Happy New Year! You no longer have Food Network or HGTV (Home Gardening Television). Well, that is not the way to start the new decade, at least in my household. For the past few weeks of the new year, Cablevision discntinued broadcast for the two channels or almost 900,000 Cablevision customers in New Jersey.
Now for those of us like myself who may not cook or really care how a garden may look might say, “Who cares!” But, I will not lie, I was still upset that I could not watch “Ace of Cakes” or “Iron Chef America.” My mother on the other hand was having a fit that HGTV was gone. HGTV is like a religion for my mother so the house for the past couple of weeks has not been pleasant.
According to reports and the television, Scripps wanted more money for bringing Food Network and HGTV to people’s televisions. About 3.1 million people in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut saw the blank screen where Food Network and HGTV used to broadcast.
The mess between Cablevision and Scripps outraged a countless number of customers, because they couldn’t see some of their favorite shows. Finally the whole dispute between Cablevision and Scripps was settled with money. I understand money, we all want it and love it, but don’t take away two channels that so many people watch.
Why should 3.1 million people in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area all suffer because people in the television business can’t negotiate a proper business deal? While my parents and many of the other customers are paying an unbelievable amount of money for cable, why would they suddenly just discontinue two stations?
Not only did the two companies inconvenience their customers, but they pissed off a lot of people. The New York Times published their daily newspaper with a huge ad in it telling people to go to ilovefoodnetwork.com to protest against this outrageousness. Don’t worry my mom carried that flyer around like it was her favorite book telling everybody to go to the Web sites to protest.
There were so many people voicing their opinions to Scripps and Cablevision that by the time I got on with voicing my opinion on the matter, they were only accepting the person whose e-mail was under the Cablevision account to submit their opinion. This just showed how passionate people were about two great channels being taken off their cable.
People rely on these channels not only to get some ideas for a beautiful design on their house, but maybe to even learn how to make a new recipe for a dinner party.
I’ve been banned from my kitchen at home and I don’t think it is right to put my roommates in danger here at Cabrini. I’m better off taking the frozen mozzarella sticks and putting them in the oven, instead of getting all complicated with a stove and a frying pan.
But, there is going to come a day that I would like to learn how to cook more than frozen food. What other channel can I learn from Paula Dean and watch her put half a stick of butter in all of my recipes, or make my own home, look somewhat decent without my parents’ help? Nowhere else can I get that kind of advice except for the Food Network or HGTV channels on television.
So, thank you Cablevision and Scripps for finally putting these two channels back on.
