Monday, December 17, 2007
Food Network, continued...
Hey -
My last post was a rant about Food Network. Today, I stumbled upon an interesting article in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/business/media/17food.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5088&en=9ec7ef029a8c988e&ex=1355547600&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
The interesting thing about this article is that it mentions that FN has "no stake" in the celebrity chef's success outside the network, and says,
"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. "
Hmmm...somebody wants a bigger slice of the pie...
Furthermore, a quote in the article from Mario Batali is very telling:
"Mr. Batali said, 'They don't need me. They have decided they are mass market and they are going after the Wal-Mart crowd," which he said was "a smart business decision. So they don’t need someone who uses polysyllabic words from other languages.' "
No wonder they're going "home grown." After all, why would you watch a chef who teaches you how to chiffonnade? That's way more complicated than chopping. Yeah, right.
I doubt Julia Child would have made it on Food Network...
My last post was a rant about Food Network. Today, I stumbled upon an interesting article in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/business/media/17food.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5088&en=9ec7ef029a8c988e&ex=1355547600&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
The interesting thing about this article is that it mentions that FN has "no stake" in the celebrity chef's success outside the network, and says,
"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. "
Hmmm...somebody wants a bigger slice of the pie...
Furthermore, a quote in the article from Mario Batali is very telling:
"Mr. Batali said, 'They don't need me. They have decided they are mass market and they are going after the Wal-Mart crowd," which he said was "a smart business decision. So they don’t need someone who uses polysyllabic words from other languages.' "
No wonder they're going "home grown." After all, why would you watch a chef who teaches you how to chiffonnade? That's way more complicated than chopping. Yeah, right.
I doubt Julia Child would have made it on Food Network...
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