• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, May 6, 2010

As Scripps Networks promotes the launch of the Cooking Channel with a "Stay Hungry" tag, the company said it expects the network to debut in close to 60 million homes. That would maintain almost all the distribution of the Fine Living Network.

Cooking Channel is replacing FLN in the Scripps portfolio, and the company is looking to persuade operators to allow it to simply swap FLN for Cooking in their lineups.

On a conference call Thursday, Scripps said it expects to retain almost 100% of FLN's 57 million homes. It previously had indicated that it may have to pay operators a fee to execute a switch.

FLN generated less than .05% of Scripps' networks revenue in the January-March period.

Scripps CEO Ken Lowe said the Cooking Channel, coming May 31, is aimed at "taking full advantage of the growing television food genre," where the Food Network has been successful. Cooking Channel -- where promotions have a maroon and pink hue -- will have original series starring Food Network stars Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay and Emeril Lagasse.

Scripps also expressed optimism that the Travel Channel, new to its portfolio, would be a growth driver. The company will place as much emphasis on it as it does Food Network and HGTV. The company assumed ad sales duties for Travel at the end of the first quarter and is looking to wean it off some of the dependence on direct-response advertising.

In the January-March period when Discovery handled Travel sales, DR advertising made up more than 30% of the inventory. In the second quarter, that could be in the 5% range as Scripps targets consumer packaged-goods and more blue-chip advertisers.

In the first quarter, Scripps posted a 14% gain in ad revenue for its networks versus last year. That figure excludes Travel, which was added in December.

Similarly, excluding Travel, revenue for the Scripps networks division was up 20% to $371 million. Profit, including Travel, was up 28% to $186 million.

Companywide in the first quarter, revenues were $469 million -- up 32% -- while net income increased 21% to $72 million.

The first quarter at Scripps began with a carriage dispute that had Cablevision pull Food Network and HGTV off its lineup in some 3 million homes in the New York area. Scripps spent approximately $11 million in the dispute, including on a heavy dose of advertising looking to rally public support.

As the year progresses, Scripps has been benefiting from a healthy scatter market, where pricing is up as much as 25% above upfront levels, which "bodes well for this year's upfront," CFO Joe NeCastro said.

Scripps typically sells about 45% to 50% of inventory in the upfront. And even if the market is particularly hot, it said it does not expect to move beyond 55%.

Overall, Scripps predicts the industry-wide cable market will experience a 20% volume increase -- in line with a recent 22% forecast by Credit Suisse to $8.2 billion.

Scripps expects CPM increases at its networks to be up in the 5% to 9% range.