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 (now
Magnolia 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. 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. 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. 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 (€584 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.
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 completed on March 6, 2018; at that time, the company also changed its name to Discovery, Inc. SNI's chief programmer Kathleen Finch was retained as Discovery's Chief Lifestyle Brands Officer, overseeing the former SNI channels, as well as Discovery lifestyle networks such as
TLC. In turn, Discovery, Inc. merged with
WarnerMedia in April 2022 to form
Warner Bros. Discovery; Finch was subsequently promoted to head of U.S. Networks, overseeing all non-premium cable networks run by Warner Bros. Discovery (besides
Magnolia Network, which reports to
HBO head Casey Bloys). == Assets ==