By packing her doilies, cake recipes and stock secrets and moving to cable, Martha Stewart gains an intangible that stood a chance of eroding if she stayed much longer with NBC Universal. Control.

The surprise announcement that Stewart would be moving her base of TV operations to the Hallmark Channel from NBC Universal was made Tuesday. NBC U has syndicated her hourlong "Martha Stewart Living" show for five years, allowing Stewart to operate as a largely autonomous empire within NBC Universal's syndicated television division.

Stewart's show is a fulcrum for her enterprises within Martha Stewart Omnimedia, similar in concept if not structure to Oprah Winfrey's TV and publishing concerns. Unlike other daytime talk shows, Stewart and Winfrey call the shots, operate their own production companies and simply hand their daily hourlongs to their respective distribution companies.

But where "Oprah" is a top performer for the CBS unit that distributes it and the stations that carry it (mostly ABC affiliates), Stewart's TV show is bordering on being a space-holder. Few programs have been able to hold onto prime daytime slots the way hers has without attracting more than a million viewers a day, a number she has rarely hit since her 2005 debut.

Martha and Oprah: compare and contrast

When Oprah goes off the air in late 2011, her Harpo Productions company will have projects to pitch networks to fill that void. The Oprah seal of approval has been sufficient the last several years to generate strong ratings out of the gate, even if she is not on-camera. Stewart possesses no such bragging rights and neither does the Hallmark Channel. The new agreement allows Martha to remain the head chef -- never mind that it's a smaller kitchen -- and the Hallmark Channel hopes to get something it lacks: hallmark programming.

What Hallmark is getting though is a ratings flop. Not only does "Martha" pull fewer than half the viewers of similar offerings, such as "The Rachael Ray Show," but Stewart does not post ratings in line with NBC U's bank of first-run syndicated shows. The middle of January found "Maury" at a 2.3 rating (meaning the percentage of TV-equipped households tuned in), "Jerry Springer" at 1.4, "Steve Wilkos" at 1.3 and "Martha" at 0.7. Those ratings determine advertising rates, which in turn establish the amount a syndicator can charge to air a specific show.

"Martha" has functioned largely as an infomercial for her products and extracurricular activities. Despite its marginal ratings, NBC U obviously had found a way to profit from the show, or Martha would have gone the way of Megan Mullally, whose talk show lasted only one season.

A big fish in Hallmark's pond

The move to Hallmark, which will start in September, will allow Stewart to expand. She'll control not only her daily 10 a.m. hour, but also the 11 a.m.-to-12:30 p.m. window, which will feature original programming that her company develops. The Hallmark announcement did not specify how that 90-minute block will break down, but it's likely there will be several series planted there.

In addition, Stewart will create prime-time specials for the cable channel. There's no demand for that on a general interest station such as NBC, but in the niche world of Hallmark, Stewart can feel like a superstar regardless of the ratings.

The question for NBC is whether it can find a domestic goddess to fill Martha's pumps. Or will the network resort to adding another cheap helping of chair-tossing and paternity tests?

Photo of Martha Stewart, at last year's Huffington Post Pre-Inaugural Ball, by Tim Shaffer / Reuters

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