For Those of You Who Find the Television Channel a Little Too Fast-Paced: Food Network Magazine?
Tuesday, February 05, 2008 | posted by Mike
There has been news loating around about Food Network starting a magazine. Thanks to reader and commenter Mrs. L, who runs the very cool Pages, Pucks and Pantry food blog, for writing and asking about it, thus getting me off my butt about commenting. From a post:What's in the oven at Hearst? In recent weeks, the magazine giant has been staffing up for a secret development project, picking off editors from the Reader's Digest-owned Every Day with Rachael Ray. But for what?
According to a well-placed source, the project in question is a new food magazine to be published in partnership with the Food Network. Like previous TV-to-print adaptations Hearst has housed -- ESPN The Magazine, O, The Oprah Magazine and the ill-fated Lifetime -- the title would carry the Food Network's brand and be published as a joint venture, in this case between Hearst and Scripps, which owns the channel.
Truth be told, I never seem to have the patience to subscribe to and regularly read a magazine. They invariably stack up until I end up tossing them...I'm more of a "doctors waiting room" sort of magazine reader. But, hey...someone is reading these things.
Magazines can be profitable -- albeit volatile -- undertakings. How will this one fare? The blogger at the post doesn't think much of this venture:
Will this one be a hit like O or a bust like Lifetime? The source, noting that Hearst is not the first publisher Scripps approached with the idea, predicts the latter. The problem is that the network's personalities aren't an automatic part of the package. And of course Ray, possibly the network's biggest star, has her own magazine, as does Paula Deen. "All you really get is the logo," says the source.
Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the blog making this prediction is, in fact, run by Hearst competitor Condé Nast.
Labels: Food Network
