[January 22, 2010] Dig in, viewers: Food Network, HGTV back on cable Tweet Jan 22, 2010 (Asbury Park Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Foodies and home and garden enthusiasts can celebrate. Cablevision and Scripps Networks Interactive announced an agreement Thursday afternoon putting HGTV and the Food Network back on the air. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Both channels came back on Cablevision shortly after 5:10 p.m., minutes after the announcement was made. Freehold Township resident Connie Merola was very happy when told of the news. "I literally watch the Food Network like crazy," Merola said. "If there isn't something on television, immediately I default to the Food Network." Food Network and its sister channel HGTV were shut off at midnight on New Year's Eve by Scripps after the two sides failed to reach a licensing agreement. In their place, viewers saw a white screen and messages from Cablevision. "This is great news for all those television viewers in the New York tristate region who enjoy Food Network and HGTV," said John Lansing, executive vice president of Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. and president of the company's Scripps Networks operating division. Cablevision has more than 3 million customers in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. "This is the resolution everyone wanted," he said in a statement. The dispute revolves around the issue of programming costs. Scripps asked for an increase in its licensing fees for networks that it says are undervalued on Cablevision's system. Scripps has said it charged Cablevision "single-digit" pennies per customer. In turn, it wanted to raise the rate, "adding pennies on top of pennies," a Food Network executive said earlier this month. But Cablevision has said it amounts to a $20 million rate increase. Both sides said they were focused on working hard during negotiations to return the channels to customers as soon as possible. "We'd like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding as we worked with Scripps to reach an agreement that is fair," said John Bickham, Cablevision's president of cable and communications. "Food Network and HGTV have strong and loyal followings and we are pleased that both channels are back where they belong on Cablevision and available to our customers in both standard-definition and free HD." Customers hung in there during the dispute. A company spokesman said the number of disconnections were "minimal." Freehold Township resident Shannon Cortina is excited Food Network is back. "It is one of the few shows that my husband and I agree on watching," she said. But she is wondering what kind of impact the agreement will have on customers' bills. Cablevision said it is not issuing refunds to consumers for the time the channels were down. To see more of the Asbury Park Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.app.com Copyright (c) 2010, Asbury Park Press, N.J. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]