In the five years since it relaunched, the Hallmark Channel "has racked up one success after another," reports
Multichannel News. Its distribution has hit 73.5 million households--up from under
20 million--and now ranks as a Top 10-rated cable network. It has also won a reputation for quality programming, and expects to generate more than $170 million in ad revenue this year. But an effort
to reach profitability and drive growth by selling itself to a larger entity failed. "As a result, in the next 18 months, it faces a host of difficult challenges--all crucial to its future--as a
stand-alone network,"
Multichannel says. Among them: Inking deals that account for four-fifths of its reach with a group that includes the industry's largest distributors without having the
leverage of being a giant. Since it didn't attract a suitable offer, parent Crown Media shelved its sale earlier this year. "They expected somebody would write a $2 billion check," says Herbert
Granath, who sits on the company's board. "And in this day and age, that's probably not in the cards."
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