• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, January 7, 2010

The 6-year-old Gospel Music Channel, which was in 22 million homes in early 2008, has more than doubled that figure and continues its growth. An addition of 500,000 subscribers in recent weeks pushed distribution to 46 million-plus homes, the independent network said.

The network offers programming that takes a wide view of the gospel genre covering rock, Christian, Latin and hip-hop. Moving beyond music, programming includes older off-network fare, such as NBC's 1980s comedy "Amen" and the CBS 1990s drama "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman."

GMC, launched in the fall of 2004, has deals with a slew of cable operators -- along with DirecTV and Verizon FiOS. That gives it some apparent runway for expansion should deals be inked with Dish Network and AT&T U-Verse.

Recent distribution deals were with Charter for reach in Michigan; Comcast in Pennsylvania; and Time Warner Cable in Nebraska, providing some sense of the regional diversity of the channel's availability.

Lisa Delligati, who heads affiliate relations for GMC, said the deals show that operators feel a need to offer "family-friendly programming."

From an ad sales perspective, GMC targets adults 25 to 54. In December, it reached a deal with Christian-oriented site tangle.com (formerly GodTube) which combines some ad sales and marketing, with GMC handling the sales side of the operations.

Investment firm InterMedia owns a stake in GMC.