{"id":9151,"date":"2016-09-14T10:41:02","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T14:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/"},"modified":"2016-09-15T09:26:13","modified_gmt":"2016-09-15T13:26:13","slug":"gustos-chris-knight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/","title":{"rendered":"Gusto\u2019s Chris Knight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Knight, CEO and president of Gusto Worldwide Media, talks to\u00a0<\/em>TV Real about his plans for the production of even more original content and for taking the Gusto TV\u00a0channel into new markets.<\/em><\/p>\n

A veteran of the TV industry and a food lover at heart, Chris Knight launched the lifestyle network Gusto TV in the Canadian market in December 2013. The channel is dedicated to all things food, from creative cooking to travel, with original programming produced in 4K. Earlier this year, the Gusto network became part of Bell Media\u2019s bouquet of specialty channels. Gusto Worldwide Media, which Knight is CEO and president of, continues to supply programming for the channel.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0When did food and TV first intersect for you?
\nKNIGHT:<\/strong>\u00a0Food has always been my passion; the kitchen is where I\u2019m most comfortable. I\u2019ve also always been a writer. In 1997, a friend of mine in the television business said to me, Cooking shows are all the rage. At the time, I was a partner in a business-management firm. My friend said, Food shows are popular; you should come up with an idea. I came up with an idea for a show. He sent it to the CBC and told me not to hold my breath. Sure\u00a0\"***Image***\"enough, the following week they called and said they loved the idea. That\u2019s how the whole thing started, and we\u2019ve been growing and evolving ever since.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:\u00a0<\/strong>What was the impetus behind the launch of Gusto TV?
\nKNIGHT:<\/strong>\u00a0It was a combination of things. There was a consolidation of media happening in Canada, as it was all over the world. I had been making all sorts of television shows, not just food shows, but with the consolidation there were fewer and fewer [outlets] to make TV shows for. At the same time, the only other food channel decided to migrate their programming to competitions, game shows and guys with big hair screaming at the camera and making giant hamburgers! They were wildly popular and successful with it and I hope they keep doing it because that allows us to grow. We felt that there was room in the market for a different kind of food channel, one that\u2019s not all about contests and standing on one foot blindfolded in a bucket of eels trying to dice a baguette with a chainsaw!<\/p>\n

When you go home at night and turn the television on, you have a lot of choices for drama, movies, sports. We felt that there was room for an alternative to the food programming that was on the air.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0How did the deal with Bell Media come about and what does it mean for the Gusto brand?
\nKNIGHT:<\/strong>\u00a0We were this feisty little independent broadcaster. A small company like ours launching a television channel these days is pretty unheard of! We were having a great time. There\u2019s no owners manual that comes with launching a television network!<\/p>\n

The partnership with Bell started with an initial discussion about co-productions. We wanted to see if they\u2019d be interested in making TV shows together. One thing led to another and now they\u2019re our partners. They\u2019ve acquired the brand in Canada. It means potentially a meteoric growth for the channel in Canada, and it also means that we will be producing a hundred hours of original content every year for many years to come.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0Why was it important to produce all the programming in 4K?
\nKNIGHT:<\/strong>\u00a0Gusto is an HD channel in Canada. As a television producer for almost 20 years, [I\u2019ve had shows] sold all over the world. When we started making original content for Gusto, we decided that we would shoot it in 4K and produce it in 4K because we knew that eventually it was going to be a big thing for the international market. 4K is just starting here in Canada, but it\u2019s already well established in [other markets]. We feel that 4K is the future, much the same way HD took over from SD.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0What are some of Gusto\u2019s signature series?
\nKNIGHT:<\/strong>\u00a0We stay away from [food] competitions. We have a lot of food shows, cooking shows, travel shows\u2014the sort of programming that made food programming popular in the first place! As a channel we skew very young\u2014almost 40 percent of our audience is under the age of 40. So if you\u2019re wondering what millennials are doing, they\u2019re watching Gusto!<\/p>\n

When we started producing original content, we wanted to try to reinvent the genre. All the hosts [on our shows] are very young, articulate, passionate. The sets are high-concept. Even the cooking shows are not set in kitchens; they\u2019re in food environments.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I\u2019m shooting right now: season two of\u00a0One World Kitchen<\/em>, season two of\u00a0A is for Apple<\/em>; season two of\u00a0Fish the Dish<\/em>; two one-hour\u00a0One World Kitchen\u00a0<\/em>Christmas specials; a one-hour\u00a0Fish the Dish\u00a0<\/em>Christmas special; a one-hour Christmas special with Michael Bonacini, who hosts\u00a0MasterChef Canada<\/em>; a one-hour Super Bowl special with Spencer Watts and Robert Jewell called\u00a0Spencer and Robert\u2019s Game Day Buffet<\/em>. We\u2019re doing a new series about Latin-influenced cuisine, looking at Cuban, Spanish, Peruvian and Mexican. We\u2019re doing a vegetarian series. We\u2019re doing another series about farm-to-gate, so going to farmers markets, taking fresh ingredients and cooking with them. This will all be shot before Christmas! We\u2019re building a studio at the same time. We\u2019re in discussions on a half-dozen co-pros with other broadcasters around the world. It\u2019s been a crazy rollercoaster ride!<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0What are the plans for the future of Gusto TV?
\nKNIGHT:<\/strong>\u00a0With the changes in OTT technologies over the last couple of years, it has now become cost-effective for us to look at launching the channel in new markets. Five years ago you had to be a Viacom or a Disney to have deep enough pockets to go and long-tail into other markets. There are some markets where we\u2019re looking at launching on traditional platforms, but OTT has changed a lot of things. Our goal is to launch Gusto TV into two new markets by early 2017.<\/p>\n

Also, we want to partner and shoot in the countries that we launch in. You have to reflect people\u2019s homes, lives and values back to them.<\/p>\n

Our motivation was, how do we create more really great content faster? We\u2019re a small, private broadcaster in Canada. The answer was to partner with Bell Media. Now we\u2019ll be producing about 100 hours of original content every year for years to come. That gives us a significant enough refresh rate to make the channel viable internationally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CEO and president of Gusto Worldwide Media talks about his plans for the production of even more original content and for taking the Gusto TV channel into new markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":350,"featured_media":9152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,69],"tags":[1540,1538,152],"class_list":["post-9151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-chris-knight","tag-gusto-tv","tag-gusto-worldwide-media","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nGusto\u2019s Chris Knight - TVREAL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gusto\u2019s Chris Knight - TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The CEO and president of Gusto Worldwide Media talks about his plans for the production of even more original content and for taking the Gusto TV channel into new markets.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-14T14:41:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-15T13:26:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2015\/09\/2016-09-14-ChrisKnightGustoWorldwideMedia.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kristin Brzoznowski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kristin Brzoznowski\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/\",\"name\":\"Gusto\u2019s Chris Knight - TVREAL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-14T14:41:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-15T13:26:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0026b5a5c019f9a498d0a452e6e9d4be\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gusto\u2019s Chris Knight\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\",\"name\":\"TVREAL\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0026b5a5c019f9a498d0a452e6e9d4be\",\"name\":\"Kristin Brzoznowski\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/author\/kbrzoznowskiworldscreen-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gusto\u2019s Chris Knight - TVREAL","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gusto\u2019s Chris Knight - TVREAL","og_description":"The CEO and president of Gusto Worldwide Media talks about his plans for the production of even more original content and for taking the Gusto TV channel into new markets.","og_url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/","og_site_name":"TVREAL","article_published_time":"2016-09-14T14:41:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-15T13:26:13+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2015\/09\/2016-09-14-ChrisKnightGustoWorldwideMedia.jpg","width":1,"height":1,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kristin Brzoznowski","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kristin Brzoznowski","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/","name":"Gusto\u2019s Chris Knight - TVREAL","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-09-14T14:41:02+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-15T13:26:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0026b5a5c019f9a498d0a452e6e9d4be"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/gustos-chris-knight\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gusto\u2019s Chris Knight"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/","name":"TVREAL","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0026b5a5c019f9a498d0a452e6e9d4be","name":"Kristin Brzoznowski","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/author\/kbrzoznowskiworldscreen-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/350"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}