The Hallmark Channel

The Hallmark Channel is a cable television network that broadcasts across the United States. They are also the home of Martha Stewart as part of the new Hallmark Channel Home. They also specialize in television movies that are appropriate for the whole family. It is owned by Crown Media Holdings, which in turn is majority-owned by Hallmark Cards.

In the United States, the network began as two separate religious cable channels, the American Christian Television System (ACTS) and the Vision Interfaith Satellite Network (VISN). These two networks shared time on the same channel beginning in 1992. Under the original timeshare agreement, the network was believed to be called VISN/ACTS. Each station was provided time for its programming blocks, and would use its own logo.

The channel was officially renamed The Hallmark Channel on August 5, 2001. The channel completely dropped religious programing altogether, but continued to focus on family and drama shows, drama movies, classic sitcoms, and other general entertainment. A remnant of the VISN network continues to own about 5% of the channel, and still produces some content for them. The change meant that The Kermit Channel in Asia was also changed to The Hallmark Channel, reducing the former to a three-hour block on Hallmark. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia