A Meal Ticket on Cable

N E W  Y O R K, Jan. 19 -- When the Food Network started out in 1993, cooking shows weren't considered hot TV fare, and chefs weren'tcelebrities. Studious cooks watched Julia Child and the GallopingGourmet truss chickens, but cooking as entertainment had not yetarrived.

Now, bad-boy chef Emeril Lagasse is practically everywhere,along with Mario Batali, Ming Tsai, Iron Chef and the variousother cultural creations birthed by Food Network, which has gonefar beyond its humble beginnings to become a scrappy success story.

Along the way, Food Network also became a meal ticket for itsmajority owner, the venerable newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps Co.

With revenues jumping at about 60 percent a year, Food Network andits sister cable channels are now the company's main growth engine.

Riding a Sociological Wave

All this would have been hard to predict when Food Networkstarted out. For one thing, America's growing obsession withcooking and fine dining has certainly helped raise Food Network'sprofile — even if it has stumped some of its own executives.

"We're riding a kind of sociological wave that we don't reallyunderstand," acknowledged network president Judy Girard.

Food Network remains smaller than other niche cable outlets likeDiscovery and far behind the major networks. But its ability tobuild its audience beyond the souffle-and-truffles set hasadvertisers and industry analysts paying close attention.

"When cable was first emerging, this was the kind of thing welaughed at," said Bob Thompson, professor of media and popularculture at Syracuse University. "But the Food Network has beenmore successful than anyone else at creating a varied lineupcentered around a single topic."

Newest Creations Driven by Star ChefsWhile the Food Network may indeed be riding a foodie wave, it'salso doing plenty on its own to grow. As a young company entering afield with no competitors, it has had a free hand to experimentwith various formats to see what works and what doesn't.