Scripps gobbles up the Travel Channel

Posted Nov 6th 2009 7:25PM by Danny Gallagher

While NBC juggles its possible new owner, another TV takeover went down this week in the epicenter of its shadow.

Scripps Networks won the right to buy the "controlling stake" in The Travel Channel from Cox Communications and it only cost them $181 million to earn a 65 percent stake in the cable network. Only $181 million? Did Cox put The Travel Channel up for sale at a flea market?

Why did they jump at a deal for a network with such a small audience? Slate's Troy Patterson says that even though the audience is small, it's a "niche market" that "advertisers can't resist pandering to."

[via TVTattle]

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-06-2009 @ 9:12PM

RobynM said...

Actually, I watch quite a lot of Travel Channel programming. Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern and Adam Richman all get very respectable ratings for basic cable, so it looks like a good deal to me.

11-06-2009 @ 11:21PM

VP said...

My question: Is Anthony Bourdain still allowed to take shots at Food Network Queen Rachel Ray? That's all i need to know.

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