No Food Network or HGTV for Cablevision Subscribers
Customers of Cablevision in New York won't be seeing any programming on the Food Network or HGTV. Scripps has pulled its channels from Cablevision in yet another cable channel/television channel fee dispute.
Cablevision's agreement to carry the Scripps channels expired at midnight Thursday, and Scripps warned subscribers Thursday that its Food Network and HGTV channels may be "dropped from your TV lineup," as another contentious negotiation over programming fees spilled into public view.
Scripps said in a statement that Cablevision is not properly compensating it for the networks, and it's launching a publicity campaign aimed at getting consumers to complain to Cablevision for not carrying them.
"The distribution rates Cablevision pays for Food and HGTV are among the lowest in the industry," said Scripps Chief Executive Kenneth Lowe.
"We are sorry that Scripps' current financial difficulties are making it impossible for them to continue our relationship on terms that are reasonable for Cablevision and our customers," said Cablevision in a statement. "We wish Scripps well and have no expectation of carrying their programming again, given the dramatic changes in their approach to working with distributors to reach television viewers."
Cablevision provides TV service to approximately 3.1 million people largely in the New York area.
Cable television subscribers across the nation are increasingly getting caught up in battles between networks and content providers that want cable companies to pay more for their content. Cable companies are balking at the rate hikes, which will be passed on to customers who already think their cable bills are too high.
Robert Irvine to Return to Food Network's Dinner: Impossible
Robert Irvine is returning to the Food Network's Dinner: Impossible show Production of six new episodes starring Irvine will begin this month and air in March, 2009. Irvine's impossible chef missions for the Food Network had been popular but he was not on signed on for more episodes of the show after it was discovered that he had spiced up his resume. The Food Network now wants Irvine back.
"Our audience has continued to demonstrate its interest in and support for Robert," Welch said. "He has taken responsibility and made a conscious effort to clear the air, rebuild the relationship with Food Network and apologize for the earlier inaccuracies."
Irvine had hosted the show for four seasons. The network in March said it would revisit its decision not to renew his contract at the end of the season. Meanwhile, Food Network Iron Chef Michael Symon filled in for Irvine, taping 10 hour-long episodes.
"I am very excited to continue taping more episodes of 'Dinner: Impossible'," Irvine said in a written statement. "I am thrilled to further my relationship with the network and embark on more challenging episodes of this popular series."
The Dinner: Impossible shows with Robert Irvine as the Chef were terrific episodes. We can understand why Food Network wants to bring Irvine back despite his embellished resume. Michael Symon has been the host of Dinner: Impossible in Irvine's absence.
In case you missed it, here's a recap of the finale of The Next Food Network Star, which Aaron "Big Daddy" McCargo won. By the way, is it just us or does Bobby Flay just love being an emcee? He's really good at it.
In a closely fought finale, Aaron McCargo was named as The Next Food Network Star. The three finalists each got to produce a demo of their dream cooking show and they all did really well. Lisa Garza cooked a fabulous meal and sounded great on camera. In fact, we really thought she was the winner. Adam had a great name for the show -- "Hungry in Philadelphia" -- and he nailed his audition. He interacted with a food network viewer and cured her of the Roast Chicken Blues. But Aaron won the day with "Big Daddy's Kitchen" and his steak and plantains, which looked quite tasty.
We think that Aaron will do a good job: he can cook and he's really likable. We'll be tuning into his first episode to see how he does. We are sad to see Lisa go, though. We really like her and her cooking looks amazing.
They must be pretty happy at the Food Network: last year's winner turned out to be a disaster. But this year, they had an embarrassment of riches. They probably should have given all three of them a show, then picked whoever had the highest ratings.
Three Contestants Left on the Next Food Network Star
We're down to three contestants in the running for The Next Food Network Star: Lisa, Aaron or Adam, whose bone-in pork chop won favorite dish from the Wynne chefs. The finale airs this Sunday, July 27 at 10pm Eastern on The Food Network. We keep going back and forth on who we want to win. Lisa can really cook -- and sing -- , Adam has the best on-camera personality and Aaron has great food and a super personality -- when he doesn't tell jokes, that is. Here's a recap of last week to get you ready for Sunday:
Last week's seventh episode of The Next Food Network Star featured a throwdown in Las Vagas with the final four contestants. Kelsey was sent home: her pork was overcooked and she deviated from her culinary point of view. The surprise was Adam's delicious macaroni and cheese with lobster. Paula Deen loved it and Bob said he wanted to dive into it. The next episode (still in Las Vegas) airs tomorrow (Sunday) night on the Food Network.
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Martha Stewart Guest Judges The Next Food Network Star
Our beloved Martha Stewart is coming to The Next Food Network Star! This week, the eight remaining finalists must each create a fabulous dish using a russet potato. Then they have to invent an original food product, which will be
critiqued by 50 food buyers and by surprise (well, not anymore) guest Martha Stewart. This all goes down on The Food Network on Sunday, June 15th at 10pm ET/PT.
After Nipa Bhatt's total meltdown last week, we're thinking her chances are getting slimmer by the week. Kevin Roberts (the guy that kind of looks like Joey on Friends) got eliminated last week. So that leaves:
Nipa, Jennifer Cochrane (Woonsocket, RI), Lisa Garza (Dallas, TX), Adam Gertler (Philadelphia, PA), Shane Lyons (Colorado Springs, CO), Aaron McCargo Jr. (Camden, NJ), Kelsey Nixon (North Ogden, UT) and Jeffrey Vaden (White Plains, NY). Right now we think Aaron has a really good shot: he can really cook (both Iron Chef judges loved his food) and he does have a personality that works. Lisa (the one that kind of looks like Sandra Bullock) is a dark horse. Bobby Flay said she overdressed her salad, which is horrifying. But she's always a bit overdressed, so it kind of goes with the territory.
Rachel Ray is accumulating huge numbers of fans. Her style of fast (under 30 minutes), easy to prepare meals really grabs listeners in these days of full-time working moms and dads. The busy Rachel Ray currently has two New York Times bestselling cookbooks and two popular shows on the Food Network: 30-Minute Meals and $40 a Day.
Robert Irvine 
In a closely fought finale, Aaron McCargo was named as The Next Food Network Star. The three finalists each got to produce a demo of their dream cooking show and they all did really well. Lisa Garza cooked a fabulous meal and sounded great on camera. In fact, we really thought she was the winner. Adam had a great name for the show -- "Hungry in Philadelphia" -- and he nailed his audition. He interacted with a food network viewer and cured her of the Roast Chicken Blues. But Aaron won the day with "Big Daddy's Kitchen" and his steak and plantains, which looked quite tasty.
