Newsday.com Food Network shifts toward gastro-entertainment By Erica Marcus
[email protected] February 11, 2008 At 6 a.m. on Nov. 22, 1993, a handful of early risers turned on their TVs and were greeted by Donna Hanover and David Rosengarten, co-hosts of a show called "Food News & Views" on a cable channel called the TV Food Network. At 7 a.m., Robin Leach, formerly of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," anchored the call-in show "Talking Food." For the next 22 hours, the two programs alternated with each other, along with two airings of "Getting Healthy" with former sportscaster Gayle Gardner. Now, almost 15 years later, Hanover is famous for being the publicly spurned wife of then-mayor, now- presidential flameout Rudy Giuliani. Rosengarten edits the Rosengarten Report, a high-end gastronomic newsletter. Leach was last seen hosting VH1's "The Surreal Life: Fame Games." And the Food Network is going strong. In 2007, it had 90 million subscribers, which, according to Derek Baine, cable analyst with SNL Kagan, puts it on a par with such cable stalwarts as ESPN, Nickelodeon and MTV. "It's a mature network, it's got almost-complete penetration in multichannel homes." Although 24-hour ratings fell a bit from 2006 to 2007, he said, the drop was not dramatic, and the prime- time numbers increased. "It's still growing," Baine said, "and cash flow is up about 10 percent since last year." Since its inception, Food Network has spawned such larger-than-life personalities as Emeril Lagasse, Iron Chef's Chairman Kaga and Rachael Ray; it has introduced new exclamations ("Bam!," "Allez Cuisine!" and "Yum-O!" respectively), and taken cooking shows from the rarefied world of public television into the very heart of Middle America.