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The Hallmark Channel is an American cable and satellite television network that is owned by Crown Media Holdings, which is majority owned by Hallmark Cards. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies and miniseries, original and acquired television series, and lifestyle programs. As of February 2015, Hallmark Channel is available to approximately 85,439,000 pay television households (73.4% of households with television) in the United States. ==History== The Hallmark Channel traces its history to the launch of two separate religious cable channels, the American Christian Television System (ACTS) and 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, in cooperation with several cable providers. It aired for about 16 hours 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. Roman Catholic, LDS Church, Jewish, and Islamic faiths also provided programming. VISN aired during the morning and evening hours. ACTS commenced operations in 1984, and 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, the network was renamed as the Faith and Values Channel. It began adding a few secular programs during this time, such as exercise shows, health and cooking shows, and family-oriented drama series and movies. In 1995, cable conglomerate Tele-Communications Inc. acquired a 49% ownership stake in the Faith and 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 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, which was used to provide program listings for the network. Crown Media Holdings and The Jim Henson Company bought majority stakes in Odyssey in November 1998; under the new venture, Odyssey underwent a major programming revamp on April 4, 1999, decreasing the amount of religious programs on the network down to four hours a day. The channel began to focus more on family-targeted entertainment programming including some classic sitcoms, children's programs and additional family-oriented movies. Henson sold its interest in the channel to Crown Media Holdings in 2000. Odyssey then dropped much of its children's programs and relegated religious programming to a few hours on Sundays. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hallmark Channel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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