Scripps Networks Interactive is looking to give viewers even more food genre sustenance, as it will rebrand Fine Living Network into the Cooking Channel next year.
The conversion of the 55-million subscriber Fine Living Network is slated to take place in the third quarter of 2010 and will complement Scripps's Food Network in serving up what the programmer hopes will be a category-killing combo.
The move can be construed as much as a defensive play as an offensive gambit, given the success other networks like Bravo, with its Top Chef franchise, and Travel Channel, with Man v. Food, have grilled up.
Featuring both new talent and Food Network personalities, the new Cooking Channel will provide avid food lovers with 24-hour multiplatform menu of food information and instructional cooking programming. It will be presented in both standard- and high-definition formats, flanked by video-on-demand fare, as well as fully interactive Internet and broadband components. The network will deliver more content focused on baking, ethnic cuisine, wine and spirits, healthy and vegetarian cooking and kids foods.
FLN general manager Chad Youngblood, who had been repositioning the channel as a younger, but still upscale network with a pop-culture bent (sort of a mini Bravo) under the tagline "Entertainment You Can Use," is expected to stay with the network through its transition next year.
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