Looks like the Hallmark Channel is making a bid to play with the bigger networks.

The cable network has gone on a Christmas shopping spree and bought several shows from CBS Television Distribution, including I Love Lucy, Cheers, 7th Heaven, 12 holiday movies, and more episodes of Touched By An Angel and Matlock. 7th Heaven starts in January, Cheers later next year, and then I Love Lucy will start in early 2009.

This is good news for fans who like the channel but are overdosing on reruns of Murder, She Wrote and those mystery movies that star John Larroquette and Lea Thompson.

I'm curious to see how this affects TV Land, which currently airs I Love Lucy and Cheers. Will Hallmark get exclusive rights to run them? I assume so. Maybe Hallmark can become the new TV Land, since TV Land seems to be getting further and further away from their core with movies (Thelma and Louise?) and reality shows (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition).