Food Network - Media Comment

Media Comment

In December 2007 The New York Times business section published an article on the end of Emeril Lagasse's show Emeril Live and quoted Brooke Johnson, the president as saying that Lagasse "remains a valued member of the Food Network family".

Derek Baine, senior analyst at the media research firm SNL Kagan, is reported to have commented, "It's not surprising that people move on". "They pay almost nothing for the people as they are building their careers". "That's been their strategy all along".

The article also commented on the declining popularity of the Food Network whose day ratings it reported had fallen "to an average of 544,000 people from 580,000 a year ago". It noted, "More significant, its signature weekend block of instructional programs, known collectively as 'In the Kitchen,' has lost 15 percent of its audience in the last year, to 830,000 viewers on average. This had left the network owing refunds, known as 'make goods,' to advertisers."

Erica Gruen, former president and CEO of the Food Network (1995–1998) who created Emeril Live during her tenure, was reported to have blamed the decline on increased competition, "There's all sorts of instructional cooking video on the Web".

But it reported that, "Bob Tuschman, Food Network's senior vice president for programming and production, said the weekend ratings drop was 'nothing we haven't anticipated'. He said the network's ratings in that time period grew by double digits in each of the last four years, growth that could not be sustained."

It also wrote, "About a year ago, the Food Network began aggressively trying to change that with new deals that were 'way more onerous' from the stars' point of view, said a person who has been affected by the changing strategy, by insisting on a stake in book deals and licensing ventures, and control over outside activities.

Similar to the departure of Emeril Lagasse was that of David Rosengarten. In the foreword to his book Taste, Erica Gruen noted that the show had been the very first in-house production at Food Network and had become its most popular show. Yet after her departure at the end of 1998, the show was relegated to a 1:00 am broadcast time resulting in its inevitable drop in ratings and final demise. This strange and, on the surface, contrary to interest conduct by the network has never been explained.