Food Network, known in its first incarnation as Television Food Network (TVFN), was the brainchild of Reese Schonfeld, a veteran of cable television programming who had been one of the founders of CNN in the early 1980s. Schonfeld first began to develop the Food Network concept in 1993, in partnership with the Providence Journal Company. He has been quoted widely for his idea that a cable network dedicated to food preparation and consumption is not really catering to a specialized audience, since "everybody eats." Even so, it was made clear from the beginning that the primary target was young to middle-aged women-a market niche considered to be underrepresented on cable.

The cable programming market had become fairly competitive by the time TVFN was ready to launch, with many new start-up ventures competing for the small amount of "shelf space" left over after local cable operators had filled their lineups with established favorites such as USA, MTV, CNN, and Nickelodeon. In this climate, TVFN benefited from the passage of the 1992 Cable Act and its retransmission consent provisions, which mandated that cable systems compensate local broadcast stations-financially or otherwise-for the use of their signals. Schonfeld immediately observed the success with which broadcast networks used their own major­ market affiliate stations as leverage in drawing subscribers for their start-up cable ventures (such as FX, America's Talking/MSNBC and ESPN2), and thus formulated a plan to help build TVFN's subscriber base. He successfully approached the Chicago Tribune Company, a major television station owner, with an offer of a 20 percent ownership in TVFN in exchange for their re­ transmission rights-guaranteeing TVFN access to 10 million homes at its start.

Among TVFN's early programs were Essence of Emeril with Emeril Lagasse, Molto Mario with Mario Batali, Chillin' and Grillin' with Bobby Flay, Too Hot Tamales with Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, Chef du lour featuring a variety of celebrity chefs, How to Feed Your Family on a Hundred Dollars a Week with Michelle Urvater, and Food News & Views with Donna Hanover and David Rosengarten. Reruns of Julia Child's classic, The French Chef, purchased for $500,000, helped to boost TVFN's recognition. This lineup proved solid overall, and many of the personalities from the network's early years continued to populate its schedule as of 2003.

TVFN was quietly sold to Belo Broadcasting in 1995 (Schonfeld retained a 5 percent ownership stake), with virtually no change in programming practices. Then in October 1997, the E.W. Scripps Company took over control ofTVFN. Scripps had acquired 56 percent of the network from Belo in exchange for two broadcast stations in San Antonio (Scripps's ownership had increased to 68 percent by the end of 2001). Scripps was best known for its holdings in newspapers and television stations, but already was a player in cable narrowcasting, having launched the Home and Garden Television (HGTV) network in 1994.

One of Food Network's major success stories-both before and since the Scripps takeover-has been the cultivation of its star chef, Emeril Lagasse. New Orleans chef Lagasse was hired at the launch of TVFN at $300 an episode for his first show, Essence of Emeril. While this was a traditional-style television cooking show, with the chef host preparing recipes behind a kitchen console, Emeril's boisterous personality clearly set the program apart from its predecessors. His blue­ collar dialect, jabs at elite food culture, and trademark exclamations "Barn!" and "Let's kick it up a notch!" endeared him to the widest possible cross section of the television audience. TVFN began capitalizing on this appeal with promos featuring raucous groups of home viewers, including male sports fans. A logical next step was the creation of Emeril Live!, a cross between traditional cooking show and late-night talk show that features a studio audience and a house. It seems clear that Emeril owes his celebrity-indeed the very concept of television chef as superstar-to Food Network. Emeril currently appears Fridays on Good Morning America and also starred in the short-lived 2001 NBC sitcom, Emeril. He also markets a product line, including his trademark Essence seasoning.

Following in Emeril's footsteps, other chefs have attained national recognition through their Food Network programs. Sara Moulton (also executive chef at Gourmet magazine) has a populist appeal not unlike that of Emeril; this comes across most poignantly in Cooking Live, a show in which Moulton often downplays her own expertise in order to accept the advice of audience members who call in. Other chefs, such as Wolfgang Puck, have used Food Network to boost existing celebrity status. And homemaking guru Martha Stewart has linked Food Network to her marketing empire via the popular program, From Martha's Kitchen. The presence of known-and widely cross-promoted-personalities such as these, in turn, build Food Network's reputation. By the end of 2001, Food Network reached 76.4 million homes, up from 59 million two years earlier and 28 million at the time of its acquisition by Scripps. While celebrity chefs play a critical role in Food Net­ work's programming, surely the network also owes much of this success to the ways in which it has broadened its programming niche. Recent additions to the schedule include Food Finds, which seeks out unique prepared food products (most available by mail order) from across the United States, and Good Eats, part instructional cooking show and part science education. Imports have also contributed to Food Network's popular programming mix-including British shows Two Fat Ladies and The Naked Chef, and the Japanese cult favorite, Iron Chef.