HGTV

HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is owned by Scripps Networks Interactive. HGTV broadcasts a variety of how-to shows with a focus on home improvement, gardening, craft and remodeling. The channel is headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. The channel sponsors the annual HGTV Dream Home and HGTV Smart Home giveaways.

As of February 2015, approximately 95,628,000 American households (82.2% of households with television) receive HGTV.

History

Kenneth W. Lowe (then a radio executive with The E.W. Scripps Company and, subsequently, the chief executive officer of Scripps Networks Interactive) envisioned the concept of HGTV in 1992. With modest financial support from the E.W. Scripps corporate board, he purchased Cinetel, a small video production company in Knoxville, as the base and production hub of the new network.

Cinetel became Scripps Productions, but producing more than 30 programs simultaneously proved daunting. The organization brought in former CBS television executive Ed Spray, who implemented a system of producing (nearly all) programming through independent production houses around the United States. Burton Jablin, as Vice President of Programming, set the tone and oversaw the production of the early series. About 90 percent of the channel's programming consisted of original productions at launch, with ten percent licensed and rerun from Canadian channels, PBS, and other sources.