FOOD NETWORK CANADA TURNS A PERFECT 10

Food Network Canada celebrates its 10^th anniversary with record audience growth

For more information and to download a timeline of landmark moments in Food Network Canada's history, please visit the media site: www.canwesttvmedia.com

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TORONTO, Sept. 29 /CNW/ - Food Network Canada is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this October with great pride, having achieved consistent growth over the last decade and record highs this past year.  Viewership has tripled since launch in 2000,¹ more than doubled in the past four years,² and increased by 18% this year among adults aged 25-54 and 35% among women of that age bracket.³

Over the last decade the channel has broadened its appeal to become a top 10 ranking specialty channel⁴ and continued to expand its family of world class chefs and TV personalities, delivering to Canadians the best in entertaining, food related series.

"We have much to celebrate as we enter our 10^th year as a Canadian specialty broadcast network," said Emily Morgan, Vice President of Content for Food Network, HGTV and DIY Network at Canwest Broadcasting.  "The outstanding increase in viewership and passion expressed by a growing number of Canadians over the past 10 years is a testament to the strength of the brand and its success in delivering top notch entertaining and diverse food related programming."

Since its inception in October 2000, Food Network has become a favourite among Canadians⁵ with its much-loved and passionate hosts and exceptional programming from Canada, the U.S., Britain, and around the world.  To commemorate the channel's anniversary, Food Network will be airing marathons of some of the most watched series on the channel throughout October and November:

• Dear Food Network Thanksgiving Marathon - airing Sunday, October 3, 2010
• Dear Food Network Thanksgiving Special - airing Sunday, October 10, 2010
• Iron Chef America Thanksgiving Special - airing Sunday, October 10, 2010
• Thanksgiving Day Marathon (Dear Food Network Thanksgiving and Food Network Challenge) - airing Monday, October 11, 2010
• Ace of Cakes Marathon - airing Sunday, October 17, 2010
• Diners, Drive-ins and Dives Marathon - airing Sunday, October 24, 2010
• Throwdown with Bobby Flay Marathon - airing Saturday, November 6, 2010

Food Network is spreading the word about its milestone anniversary in a number of different ways, including on-air promotions featuring a customized '10 years' logo and bug, on-air "happy birthday" greetings from hosts, a partnership with Indigo whereby in-store promotions will feature the adapted logo on signage, and a special collector's edition of TV Guide Canada celebrating 10 years of Food Network that will hit newsstands nationwide on October 4.  Food Network's online promotions for the 10^th anniversary include a comprehensive 10^th anniversary microsite featuring a 10-year timeline, video greetings from hosts as well as their top 10 favourite recipes, and a 10 year anniversary-themed Cooking Club Challenge for the Foodnetwork.ca online community.

For more information about Food Network's 10^th anniversary, visit www.foodnetwork.ca/anniversary, which goes live on October 1.

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Sources:

¹ BBM Canada PPM Data, Fall 2000 based on Nielsen Media Research data.

² BBM Canada PPM Data (Mar 29/10 - May 30/10)/S06 BBM Canada Mark II/A25-54 (Apr 3 - Jul 2/06)

³ BBM Canada PPM Data (June 1 2009-May 31/10).

⁴ Among all Canadian specialty channels, Food Network is ranked 8^th among women and 9^th among adults 25-54 (Source: SP10 BBM Canada PPM / M-Su 2a (May 31-August 29/10).

⁵ Engagement Study by SRG, examining the top 30 English Canada specialty channels.  Food Network ranked as Canada's number one favourite channel to watch amongst women 25-54 and third amongst adults 25-54. 

Food Network is a Canwest Broadcasting network.

About Canwest Broadcasting
Canwest Broadcasting operates Global Television and nineteen of the country's most popular specialty channels, including HGTV, Mystery TV, National Geographic Channel, Showcase, History Television, Food Network and TVtropolis. Canwest Broadcasting is a division of Canwest Media Inc.

About Canwest Media Inc.
Canwest Media Inc. is a subsidiary of Canwest Global Communications Corp. (www.canwest.com), Canada's largest media company. In addition to owning the Global Television Network, operating 19 industry-leading specialty channels and having ownership in 5 specialty channels, Canwest is Canada's largest publisher of English language paid daily newspapers and owns and operates more than 80 online properties.

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