I can sum up my winter break with six words my mother pronounced to me at approximately 12:07 a.m. on New Year's Day: "We will never be happy again." This emotionally charged declaration was followed by both of us storming into our bedrooms and pacing around in a futile attempt to calm down.
It is also safe to bet that millions of people were having the exact same reaction at the exact same time, just maybe with a bit less pacing.
At 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2010, Food Network and HGTV went off the air in the Tri−State Area (just typing those words makes me feel all verklempt, like I am reliving the nightmare).
Cablevision Systems, a cable TV provider for 3.1 million people in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, and Scripps Networks, the media conglomerate that controls Food Network and HGTV, were unable to reach an agreement on new affiliate fees for the two channels by Dec. 31, 2009, so somebody, somewhere pulled the plug after the big ball drop into 2010.
Picture this: There I am, still wide awake after watching J.Lo prance around in that horrendous full−body suit in Times Square, and I decide to turn on some Food Network for the rest of the evening. Instead of tuning in to the comforting faces of Tyler Florence or Guy Fieri, I am greeted by a blank screen with a looped recorded message saying that Food Network is no longer airing. I thought it was a joke or some sick ploy to get people talking, like the way the screen went black at the end of "The Sopranos" (1999−2007).
The two channels were off the air for a total of 21 days, and there was more mudslinging going on during those three weeks in January than there was in the Bush−Kerry election in 2004.
Both Cablevision and Scripps aired non−stop ads that blamed the decision to stop airing the networks on the other party. Food Network stars Bobby Flay and Sandra Lee were featured in commercials that pointed angry viewers to ilovefoodnetwork.com and ilovehgtv.com, sites that allowed Cablevision subscribers to sign an online petition asking Cablevision to restore the networks. In addition to its own television spots, Cablevision ran full−page ads in The Star−Ledger that specifically blamed Ken Lowe, the chairman of Scripps, for taking the channels off the air.
For those horrendous 21 days, I had to resort to watching other food−themed programming to fill the void left by the lack of Food Network. I used "Cake Boss" as a substitution for "Ace of Cakes," but Buddy Valastro is more Don Vito Corleone than Duff Goldman. I used about 90 percent of the content of "Jersey Shore" as a replacement for Sandra Lee's Cocktail Time on "Semi−Homemade," and Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino's surf−and−turf night as a stand−in for "Everyday Italian." Every few days I would go to Channel 29 out of habit, only to be greeted by the same recording that started to air on Jan. 1.
Since Scripps and Cablevision reached a decision on Jan. 21 and Food Network and HGTV were restored — terms of the agreement have not been disclosed — the debacle has pretty much faded out of the media. I, however, am still completely unsatisfied. Stations and providers go through negotiations every year, and some of them become extremely dicey — people in the Tri−State Area might remember ads warning of failed negotiations between Time Warner and Fox. But there are always ads beforehand alerting customers to the problems, and even through the negotiations, the channels in question are still on the air. What happened between Scripps and Cablevision is completely unprecedented. Luckily, my mother and I are in fact happy again, but we will never forget the 21 days that kicked off 2010.
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Caryn Horowitz is a senior majoring in history. She can be reached at Caryn.Horowitz@tufts.edu.
