Leah Bitsky ’12
Staff Writer

On January 1^st The Food Network and HGTV channels were removed from Cablevision in the Tri-State Area; however, to much surprise the channels returned to television on January 21^st.

“I had no idea that there were any problems,” said teacher Catherine Hernandez, a big fan of the Food Network.

Hernandez along with hundreds of others were unaware that Scripps, the owners of HGTV and Food Network, and Cablevision ever had problems working with each other.

There were segments on both channels that people were hoping to watch that they now could not, because these channels were shut down and Cablevision did not wish to work with Scripps again.

“I wanted to watch Michelle Obama on Food Network, but I couldn’t because they had that stupid message going that it was cancelled,” said Robert Perry ’12.

Hernandez was also upset when she found out that she would be missing the big Super Chef Battle on Iron Chef.

Cablevision had been playing commercials explaining how it wasn’t their fault and fans should encourage Scripps to do what they could to get the two beloved channels back on air.

“My father is extremely upset! He watched his programs every Sunday.” said Kerry Langstine ’11.

Langstine also enjoyed watching these channels and explained how she was going to miss spending quality time watching with her family.

“I’m personally devastated. I think the absence of cooking shows will have a potentially disastrous affect on relations,” said Michael Fulton.

So now people are wondering why suddenly, after only twenty days, Cablevision has agreed to work with Scripps again.

Cablevision said that Scripps was demanding a 200 percent fee increase, which would increase customer rates if it were accepted; however, the average rate increase for subscribers is 3.7 percent for 2010.

Scripps on the other hand had been arguing back and forth with Cablevision for six months to come to an agreement, but Cablevision wouldn’t meet with them.

With a lot of help from outraged fans however, Cablevision and Scripps were able to come to an agreement.

According to Shannon Moore, Celebrity News Service Reporter for allheadlinenews.com, Cablevision’s call center received over 120,000 viewer calls from fans hoping to convince the company to bring back the favorite networks.

Food Network and HGTV are both lifestyle channels that give viewers tips on cooking and advice on how to improve one’s home. These shows educate people on the essentials of living and viewers just couldn’t live without them.