Crown Media Holdings plans to start its first HD service by the first quarter of 2008—to be known as Hallmark Movie Channel HD.
The addition of the HD service by one of American television’s longest-running content producers is in response to “the growing demand for family-friendly content on television today,” according to a statement from Crown Media.
Hallmark’s HD channel will be simulcast with Hallmark Movie Channel SD, which currently offers a varied mix of originally produced motion pictures, miniseries and family-oriented theater films.
The HD schedule for the upcoming TV season this fall will include a lineup of Friday night movies from Hallmark’s branded “Hall of Fame” library (a broadcast series of usually quarterly specials which began in the 1950s), as well as premieres of original-content movies on Saturday night. Original miniseries will be aired in HD/SD on a quarterly basis.
