Imagine a world without Giada or 'House Hunters.'

That's what subscribers to the New York City area Cablevision cable system found themselves facing this morning as the Scripps company pulled The Food Network and HGV from Cablevision, which services about 3.1 million households in the region.

Cablevision and Scripps could not come to a distribution deal before the midnight deadline.
Imagine a world without Giada or 'House Hunters.'

That's what subscribers to the New York City area Cablevision cable system found themselves facing this morning as the Scripps company pulled The Food Network and HGV from Cablevision, which services about 3.1 million households in the region.

Cablevision and Scripps could not come to a distribution deal before the midnight deadline.

"We wanted to keep bringing you these channels. We apologize for the inconvenience,'' said a taped message from Cablevision on the blank channels in New Jersey. "Cablevision has tried to reach a fair agreement."

Scripps pulled out because the "networks simply are not being compensated like top 10 networks by Cablevision,'' said Kenneth W. Lowe, chairman, president and chief executive officer of the Tennessee-based Scripps Networks, in a press release. "The distribution rates Cablevision pays for Food and HGTV are among the lowest in the industry."

Scripps is currently receiving less than 25 cents a month per household for both channels, according to a report in Newsoxy.

The Scripps vs Cablevision standoff is similar to that of Fox vs Time Warner Cable, which was resolved, at least temporarily, as the Fox channels were kept on the air as negotiations continue. Scripps and Time Warner agreed to continue to broadcast The Food Network and HGTV while those two companies continue negotiations, according to the Wall Street Journal. No such deal was made with Cablevision.

The cable industry maneuvers are part of a repositioning between content providers and distributors, which came to a head at midnight last night.