Hallmark Channel goes private

Hallmark has acquired the chunk of Crown Media it did not own and taken the business private.

Crown’s assets include the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries and greetings card specialist Hallmark paid about US$175 million for the 10% of the business it did not already control.

Crown’s first quarter conference call was scheduled for today, but was cancelled in light of the deal, which sees the company becoming a private entity.

The agreement was executed through a short-form merger. Donald Hall, chief of St. Louis-based Hallmark, confirmed the deal was done.

Crown created an in-house production division last year.