Argo Online

By Andrew Parr

The Food Network provides a way for the common people to see how master chefs go about the creation of dishes. It also gives an everyday person the courage and confidence to prepare a simple or elaborate dish in his or her very own home. It is for this reason that on January 1st, 2010, millions of people were devastated to learn that watching their favorite network was no longer an option.
The start of a new year brings many things, one of which includes the culmination of contracts and business deals. The start of 2010 finished the contract between Scripps Networks and Cablevision for the year. Scripps Networks is the company that owns both Home and Garden Television, as well as the Food Network. Cablevision chose not to renew a contract with Scripps after a 200 percent increase in service charge was demanded. The reason Cablevision did not go through with renewal of the contract was simple. They didn’t feel that customers should have to pay more for what they were already used to receiving at a certain price.
Even though Cablevision was not carrying Food Network and HGTV, they did not ignore those channel’s loyal viewers. For twenty-one days, on both of these channels, Cablevision provided messages for its customers who were missing their favorite shows. These messages kept viewers “in the loop” with up-to-date information about what exactly was going on between the two companies. It is for this reason that so many of Scripps viewers continued to remain loyal to the two networks, even when shows were not being broadcast.
Food Network had planned a huge event scheduled to be shown on January 3rd, 2010. There was to be a special edition of Iron Chef America in which special guests, including First Lady Michelle Obama, would be featured. Millions of people, however, were unable to view this program on the appropriate date due to the dispute between Scripps and Cablevision. A special presentation of this episode was available to some viewers on a small network – WPXN.

Directly following the presentation came a special message from one of Food Network’s biggest personalities: Bobby Flay. He said that everyone involved with Food Network was aware of the dispute and apologized for Cablevision customers’ not being able to watch Food Network. On HGTV and Food Network, the special news messages changed over the course of the dispute. Finally, on January 21st, 2010, Cablevision reached a settlement with Scripps Networks, and once again started their broadcast of shows on both Food Network and HGTV, a relief to the many food fans in the U.S.