History
Food Network was founded on April 19, 1993 as TV Food Network, and launched on November 23 of that year; its legal name is still Television Food Network, G.P. Within a few years, the network had shortened its on-air brand name. It was created by Reese Schonfeld (one of the founders of CNN), under the direction of Trygve Myrhen, President of The Providence Journal. Its original partners included the Journal itself, Adelphia, Scripps-Howard, Continental Cablevision, Cablevision, and most importantly, Chicago's Tribune Company, which provided the network's technical output. The Network was initially launched in preview form in September 1993 with two initial shows featuring David Rosengarten, Donna Hanover, and Robin Leach.
Schonfeld, who was also a partner in the company, was appointed its Managing Director and sat on its management board along with two Providence Journal employees. The original lineup for the network included Emeril Lagasse (Essence of Emeril), Debbi Fields, Donna Hanover, David Rosengarten, Curtis Aikens, Dr. Louis Arrone, Jacques Pépin and Robin Leach. The next year the network acquired the rights to the Julia Child library from WGBH. In 1995, Schonfeld resigned as managing director of the network, but remained on its board until 1998, when he sold his interest in the company to Scripps. Greg Willis and Cathy Rasenberger were the two of the original members of the start-up team who led the affiliate sales & marketing of the company during 1995-1998 when the network saw explosive growth, in fact in 1997 it was the 2nd fastest growing networks. Greg Willis was SVP Worldwide Distribution until he left to join Liberty Media in 1998.
The Food Network had been acquired from the A. H. Belo Corp. Corporation by the E. W. Scripps Company in 1997, trading KENS-AM/TV in San Antonio, Texas, for it. Belo had acquired the network when it purchased The Providence Journal Company in 1996. Myrhen left the Journal company the following year. In March 2009, the Food Network launched a re-purposed Food.com as a bookmarking site that lets users aggregate and search for recipes from different sources online.
Food Network was first launched internationally in the UK on November 9, 2009, and in Asia on July 5, 2010 (on StarHub TV's Channel 433 and Channel 468 for the HD version of Food Network Asia). Since the UK launch on November 9, 2009 on Sky, the channel has been added to the Freesat and Freeview platforms.
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