption of $ 9.8 billion in debt. And $ 5 billion in Liberty properties could likely be added to

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6396-455: 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

6519-503: The Internet. Traditional cable television providers and traditional telecommunication companies increasingly compete in providing voice, video and data services to residences. The combination of television, telephone and Internet access is commonly called triple play , regardless of whether CATV or telcos offer it. More than 400,000 television service subscribers. Tele-Communications Inc. Tele-Communications, Inc. ( TCI )

6642-530: The Kitten Bowl aired in 2021 as Hallmark canceled it the next year. The Hallmark Channel has been criticized for editing its programming to remove what its Standards and Practices department considers offensive words. After the word "God" was muted in April 2014 from the film It Could Happen to You , in what is described as an attempt "to avoid taking His name in vain", the practice backfired when viewers interpreted

6765-522: The Martha Stewart block by two hours in October 2010. At least 500 hours of new original programming was slated for the 2011–12 season, including 25 original movies, 160 hours of MSLO programming (including new series Emeril 's Table , and additional Martha Presents specials), and a series in development with poet Maya Angelou . In addition, Hallmark Hall of Fame productions would air on Hallmark Channel

6888-506: The United Kingdom, the Hallmark Original Movies originally shown on the channel are now shown on Movies 24 , a sister to the Hallmark Channel. Cable television A cable channel (sometimes known as a cable network ) is a television network available via cable television. Many of the same channels are distributed through satellite television . Alternative terms include non-broadcast channel or programming service ,

7011-485: The United States have switched to or are in the course of switching to digital cable television since it was first introduced in the late 1990s. Most cable companies require a set-top box ( cable converter box ) or a slot on one's TV set for conditional access module cards to view their cable channels, even on newer televisions with digital cable QAM tuners, because most digital cable channels are now encrypted, or scrambled , to reduce cable service theft . A cable from

7134-438: 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". 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

7257-404: The basic selection. By subscribing to additional tiers, customers could get specialty channels, movie channels, and foreign channels. Large cable companies used addressable descramblers to limit access to premium channels for customers not subscribing to higher tiers, however the above magazines often published workarounds for that technology as well. During the 1990s, the pressure to accommodate

7380-516: 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

7503-563: The cable box itself, these midband channels were used for early incarnations of pay TV , e.g. The Z Channel (Los Angeles) and HBO but transmitted in the clear i.e. not scrambled as standard TV sets of the period could not pick up the signal nor could the average consumer de-tune the normal stations to be able to receive it. Once tuners that could receive select mid-band and super-band channels began to be incorporated into standard television sets, broadcasters were forced to either install scrambling circuitry or move these signals further out of

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7626-511: 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

7749-429: The cable company's local distribution facility, called the headend . Many channels can be transmitted through one coaxial cable by a technique called frequency division multiplexing . At the headend, each television channel is translated to a different frequency . By giving each channel a different frequency slot on the cable, the separate television signals do not interfere with each other. At an outdoor cable box on

7872-515: The cable to send data from the customer box to the cable headend, for advanced features such as requesting pay-per-view shows or movies, cable internet access , and cable telephone service . The downstream channels occupy a band of frequencies from approximately 50 MHz to 1 GHz, while the upstream channels occupy frequencies of 5 to 42 MHz. Subscribers pay with a monthly fee. Subscribers can choose from several levels of service, with premium packages including more channels but costing

7995-675: The case of no local CBS or ABC station being available – rebroadcast the programming from a nearby affiliate but fill in with its own news and other community programming to suit its own locale. Many live local programs with local interests were subsequently created all over the United States in most major television markets in the early 1980s. This evolved into today's many cable-only broadcasts of diverse programming, including cable-only produced television movies and miniseries . Cable specialty channels , starting with channels oriented to show movies and large sporting or performance events, diversified further, and narrowcasting became common. By

8118-479: 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 acquiring 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

8241-412: 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

8364-413: The channel introduced a new family-oriented Friday night movie block, Walden Family Theater , in partnership with Walden Media and others. In April 2014, the channel launched a TV Everywhere video on-demand service, "Hallmark Channel Everywhere", which offers a streaming selection of Hallmark Channel films and series for subscribers on participating television providers. At some point before July 2021,

8487-573: The channel's late night programming, while noting that the word removal from these programs "puts a mild damper on the fun." Hallmark Channel operated several cable channels in various international markets; they were sold in 2005 to Sparrowhawk Media, which was in turn acquired by Universal Networks International in 2007. Universal's licensing agreement ended in July 2011; the networks were either shut down, or rebranded under another NBC Universal -owned brand (such as Diva Universal , Studio Universal , 13th Street Universal or Universal Channel ). In

8610-542: The channel's original productions. On October 31, 2022, Hallmark announced a distribution agreement with NBCUniversal , under which live and on-demand programming from its networks would be available to Peacock subscribers. Hallmark Channel's programming consists of original dramas and made-for-TV movies , and syndicated reruns of sitcoms . It also airs the Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology series. Despite largely being an apolitical brand, Hallmark Channel has garnered

8733-498: The chosen channel into the TV set on Channel 2, 3 or 4. Initially, UHF broadcast stations were at a disadvantage because the standard TV sets in use at the time were unable to receive their channels. With the passage of the All-Channel Receiver Act in 1964, all new television sets were required to include a UHF tuner, nonetheless, it would still take a few years for UHF stations to become competitive. Before being added to

8856-498: The company around. This meant higher rates for customers as well as programmers. Malone even succeeded in getting Fox News Channel to pay $ 200 million for his companies to add the network. At the same time, cost cutting had to take place, and many of the cable customers were in rural areas with old equipment and limited offerings. Upgrading to fiber optic service, which could be used for Internet and telephone service, would be cost-effective only in urban areas. Satellite TV, while not

8979-562: 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

9102-537: The deal. Numerous regulatory concerns made the deal tricky; regional telephone companies could not offer long distance service or transmit satellite television services such as Discovery Channel . TCI would also have to sell operations in Bell Atlantic territory. As for antitrust concerns, Bell Atlantic argued that competing telephone services could be offered where TCI had cable systems, and video services could compete with TCI. Vice President Al Gore supported

9225-446: The early stages of the channel's development, Hallmark Channel had a steady one-movie-a-month, or 12-a-year, production schedule with the films mainly being produced by RHI Entertainment . However, in 2008, Crown Media had ramped up its production schedule to approximately 30 movies a year and opened up two other production companies, though RHI still produces some movies for Hallmark Channel. The network premiered 35 original movies during

9348-455: The event included one new original movie. In 2014, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Cards collaborated for the first time on a movie, Northpole , which was shown during Countdown to Christmas. The 2014 movie Christmas Under Wraps , starring Candace Cameron Bure, became the highest-rated premiere in Hallmark Channel history, with 5.8 million viewers; the success prompted Hallmark Channel to further increase its production of original movies. During

9471-413: The event was carried on Sirius XM —"Hallmark Channel Radio"—which carried Christmas music hosted by Hallmark Channel talent (such as Holly Robinson Peete and Lacey Chabert), and behind-the-scenes features relating to Countdown to Christmas programming. In honor of the franchise's 10th anniversary, Countdown to Christmas movies aired on Friday nights throughout 2019, and a "Hallmark Channel Christmas Con"

9594-415: The fact that the descrambling circuitry was for a time present in these tuners, depriving the cable operator of much of their revenue, such cable-ready tuners are rarely used now – requiring a return to the set-top boxes used from the 1970s onward. The digital television transition in the United States has put all signals, broadcast and cable, into digital form, rendering analog cable television service

9717-569: The first lesbian kiss in a Hallmark production. Abbott quietly and abruptly stepped down as president of Hallmark Channel in February 2020; the following year, a group led by Abbott acquired the Southern lifestyle channel Great American Country (GAC) from Discovery, Inc. to relaunch it as a direct competitor to Hallmark, Great American Family . The channel has emulated the programming strategies that were mounted by Hallmark Channel under Abbott, and has also leveraged talent who had been associated with

9840-454: The growing array of offerings resulted in digital transmission that made more efficient use of the VHF signal capacity; fibre optics was common to carry signals into areas near the home, where coax could carry higher frequencies over the short remaining distance. Although for a time in the 1980s and 1990s, television receivers and VCRs were equipped to receive the mid-band and super-band channels. Due to

9963-450: The headend, the electrical signal is translated into an optical signal and sent through the fiber. The fiber trunkline goes to several distribution hubs , from which multiple fibers fan out to carry the signal to boxes called optical nodes in local communities. At the optical node, the optical signal is translated back into an electrical signal and carried by coaxial cable distribution lines on utility poles, from which cables branch out to

10086-667: The idea of improving the nation's infrastructure , and the business community took his statement to mean administration approval of the merger. The $ 33 billion deal, based on a $ 54 per share price for Bell Atlantic stock, would have been the largest in American telecommunications history, the resulting company serving one in four cable TV customers. But it fell apart for many reasons, including declining stock prices for both companies. Malone, who would have made over $ 1 billion, wanted more shares of Bell Atlantic when its price dropped below $ 54, which Ray Smith refused to do because it would lessen

10209-551: 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

10332-456: The jack in the wall is attached to the input of the box, and an output cable from the box is attached to the television, usually the RF-IN or composite input on older TVs. Since the set-top box only decodes the single channel that is being watched, each television in the house requires a separate box. Some unencrypted channels, usually traditional over-the-air broadcast networks, can be displayed without

10455-437: The largest cable company in the United States. In 1982, Malone hired Peter Barton, who called himself the company's " Jimmy Olsen " because he just did whatever was needed, fresh from Harvard Business School . Barton went on to become president of TCI's Cable Value Network (later QVC ) in 1986, and in 1991, president of TCI spinoff Liberty Media . Barton had a playful side and even kept toys in his Liberty Media office, and

10578-486: The late 1980s, cable-only signals outnumbered broadcast signals on cable systems, some of which by this time had expanded beyond 35 channels. By the mid-1980s in Canada, cable operators were allowed by the regulators to enter into distribution contracts with cable networks on their own. By the 1990s, tiers became common, with customers able to subscribe to different tiers to obtain different selections of additional channels above

10701-630: The latter being mainly used in legal contexts. The abbreviation CATV is used in the US for cable television and originally stood for community antenna television , from cable television's origins in 1948; in areas where over-the-air TV reception was limited by distance from transmitters or mountainous terrain, large community antennas were constructed, and cable was run from them to individual homes. In 1968, 6.4% of Americans had cable television. The number increased to 7.5% in 1978. By 1988, 52.8% of all households were using cable. The number further increased to 62.4% in 1994. To receive cable television at

10824-563: The long distance, wireless and dial-up Internet service of AT&T with the cable, high-speed Internet and telecommunications services of TCI. For the first time, AT&T would be able to offer local telephone service. To do this, the company could have bought a Baby bell such as SBC Communications (which purchased AT&T in 2005 and took the AT&;T name), but this would have meant regulatory problems. Liberty Media stockholders would receive separate tracking stock . Federal regulators and

10947-423: The maximum number of channels that could be broadcast in one city was 7: channels 2, 4, either 5 or 6, 7, 9, 11 and 13, as receivers at the time were unable to receive strong (local) signals on adjacent channels without distortion. (There were frequency gaps between 4 and 5, and between 6 and 7, which allowed both to be used in the same city). As equipment improved, all twelve channels could be utilized, except where

11070-424: The muting as evidence of hatred for God. Blogger Donna Cavanagh criticized the channel's content policies in July 2011, describing them as "censorship at its worst", with removal of profanities or epithets such as "ass" and "hooker". In response to Cavanagh's inquiry, a representative of the network wrote: Crown Media Networks is committed to family friendly programming. Our Standards & Practices ("S&P" —

11193-399: The name of the app was changed to "Hallmark TV". In the 2014–15 season, Hallmark Hall of Fame premieres moved exclusively to Hallmark Channel, with up to four new films scheduled per-year. Two new series, Good Witch and Signed, Sealed, Delivered , were picked up for the 2014–15 season. In February 2015, Hallmark Channel held an inaugural "Countdown to Valentine's " event to build off

11316-448: The nearest network newscast. Such stations may use similar on-air branding as that used by the nearby broadcast network affiliate, but the fact that these stations do not broadcast over the air and are not regulated by the FCC, their call signs are meaningless. These stations evolved partially into today's over-the-air digital subchannels, where a main broadcast TV station e.g. NBC 37* would – in

11439-532: The network to be positioned as "a year-round destination for celebrations", which need not depend on a single series or franchise to bolster its viewership. This programming strategy also creates synergies with Hallmark Cards . From the last weekend in October until January 1 , Hallmark Channel runs an event known as the Countdown to Christmas , where the network's schedule is devoted to a mix of holiday movies, specials and holiday-themed original programming. The block

11562-560: 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

11685-417: The often-formulaic structure of Hallmark's films contributed to their popularity, describing them as usually featuring "independent women with interesting jobs", "appealing romantic prospects", and often being set in towns where residents "care for one another, run viable small businesses, and compete in gingerbread bake-offs—America as we might wish it were, and as some believe it once was." Hallmark Channel

11808-408: The old analog cable without a set-top box. To receive digital cable channels on an analog television set, even unencrypted ones, requires a different type of box, a digital television adapter supplied by the cable company or purchased by the subscriber. Another new distribution method that takes advantage of the low cost high quality DVB distribution to residential areas, uses TV gateways to convert

11931-459: The original terms of the proposed deal, Flextech would acquire TCI's European programming business in exchange for shares. By January the deal was complete with TCI acquired 40-60% of Flextech while Flextech acquired 100% of Bravo, 25% of UK Gold , and 31% of UK Living and 25% of the Children's Channel which increased its share in that channel. In Spring of 1995 TCI purchased Mile-Hi Cablevision,

12054-492: The other hand, digital service had its disadvantages. Customers who did not even want a box would still lose channels so that digital channels could be added. And General Instrument only reluctantly agreed to allow multiple suppliers to bring TCI's costs down. In 1997 TCI sold ten of its cable systems in NJ and NY to Cablevision . TCI improved its fortunes, hiring Leo Hindery as president and making Malone chairman and CEO. Still, it

12177-603: The period from 2009 to 2010, with production ramping up further in the years that followed. Hallmark original movies were budgeted at $ 2.2 million in 2007. Hallmark does not pay the full cost of films, thus they are often deficit-financed by their producers. Many of Hallmark Channel's productions are produced in Canada, using local talent and filming locations (including a preference towards location shoots instead of sound stages ) to reduce production costs. A number of actors and actresses have become known for frequent appearances in Hallmark Channel movies. The New Yorker felt that

12300-504: The programming at the headend (the individual channels, which are distributed nationally, also have their own nationally oriented commercials). Modern cable systems are large, with a single network and headend often serving an entire metropolitan area . Most systems use hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) distribution; this means the trunklines that carry the signal from the headend to local neighborhoods are optical fiber to provide greater bandwidth and also extra capacity for future expansion. At

12423-451: The programming without cost. Later, the cable operators began to carry FM radio stations, and encouraged subscribers to connect their FM stereo sets to cable. Before stereo and bilingual TV sound became common, Pay-TV channel sound was added to the FM stereo cable line-ups. About this time, operators expanded beyond the 12-channel dial to use the midband and superband VHF channels adjacent to

12546-476: The range of reception for early cable-ready TVs and VCRs. However, once consumer sets had the ability to receive all 181 FCC allocated channels, premium broadcasters were left with no choice but to scramble. The descrambling circuitry was often published in electronics hobby magazines such as Popular Science and Popular Electronics allowing anybody with anything more than a rudimentary knowledge of broadcast electronics to be able to build their own and receive

12669-423: 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

12792-418: The signals are typically encrypted on modern digital cable systems, and the set-top box must be activated by an activation code sent by the cable company before it will function, which is only sent after the subscriber signs up. If the subscriber fails to pay their bill, the cable company can send a signal to deactivate the subscriber's box, preventing reception. There are also usually upstream channels on

12915-403: The subscriber's residence, the company's service drop cable is connected to cables distributing the signal to different rooms in the building. At each television, the subscriber's television or a set-top box provided by the cable company translates the desired channel back to its original frequency ( baseband ), and it is displayed onscreen. Due to widespread cable theft in earlier analog systems,

13038-541: The success of Countdown to Christmas, featuring four movie premieres. In 2015, Mariah Carey directed and starred in a Christmas movie for Hallmark. She also hosted Mariah Carey's Merriest Christmas , which was the channel's most-viewed show. Thus in May 2016, Carey signed a three-film deal for her to develop, executive-produce, direct, co-star, and write an original song for three movies with one for "Countdown to Valentine's Day". The channel's first "Winterfest" seasonal programming

13161-560: The things that are or are not acceptable for a particular network) are very conservative. There are words and phrases commonly used on other cable channels and broadcast networks that Hallmark Channel's S&P guidelines deem unacceptable. Cavanagh accused the network of hypocrisy in deeming such material as being objectionable according to the network's standards, while continuing to acquire off-network sitcoms such as Frasier and The Golden Girls , which often feature sexual content including references to promiscuity. Others have recommended

13284-470: The time, it was the 10th largest cable company in the United States. By 1972, with 100,000 subscribers, Magness needed someone with more business knowledge to run the operation. He decided on John Malone, president of Jerrold Electronics , a division of General Instrument . Malone took on the bankers who wanted to call in their loans, and effectively saved the company from bankruptcy . Magness made Malone CEO but remained as chairman. By 1982 Malone had made TCI

13407-480: The total number of subscribers to 18,000. Magness later moved to Scottsbluff, Nebraska . Over time, Magness acquired more systems but remained in Bozeman. By 1965, Daniels told him the companies needed to be located in a larger city. Salt Lake City and Denver, Colorado , were both considered. In 1968, the companies moved to Denver and became Tele-Communications Inc. Tele-Communications Inc. went public in 1970. At

13530-464: The two companies' shareholders approved the merger February 17, 1999. By that time, the value of the stock portion of the deal had increased to $ 43.5 billion. The Federal Communications Commission did not require TCI to give other companies access to its cable lines, despite requests by America Online and others. TCI had made its cable lines capable of providing Internet access, and AT&T wanted those same lines to provide local phone service, which it

13653-532: The upstream speed to 31.2 Kbp/s and prevented the always-on convenience broadband internet typically provides. Many large cable systems have upgraded or are upgrading their equipment to allow for bi-directional signals, thus allowing for greater upload speed and always-on convenience, though these upgrades are expensive. In North America , Australia and Europe , many cable operators have already introduced cable telephone service, which operates just like existing fixed line operators. This service involves installing

13776-401: The value of existing shares. The two companies also had different cultures. Bell Atlantic paid dividends and was used to being regulated, while TCI tended to invest in the business rather than pay dividends. And thus ended a $ 20 billion project to expand the information superhighway , though other mergers promised to put the project back on track, with a more local emphasis rather than attempting

13899-533: The wires himself. Two years later Magness sold the system and was looking for a way to invest the sales proceeds. Another cable pioneer, Bill Daniels , told him about a community antenna system in Bozeman, Montana . The Kearns-Tribune Corp., publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune , which owned a cable system in Reno, Nevada , began relaying signals by common carrier microwave from Salt Lake City in 1956. In 1958 it became

14022-428: Was a cable television provider in the United States, and for most of its history was controlled by Bob Magness and John Malone . The company was started in 1958 in Bozeman, Montana as Western Microwave, Inc. and Community Television, Inc. , two firms with common ownership. The companies merged in 1968 and operations moved to Denver , taking the name Tele-Communications Inc. It was the largest cable operator in

14145-501: Was a cotton seed salesman and cattle rancher . In 1956, he met two men who were stranded and needed a ride. Learning that they wanted to build a community antenna system in Paducah, Texas , he decided to raise the money for a similar system in Memphis, Texas . He sold his cattle, took out a mortgage on his home and borrowed $ 2,500 from his father. His wife did the office work while Bob put up

14268-742: Was held in Edison , New Jersey in November 2019, featuring appearances by Hallmark Channel talent. With the success of the Dog Hero Awards, the channel started a franchise out of the show with additional shows that counterprogram major sporting events. Beyond the Dog Hero Awards and the Kitten Bowl, the channel has the Paw-Star Game (counterprogramming the MLB All-Star Game ) and the Summer Kitten Games (which had its first edition counterprogram

14391-646: Was in January 2016. At its March 2016 upfronts , Hallmark Channel executives revealed that they planned to divide their programming into themed seasons year-round, to build upon the success of Countdown to Christmas and other franchises. On October 20, 2016, Hallmark Channel and the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel were added to the Sling TV service. On November 15, 2017, PlayStation Vue added Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, and Hallmark Drama to its lineup. In October 2017, Hallmark Channel launched

14514-510: Was introduced in 2009, featuring four original movie premieres. Countdown to Christmas has featured cross-promotion of Hallmark Cards, including having featured the characters of Hoops & Yoyo in promotions, and airing Jingle All the Way —a half-hour animated Christmas special featuring the character of Jingle the Husky Pup—in 2011, which marked the first Hallmark Channel original production to be

14637-427: Was limited, meaning frequencies over 250 MHz were difficult to transmit to distant portions of the coaxial network, and UHF channels could not be used at all. To expand beyond 12 channels, non-standard midband channels had to be used, located between the FM band and Channel 7, or superband beyond Channel 13 up to about 300 MHz; these channels initially were only accessible using separate tuner boxes that sent

14760-559: Was mainly used to relay terrestrial channels in geographical areas poorly served by terrestrial television signals. Cable television began in the United States as a commercial business in 1950s. The early systems simply received weak ( broadcast ) channels, amplified them, and sent them over unshielded wires to the subscribers, limited to a community or to adjacent communities. The receiving antenna would be taller than any individual subscriber could afford, thus bringing in stronger signals; in hilly or mountainous terrain it would be placed at

14883-786: 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

15006-487: Was regarded as a company likely to be taken over. TCI was acquired by AT&T in 1999 and in 2002, Comcast acquired the rest of TCI's cable television systems. In 1997 TCI merged with the Kearns-Tribune Corp., publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune , Utah's largest newspaper. Kearns-Tribune Corp. was a large holder of TCI stock. On June 24, 1998, AT&T, the nation's largest provider of telephone service, announced

15129-503: Was relaunched as the Faith & Values Channel; it began adding a few secular programs during this time, including news, information, and lifestyle programming 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

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