Cablevision Systems said it is adding Scripps Networks Interactive’s Cooking Channel and DIY Network to its Optimum TV lineup. Cooking Channel, which features instructional programs about food and cooking, and DIY Network, which focuses on do-it-yourself projects at home and in the garden, will become available to Optimum TV customers by May 22.
Cooking Channel and DIY Network will be available in both standard and high definition to Optimum TV residential customers with the Optimum Preferred package and above; customers must have a digital set-top box or CableCARD to receive the channels. Cooking Channel will be on channel 166 and DIY Network will be on channel 167.
“We are pleased to announce that Cooking Channel and DIY Network will be joining the Optimum TV lineup of highly informative and enjoyable lifestyle programming,” Bradley Feldman, Cablevision’s senior vice president of product management, said in a release. “We believe that Cooking Channel and DIY Network will be very popular among our customers, who will also be able to access this programming anywhere in the home using the Optimum App and on the go with TV to Go.”
In 2010, Scripps and Cablevision had an unusual (for Scripps) contract dispute that saw Food Network and HGTV dropped for three weeks in a fee dispute before being restored to Cablevision's then 3.1 million subscribers.
“Introducing our popular lifestyle media brands DIY Network and Cooking Channel to the homes of nearly 3 million Optimum customers will satisfy the growing demand for top-notch television content in the important New York metro area,” Henry Ahn, executive vice president of content distribution and marketing for Scripps Networks Interactive, said in the release. “Viewers who love our flagship brands HGTV and Food Network will enjoy even more quality home and food programming that will inspire and inform their lives.”
