• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, January 6, 2010

With Scripps' networks group pulling HGTV and Food Network off the Cablevision system in a fee dispute, the company has turned to an ally -- Tribune -- for help.

Scripps will air reruns on Tribune-owned broadcast stations, hoping to remind people of its networks' popularity and prompt them to lobby Cablevision to alter its demands in the increasingly contentious matter.

Tribune has a financial stake in the contretemps; it has a 30% ownership stake in the Food Network. The channel, along with HGTV, has been dark in millions of Cablevision homes in the extended New York area since the beginning of the year.

The Tribune stations in New York and Hartford, Conn. -- both in Cablevision territory -- have each cleared two prime-time hours this Sunday for a re-airing of a Food Network "Iron Chef" special. (It aired on Food on Jan. 3.)

The "Iron Chef" special involved the head White House chef and notables Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay.

It would appear to be a good deal for the stations, which run the programming free from Scripps and get to sell the ad time and garner the full revenues. Each CW affiliate normally airs movies in the time slot.

In addition, an HGTV special will also air on the stations at 3 p.m. on Friday.

Both Food and HGTV are top-20 networks by one measure in the cable rankings in the adult 25-to-54 demo, and are experiencing large ratings increases.

Scripps is seeking higher carriage fees from Cablevision, saying the operator has been paying it 25 cents a month per subscriber to offer the two networks. It argues that the amount is "substantially lower" than the rates for networks with comparable performances.

Scripps argues the cable company's latest offer to keep the networks on its air would still make Food Network among the "lowest paid" on its lineup. Cablevision maintains that the rate increases Scripps is seeking are excessive.

"If Scripps wanted people in this market to see "Iron Chef," they shouldn't have irresponsibly yanked their programming off Cablevision, effectively holding their own viewers hostage in pursuit of a $20 million annual rate increase," Cablevision said in a statement. "That's not 'pennies,' as Scripps has claimed."

Scripps and Cablevision have been running a substantial number of ads in order to build support for their positions in the debate.