HALLMARK CHANNEL ANNOUNCES CO-HOST OF ORIGINAL DAYTIME SERIES, "HOME & FAMILY," BROADWAY STAR AND REALITY SHOW HOST, PAIGE DAVIS

Broadway star and reality TV host Paige Davis will co-host the new Hallmark Channel Original Lifestyle series, "Home & Family," it was announced today by Michelle Vicary, Executive Vice President, Programming, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel. Davis joins Emmy(R) Award-winning journalist Mark Steines when "Home & Family" premieres weekdays beginning October 1.

A groundbreaking new series that will premiere as part of Hallmark Channel's robust Lifestyle block of programming, "Home & Family" comprises 220 original two-hour shows over 44 weeks from award-winning production company Woody Fraser Productions ("Good Morning America," "Nightline," "The Dick Cavett Show"). The series is the ultimate destination for innovative home improvements, crafts, parenting tips, lifestyle, health and fitness enhancements, as well as the place for the latest information, trends and products for everyone in the home.

"After years of hosting 'Trading Spaces,' I know a hit show when I see one, and 'Home & Family' has that positive vibe. It will be entertaining, informative and relevant, and the opportunity to partner with Mark Steines will make it an absolute joy to go to work every day. I am very excited to be hosting 'Home & Family,'" Davis said.

"Paige Davis is so bright and effervescent and by far and away our top female choice to host 'Home & Family,'" said Michelle Vicary.

"Paige's work with 'Trading Spaces' helped launch TLC into the network it is today and largely invented this aspect of the reality genre," Vicary concluded.

Paige Davis is best known as the host of "Trading Spaces," TV's groundbreaking design-reality show. During her first season on the show, her wedding to actor Patrick Page was featured in a prime-time episode of TLC's "A Wedding Story," and became one of the highest rated cable shows of the season.

Davis' book, Paige by Paige, A Year of Trading Spaces, spent several weeks at the top of the New York Times Bestseller list. Davis currently hosts OWN's "Home Made Simple."

Most recently Paige received rave reviews for her performance in the Broadway revival of Boeing Boeing, and before that, she traveled the country performing the title role of Sweet Charity. Davis starred on Broadway as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago and played Babette in the first national tour of Broadway's Beauty and the Beast. Paige devotes much of her time to her favorite charities. She is an official spokesperson for Volunteers of America's Operation Backpack and a frequent emcee and performer for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, among many others. A graduate of Southern Methodist University, Paige Davis lives in Manhattan.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming available in high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) to a national audience of 87 million subscribers. The top-tier program service is distributed through approximately 5,500 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel is the nation's leading destination for quality family programming with an ambitious slate of original TV movies and specials, as well as some of television's most beloved sitcoms and series, including The Golden Girls, Frasier, Little House on the Prairie, and The Waltons. Since 2010, Hallmark Channel has also been home to original daytime lifestyle programming and is debuting two new daily series, Home & Family and Marie, on October 1, 2012. Hallmark Channel's sibling network is Hallmark Movie Channel, also available in HD and SD, which focuses on family-friendly movies with a mix of classic theatrical films, presentations from the acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame library, original Hallmark Channel movies and special events.