Crown Media Holdings Inc. said Tuesday that Paul FitzPatrick has resigned as chief operating officer.

FitzPatrick was in charge of overseeing distribution, network operations, information technology and human resources at Crown’s Hallmark Channel, the Studio City-based media company said.

He was first hired in 2000, where he was previously chief operating officer of the Golf Channel, and was responsible for the launch of the company’s second 24-hour channel, Hallmark Movie Channel.

Crown spokeswoman Nancy Carr said that FitzPatrick decided to pursue other opinions in his career, but analysts noted he was skipped over by the board of directors for the vacant chief executive position, which he had held in the interim. Brian Stewart assumed the position in the beginning of October.

No replacement was named and Crown said it was beginning the search for a replacement immediately.