• by Wayne Friedman , February 24, 2012

Strong holiday season viewership for Hallmark channels -- a typically strong time period for the independent cable network group -- helped boost incomes and revenue results.

Crown Media Holdings, the parent of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel, gained 10% in revenue to $90.7 million and almost doubled its net income to $29.9 million.

Looking at just advertising revenues: Sales were up 19% to $81.7 million, 14% for its main Hallmark Channel to $70.8 million -- while Hallmark Movie Channel surged 76% to $10.9 million during its traditionally strong holiday season.

Marketing expenses grew to $6.3 million from $4.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. The company says there were significant marketing expenses in the third quarter of 2010 for the launch of "The Martha Stewart Show."

For 2011, Crown Media improved revenue 13% to $323.4 million. Advertising revenue improved 15% to $251.3 million. Subscriber fee revenue gained 4% to $71.7 million.

Bill Abbott, president/CEO of Crown Media Family Networks, noted the advertising popularity of the network's holiday specials and added: "Hallmark Movie Channel has experienced significant gains in distribution, recently surpassing the 45 million subscriber milestone, in addition to increased carriage interest from non-affiliates."