Crown Media, which owns Hallmark Channel, lowered its net loss in the third quarter as revenue rose 17%.
Crown’s third-quarter net loss was $17.9 million, or 17 cents a share, down from $37.9 million a year ago. Excluding interest expenses, Crown’s operations earned $7.6 million, compared with a $12.1 million loss a year ago.
Revenues were $64.5 million compared with $55.3 million a year ago.
“Our strong operating results in the year to date underscore the appeal of our programming and the increasing appreciation by our distributors and advertisers of the value of our brand and audience,” noted Henry Schleiff, President and CEO of Crown Media. 
“While we expect that we will be impacted by the financial difficulties facing our economy, we believe that our channels have an inherent resiliency to withstand these challenges. As many Americans return to the fundamental values of home and family, our channels offer the kind of uplifting and positive programming they will be comforted by,” Mr. Schleiff said. 
With Hallmark Channel airing high-rated holiday programming in the fourth quarter, he said he was confirming his expectations of low double-digit growth in advertising and subscriber fee revenue for the full year.
Subscriber revenue was up 93% to $14.2 million in the quarter. Crown signed new affiliate deals with most of its subscribers since last year’s third quarter.
Advertising revenue was up 4% to $50 million, a much smaller increase than in past quarters.