Martha Stewart may be getting her own cable channel — just like Oprah.
Stewart and Hallmark are in “the early stage” of talks about starting her own channel, according to a report yesterday in the trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable.
The new network would be jointly owned by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Crown Media, owners of the Hallmark Channel and the Hallmark Movie Channel.
It is believed that one of those two channels — both of which lose money — would be converted into the Stewart channel.
Stewart is moving her syndicated TV show, “The Martha Stewart Show,” to Hallmark in September.
Hallmark began this week to air a seven-hour block of shows during midday that are made up of stuff from Stewart’s library of videos — including celebrity segments from her old show and how-to videos from her Web site.
Hallmark, known mostly for its homespun movies, is apparently trying to change itself into a lifestyle network, more like the Food Network or HGTV. Execs from both companies told B&C that talks are in the very early stages, while spokespeople for both entities had no comment.
If the deal goes down, Stewart would join Winfrey in owning her own cable network.
Winfrey’s OWN is set to launch next January, replacing Discovery Health.