Things are getting catty at the Hallmark Channel.
The cable network will combine two winning TV ingredients — kittens and sports — in hopes of cooking up a winning ratings recipe next July.
After winning six million viewers with its Super Bowl Sunday “Kitten Bowl,” Hallmark told advertisers Thursday it is creating a similar event, “Kitten Paw Star Game,” to air opposite baseball’s All-Star game in July 2015.
The MLB-focused event will feature kittens in baseball outfits batting balls — plus celebrities and baseball stars to cheer the kitties on.
Hallmark, better known for “Little House on the Prairie” and “The Golden Girls,” is bullishly predicting it will win a 20 percent increase in its advertising take during the upfront period in May when advertisers commit their annual budgets in advance.
Hallmark is one of the first cable networks out of the gate this week with its presentation.
The Crown Media-owned channel takes around 30 percent of its annual revenue around the Christmas holidays, but with the added kitten event and other efforts hopes to spread the advertising dollars more evenly through the year.
One such move, “Countdown to Valentine’s Day,” could ruin men’s lives for a two-week period, with a slew of romantic-themed shows.
Sales chief Ed Georger said the holiday had grown into a $17 billion retail event with people buying cards for family and even treating their pets to gifts.
Separately, Hallmark boss Bill Abbott confirmed the network will air a new show from “Touched by an Angel” executive producer Martha Williamson.
The producer took 10 years off to have kids, and is back with Hallmark with a new show called “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” — about packages and letters that get misdirected but somehow end up changing lives.
Old-fashioned letters are the only way these days to ensure private communications, Williamson quipped.