DIY Network will present its home-improvement fare in high-definition, starting next month.
Parent Scripps Networks will present a high-definition simulcast of its DIY, which currently reaches some 53 million homes, on May 1. DIY president Bob Baskerville, speaking after Scripps's upfront presentation to advertisers here April 20, told Multichannel News that the HD version of the network would launch with at least "two prominent distributors." He declined to disclose the carriers' indentity at this juncture.
Those who do get to see the enhanced, as well as the standard, version of DIY can witness up to 17 new series in 2010, including three helmed by women, carpenters Kayleen McCabe and Joannie Dodds and Deanne Bell, a carpenter and mechanical engineer.
McCabe, last year's Stud Finder talent search contest winner, will host Rescue Renovation, where she will help project-challenged homeowners who are in over their head. DIY ordered 13 half-hours that will launch sometime in June.
In Money Hunters, Bell and co-host/licensed contractor and realtor Matt Blashaw (Deconstruction), will work alongside homeowners to deliver the best renovation their budget can buy. The half-hour series will bow on May 1 at 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. as part of the programmer's "May Day Money Marathon," before assuming its regular Wednesday time slot at 8:30 p.m. on May 5.
Premiering Aug. 19 at 10:30 p.m. Run My Renovation will showscase Dodds and licensed contractor John DeSilvia (10 Grand in Your Hand) in the network's second interactive series -- Blog Cabin returns for a fourth season on Aug. 19 at 9 p.m. -- and homeowners who turn their renovations over to DIYnetwork.com users to make all the design decisions through online voting.
The trio join DIY distaff veteran renovator Amy Matthews, who is adding a new show to her hosting duties, with This New House, premiering July 29 at 8 p.m. During this hour-long magazine style show, Matthews, a licensed contractor, joins This Old House host Kevin O'Connor to bring viewers the best in innovative building materials, top-notch techniques and inspiring gadgets.
Elsewhere, DIY will build a third component to its "Crashers" franchise. Bath Crashers, hosted by licensed contractor Matt Muenster, builds on Yard Crashers, which, according to senior vice president of programming Kathleen Finch, hammered the network's highest-rated premiere, and House Crashers, hosted by licensed contractor Josh Temple, during the channel's first-ever "Crash Week" from July 5- July 8 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Other new series include: Turf Wars (April 26 at 10 p.m.), where two neighbors and a pair of landscape experts overhaul their yards in just two days; I Hate My Kitchen (October) with carpenter/electrician James Young; an original docu-soap, Family Renovation (July) where a family including five children take-on a renovation from hell; competition show, DIY Dominator (July), where host Chris Grundy (Cool Tools) oversees head-to-head construction and home-improvement competitions; and Vanilla Ice Project, where the 1990s' rapper and his crew of contractors renovate different rooms in a 7,000-square-foot mansion.
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