Hallmark Nears 60M-Sub Mark

Hallmark Channel said Wednesday that it has added 2.6 million new subscribers in 125 communities since the beginning of 2004, bringing its total to nearly 59 million.

Among the network’s recent launches are Comcast Corp. systems in Tupelo, Miss., Albuquerque, N.M., Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tenn., Leesburg, Fla., Mobile, Ala., Tucson, Ariz., and multiple headends surrounding Chicago; Cox Communications Inc. systems in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla.; and increased distribution on Cablevision Systems Corp.’s and Time Warner Cable’s New York systems.

"We are aggressively pushing toward the next milestone of 60 million subscribers, and we won’t stop until we grow Hallmark Channel into a fully distributed network," senior vice president of network distribution and service Janice Arouh said in a prepared statement.

Hallmark also announced three personnel moves.

Kristen Roberts has been promoted to VP of pricing and planning, advertising sales. She had been an account executive.

Adam Farkas has been upped to VP, information technology, from director, IT.

And Patricia Folgar has joined the network as art director. She had been with Artisan Entertainment.