Scripps Takes Travel Channel Majority Stake

CINCINNATI: Scripps Networks Interactive has triumphed in the bidding war for Travel Channel, acquiring a 65-percent stake in a deal that values that lifestyle cable network at $975 million.

Scripps will enter into a joint venture with Travel Channel’s current owner, cable platform Cox Communications, which will retain a 35-percent minority stake in the network. The transaction is expected to close by January 2010. Cox will contribute the Travel Channel, valued at $975 million, and Scripps Networks Interactive will contribute $181 million in cash for the 65-percent stake. The partnership will take on $878 million in third-party debt that will be guaranteed by Scripps and indemnified by Cox, with the proceeds to be distributed to Cox. The transaction will result in the partnership having about $696 million in net debt.

“Combining the Travel Channel with Food Network and HGTV will make our fast-growing, young company the undisputed global leader in lifestyle programming,” said Kenneth W. Lowe, the chairman, president and CEO of Scripps Networks Interactive. “This collection of popular lifestyle networks will be in great demand worldwide and promises to create substantial long-term value for all of our stakeholders.”

Lowe continued: “Adding the Travel Channel, and its related enterprises, provides us with a unique opportunity to meaningfully expand our portfolio into a lifestyle category that’s highly desirable to media consumers, advertisers and programming distributors. Our vision for Travel follows the same script that’s made Food Network and HGTV two of the most powerful brands in all of television. By lending our unparalleled expertise in developing successful lifestyle media businesses, we have every confidence that we can build on Travel’s strong brand identity and leverage the successes achieved to date by the top-notch team at Travel Channel and our new partners at Cox Communications."

Patrick Esser, the president of Cox Communications, added: “This solid partnership that we’re establishing today allows us to maintain an interest in Travel Channel while at the same time giving the network an opportunity to leverage the resources and expertise of a successful programmer like Scripps Networks Interactive. Scripps has an outstanding reputation as a company, an employer and a programmer. Over the past 15 years, Scripps Networks Interactive has built a portfolio of leading lifestyle programming brands, and we think this complementary expertise will be a boon to Travel Channel’s future growth.”

Travel Channel, launched in 1987, today reaches about 95 million U.S. television households. Its signature programs include Man v. Food and Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.