Posted by The Wall St. Journal on October 09, 2009 at 14:04:18:
Scripps Networks to Launch Cooking Channel Next
By SAM SCHECHNER
Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. said it plans to launch a cooking-focused TV channel next year, the company's chief executive, Ken Lowe, said in an interview Thursday.
The move comes as Scripps Networks is investing more heavily in food-related content. Earlier this week, the company announced a joint venture to launch international versions of its Food Network channel in Europe and other markets, as it looks to capitalize on a growing appetite for culinary TV programs.
The new network will be dubbed the Cooking Channel. The company plans for it to replace luxury-lifestyle channel Fine Living in that network's approximately 55 million homes during the third quarter of 2010, Scripps executives said.
"We think there's certainly more room for other channels aimed at the food audience," Mr. Lowe said. "We see the Cooking Channel allowing us to expand domestically."
Programs on the new network will be more instructional than Scripps's more widely distributed Food Network, said John Lansing, who runs Scripps's TV-networks division. The new channel will keep a significant number of food-related TV shows that currently appear on Fine Living, Mr. Lansing said.
Tribune Co. owns an approximately 31% stake in the Food Network.
The Food Network has seen its viewership grow significantly in recent years. This year through Oct. 4, Food Network programs have averaged 685,000 viewers per minute, 18% above the year-earlier period, according to measurement firm Nielsen Co. But the programming has shifted to highlight on-screen characters and competition, rather than, for example, step-by-step instructions to make a souffle.
Messrs. Lansing and Lowe said the new network follows the template of Scripps's DIY channel. Launched in 1999, DIY offers more instructional home-improvement programming to complement Scripps's home and lifestyle network HGTV. It has expanded into about 53 million homes, according to estimates from research firm SNL Kagan.
"People questioned whether DIY at that time was even necessary," Mr. Lowe said. "We see the Cooking Channel in the same vein."
Culinary TV shows have become more prevalent in recent years, in part because they are relatively cheap to make, and also because some, like Bravo's "Top Chef," have become popular.
"More people are staying in and entertaining with family at home," said Rich Cronin, a consultant who has run several cable networks, most recently GSN. "It's a time when people are focused on saving money, not living the fine life, so I think it makes a lot of sense to change it."
The new cooking channel will be based in New York, in the same Manhattan facility as the Food Network, Scripps executives said. Fine Living has been based in Knoxville, Tenn., with HGTV and DIY.
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