Hallmark Channel to get heartfelt facelift

The Hallmark Channel U.S. cable TV network is bolstering its look and tugging on heartstrings as it seeks to update its image, a network executive says. The network will add the tag line "The Heart of TV" beneath its signature crown logo starting Oct. 1, The Hollywood Reporter said. The slogan will seek to sum up the tone and premise of the channel and to evoke emotional connections to its past, present and future, the trade industry newspaper said. "We really feel like it sums up what we've done all these years and where we're going -- it's simple, intuitive," marketing and creative services Executive Vice President Susanne McAvoy told the newspaper. "It's been right there all along." The network's current slogan is "Celebrate Life's Moments," which it started using intermittently in 2010. Before that it was "Make Yourself at Home," starting in 2008, when it made public a new branding campaign with predominantly gold coloring. Hallmark -- which shows "family friendly" original movies, miniseries, syndicated series and lifestyle shows -- spent 18 months studying what it does best, McAvoy told the newspaper. Executives decided the network's strengths were programming that offers a big emotional hook, including excitement, mystery, suspense and romance. The network began in 1992 as two separate religious networks sharing a single channel. It became the Hallmark Channel in 2001 when it dropped religious programming