Scripps Networks Interactive

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Scripps Networks Interactive (SNI) was an American mass media company, which was formed on July 1, 2008 through the spin-off of the E. W. Scripps Company's cable television networks and online assets. It was the owner of several major factual television cable channels, including Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, and DIY Network, and operated or held stakes in localized international versions of these brands. SNI also owned Polish broadcaster TVN, and a stake in the British channel group UKTV with BBC Worldwide.

SNI was headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. The company had additional office locations in New York City; Los Angeles; Chicago; San Francisco; Chevy Chase, Maryland; Atlanta; Detroit; Nashville; Cincinnati; and offices in São Paulo (Brazil), London (UK) and Singapore.

On July 31, 2017, Discovery, Inc. (then known as Discovery Communications) announced its intent to acquire SNI. After receiving approval from the United States Department of Justice and European Commission, the sale was completed on March 6, 2018.

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History

In 1994, Scripps acquired the Knoxville-based Cinetel Productions to serve as a production base for a new home lifestyle-oriented cable network, which would eventually launch in December as HGTV. Scripps later acquired a stake in the Food Network, and launched a spin-off of HGTV known as DIY Network.

On July 1, 2008, Scripps spun out its cable networks and online properties as a new, publicly-traded company known as Scripps Networks Interactive. The split was performed to reduce the financial burden of Scripps' broadcast television and print assets on its profitable cable network properties.

The company acquired a majority interest in the Travel Channel from Cox Communications for a reported $975 million in late 2009, and the following year rebranded Fine Living Network as Cooking Channel.

In April 2011, the company announced the sale of Shopzilla to Symphony Technology Group for $165 million. From within its Travel Channel unit, Scripps also invested in Oyster.com, a hotel research and booking site.

In 2011, Virgin Media agreed to sell its 50% stake in UKTV to Scripps Networks Interactive for $495 million (£339 million). Completion of the transaction was contingent on regulatory approvals in Ireland and Jersey, which was received on October 3, 2011.

On March 22, 2012, Scripps Networks Interactive announced that it had agreed to pay £65m (US$102.7m) to acquire Travel Channel International Limited (TCI), the UK-based broadcaster that ran travel-themed television channels under the Travel Channel brand across the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific markets, but had no connection with the American television channel of the same name until that time. The deal was completed on May 1, 2012 following regulatory approval. The channels ran by TCI were rebranded after the American channel since then.

On December 11, 2012 One Kings Lane, a home decor website, announced that Scripps Networks Interactive had invested in its Series D financing. The company invested $15M in exchange for a 3% equity stake in the company.

In May 2013, Scripps Networks Interactive announced that it would open a Brazilian headquarters, in São Paulo, and had appointed the former vice-president of strategy of Fox as managing director, broadcasting its channels to the entire Latin America region.

On June 5, 2013, the company launched ulive, a digital-only lifestyle video brand that combined video content from the company's media brands with third-party videos and original series. Later rebranded as Lifeestyle Studios, his video portal and distribution network expanded on the company's food, home and travel verticals, adding coverage for topics including parenting and wellness.

By way of its acquisition of Polish company N-Vision, Scripps Networks Interactive gained a 52.7% controlling interest in Polish broadcaster TVN in March 2015 for $615.3 million (EUR584 million) from ITI Group and French media giant Vivendi. The company bought out TVN's remaining owners, ITI Group and Canal+ Group in July 2015.

On May 3, 2017, Scripps acquired millennial-targeted food website Spoon University, which in turn became part of Discovery when that company acquired Scripps.

Acquisition by Discovery

On July 31, 2017, Discovery Communications announced that it would acquire Scripps Networks Interactive for $14.6 billion in a cash and stock deal. Discovery will establish an operational hub in Knoxville, but the company also announced plans to relocate its worldwide headquarters from Silver Spring, Maryland to New York City in 2019.

On February 6, 2018, the European Commission approved the deal. Since Liberty Global, which operates pay television services in Poland under the UPC Polska brand, is a major shareholder in Discovery Communications, the EU required that Discovery ensure the continued availability of TVN24 and TVN24 BiS to third-party television providers.

The purchase was approved by the U.S. Department of Justice on February 27, 2018, and was closed on March 6, 2018 (with Discovery Communications also renaming itself Discovery Inc.). SNI's chief programmer Kathleen Finch was retained as Chief Lifestyle Brands Officer of Discovery, overseeing the former SNI channels, as well as Discovery lifestyle networks such as TLC.