Editing Food Network (section)

==History==
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In 1990, ''[[The Providence Journal|Providence Journal]]'' company president Trygve Myhren was attempting to grow the company and decided that basic cable programming at the time was a high growth area with cable companies beginning to expand their overall channel capacities. With many basic cable channels at the time, Myhren was looking for something different. With food selected as the channel's genre, the working title for the channel was The Cooking Channel up until the channel's launch, although the [[Cooking Channel]] name would later be used for a spin off channel that launched in May 2010. Myhren hired Stephen Cunningham and [[Reese Schonfeld]], co-founder of [[CNN]], to help Joe Langhan and Jack Clifford to found the channel. Both The Cooking Channel and the Food Network [[trademark]]s were taken by other entities, with the Food Network being a newsletter. Myrhen originally wanted the network to be operated from [[Providence, Rhode Island]] as he argued that a cable network's costs were much more scalable from a lower-profile location, while Schonfeld preferred it be originated from [[New York City|New York]], considered the American nucleus of [[culinary arts]]; Schonfeld's preference eventually won out, though at the peril of the network's launch budget, which was lower than it would have been from Providence.<ref name="grubst">{{cite news |last1=Sugar |first1=Rachel |title=How Food Network Turned Big-city Chef Culture Into Middle-America Pop Culture |url=https://www.grubstreet.com/2017/11/early-days-food-network-oral-history.html |access-date=January 17, 2020 |work=Grub Street |date=November 30, 2017 |language=en-us}}</ref> Cunningham also separated from the venture at that time and went on to launch other networks from his Denver base. 

Food Network was formed on April 19, 1993, as "TV Food Network"; its legal name remains Television Food Network, G. P. After acquiring the Food Network trademark after several years, it shortened the name to that. The network initially launched on November 22, 1993, with two initial shows featuring [[David Rosengarten]], [[Donna Hanover]], and [[Robin Leach]]. On November 23, 1993, Food Network began live broadcasting.<ref>{{Citation|last=The New School|title=The Founding of the Food Network: A 20 Year Retrospective|date=2013-09-30|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6TH1Bdq-ZI&t=760s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/t6TH1Bdq-ZI |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|access-date=August 6, 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Its original partners included the Journal itself, [[Adelphia Communications Corporation|Adelphia]], [[E. W. Scripps Company|Scripps-Howard]], [[MediaOne|Continental Cablevision]], [[Cablevision]], and most importantly, the [[Tribune Media|Tribune Company]], which provided the network's technical output.

Given that the channel could only afford to run programming that was produced themselves, the channel started taping 5 shows with a potential host to see if they worked. This was later turned into ''Chef Du Jour'' series.<ref name="grubst"/>

[[Image:Food Network 2000.svg|thumb|right|150px|Former logo, used from April 1, 1996 to December 31, 2002.]]
Schonfeld was appointed as managing director of TV Food Network and maintained a spot on its management board along with two Providence Journal employees. The original lineup for the network included [[Emeril Lagasse]] (''[[Essence of Emeril]]''), [[Debbi Fields]], [[Donna Hanover]], [[David Rosengarten]], Curtis Aikens, Dr. [[Louis Aronne]], [[Jacques Pépin]], and [[Robin Leach]]. The following year, the network acquired the rights to the [[Julia Child]] library from [[WGBH-TV|WGBH]].

In 1995, Schonfeld resigned as managing director of the network, but remained on its board until 1998, when he and Cunningham sold their interest in the company to Scripps. In 1996, Erica Gruen was hired as the president and CEO of TV Food Network, becoming the second woman in history to be the CEO of a U.S. television network. That same year, the "TV" portion of the name was dropped, thus making it simply Food Network. Gruen led the network into an explosive growth until 1998, by launching the largest website for food, FoodNetwork.com, more than doubling the subscriber base, tripling the viewership and multiplying the network's yearly revenue.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scripps.com/press-releases/190-food-network-president-and-ceo-erica-gruen-leaving-network|title=Food Network President and CEO Erica Gruen leaving network |publisher= The E.W. Scripps Company|website=www.scripps.com|access-date=2018-08-06}}</ref> In 1997, it was the second fastest growing cable network. Gruen changed the brand positioning from Schonfeld's "TV for people who cook" to "TV for everyone who loves to eat," thereby greatly improving the appeal to viewers and advertisers, and saving the network from bankruptcy. Greg Willis and Cathy Rasenberger were two of the original members of the start-up team who led the affiliate sales and marketing of the company from 1995 to 1998. Greg Willis served as senior vice president of worldwide distribution until he left to join [[Liberty Media]] in 1998.

[[File:Food Network.svg|135px|left|thumb|Food Network logo used from January 1, 2003 to January 5, 2013. On January 6, 2013, a new version of this logo was introduced with a different font.]]
The [[Belo Corporation|A. H. Belo Corporation]] acquired Food Network when it purchased The Providence Journal Company in February 1997.  Belo sold its 56% stake in the channel to the [[E. W. Scripps Company]] in October 1997, in a trade deal that resulted in Belo acquiring the television-radio station combination of [[KRDY|KENS-AM]]/[[KENS|TV]] in [[San Antonio, Texas]].<ref>{{cite book |title=International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 30 |date=2000 |publisher=St. James Press | via=FundingUniverse |url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/a-h-belo-corporation-history/ |access-date=17 January 2020 |chapter=History of A.H. Belo Corporation}}</ref>

The [[1080i]] [[High-definition television|high definition]] [[simulcast]] feed of Food Network launched on March 31, 2008.

Food Network was first launched outside of North America in the [[United Kingdom]] on November 9, 2009, and in [[Food Network Asia|Asia]] on July 5, 2010 (on [[StarHub TV]] channel 433 and in HD on channel 468).<ref>[http://www.foodbusinessnews.net Food Business News: Schroeder, Eric "Food Network to launch in international markets" November 4, 2009. ''(Registration required to view entire article.)'']</ref> Since the UK launch on November 9, 2009, on [[Sky (UK & Ireland)|Sky]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/news/a180719/food-network-coming-to-sky.html|title=Food Network coming to Sky|publisher=Digital Spy|date=October 6, 2009}}</ref> the channel has been added to the [[Freesat]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/news/a191318/food-network-launches-on-freesat.html|title=Food Network launches on Freesat|publisher=Digital Spy|date=December 14, 2009}}</ref> [[Freeview (UK)|Freeview]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/news/a328608/food-network-to-launch-on-freeview.html|title=Food Network to launch on Freeview|publisher=Digital Spy|date=July 6, 2011}}</ref> and [[Virgin Media]] platforms.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/media/news/a491480/food-network-travel-channel-come-to-virgin-media-tv.html|title=Food Network, Travel Channel come to Virgin Media TV|publisher=Digital Spy|date=June 19, 2013}}</ref>

In January 2015, the Food Network collaborated with [[Snapchat]] and launched its own Food Network channel, "Discover Food Network", where social media users can watch the channel through the app. The channel features recipes, food hacks, and tips to entertain and appeal to the social media savvy millennials of today while watching from the palm of their hands.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/news/2015/01/food-network-launches-new-discover-food-network-channel-on-snapchat|title=Food Network Launches New "Discover Food Network" Channel on Snapchat|work=Food Network|access-date=2018-08-06}}</ref>