Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The Food Network and Travel Channel are attracting record audiences with shows such as “Man v. Food” as programs popular during the housing bubble go bust along with real estate prices.

“Food can take away the pain,” said Shari Anne Brill, who analyzes audiences for New York-based Carat USA, which buys advertising for Papa John’s International Inc. and Alberto- Culver Co. Real-estate shows have “gone by the wayside because now it’s more about how to keep your home from going into foreclosure.”

“The Next Food Network Star” and Travel Channel’s “Man v. Food,” reality shows with contests and challenges, have attracted the biggest audiences ever to the two networks. Scripps Networks Interactive Inc., the Cincinnati-based owner of the Food Network, plans to press cable-system operators for higher fees based on the success of its shows.

“Food Network is literally blazing hot, which should work very much in our favor as we renew affiliate agreements later this year,” Kenneth Lowe, chairman and chief executive officer of Scripps Networks, said on an Aug. 6 conference call.

The channel’s ratings rose 20 percent in July from a year ago on the strength of “The Next Food Network Star,” Lowe said. Since 2004, the prime-time audience for the Food Network has increased 55 percent to 1.06 million viewers nightly from 683,000, according to Nielsen Co. data. In the 18-49 age group advertisers target, Food Network is up 79 percent in five years.

Travel Channel’s ratings are up 35 percent in August from a year ago, boosted by “Man v. Food” and “Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern,” said Karen Hansen, a spokeswoman. In the past five years, its 18-49 audience is up 46 percent, according to New York-based Nielsen.

‘Tipping Point’

Food Network President Brooke Johnson cites several trends at work. Immigration has introduced new cuisine to U.S. viewers. Supermarkets and farmers markets have made fresh ingredients more widely available and more people are trying to re-create restaurant dishes at home.

That has spawned celebrity chefs, food-themed vacations and elaborate home kitchens, and ultimately interest in food shows, Johnson said in an interview.

“It’s a tipping point type of thing,” said Johnson, who has led the network for five years.

Program changes have also contributed. In 2004, the Food Network, which can be seen in 98 million U.S. homes, began replacing traditional “how to” programs with reality and competition-based shows to draw younger viewers, Johnson said.

Four-Step Chicken

The fifth season finale of “The Next Food Network Star,” a kitchen version of “American Idol,” drew the biggest audience ever for the Food Network. The 3.8 million homes measured by Nielsen made it cable’s most-watched show the night of Aug. 2 and the sixth-biggest audience that week.

Winner Melissa d’Arabian of Keller, Texas, was awarded her own six-episode show, “Ten Dollar Dinners,” which aired its first episode Aug. 9 and was the top show in the channel’s “In the Kitchen” weekend block, spokeswoman Michelle Betrock said in an e-mail.

Judges lauded d’Arabian’s five-minute individual potato gratins and flexible four-step chicken, known as rustic lemon onion chicken. Past winners Guy Fieri and Aaron McCargo Jr. still have shows on the network, Johnson said.

Scripps Networks rose 4 cents to $33.05 at 4:03 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have gained 50 percent this year. Papa John’s, the pizza chain, is based in Louisville, Kentucky. Alberto-Culver, which makes personal-care products, is located in Melrose Park, Illinois.

‘Man v. Food’

Travel Channel’s second-season start of “Man v. Food,” where host Adam Richman crisscrosses the U.S. highlighting local establishments and competing in eating challenges, drew the largest audience for an original series premiere on the network. The Aug. 5 show was viewed in 1.25 million households, said the network, which is owned by Cox Enterprises Inc. in Atlanta.

The Travel Channel, available in more than 90 million households, is adding food-related shows after the success of “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations,” which started in 2005, demonstrated that eating is a top activity on trips, Michael Klein, senior vice president of content, said in an interview.

Cox hired New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to advise on a possible sale of the Travel Channel, the closely held company said June 8 on its Web site. News Corp. and General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal, both based in New York, are among the bidders, as is Scripps Networks, according to four people close to the situation.

Let Them Watch Cake

TLC, owned by Discovery Communications Inc., is also adding food shows, said Steve Cheskin, who became the executive vice president of programming last month. The network, which dropped two real-estate shows in the past year, the long-running “Trading Spaces” and “Flip that House,” renewed “Cake Boss” last month and starts “Ultimate Cake Off” on Aug. 31.

Discovery, based in Silver Spring, Maryland, rose 21 cents to $25.14 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, and has gained 78 percent in 2009. TLC is available in 98 million homes.

Another ratings hit, Bravo’s “Top Chef,” pulled in 2.6 million viewers for the sixth-season premiere yesterday, according to Nielsen data supplied by the NBC-owned network. The culinary skills of 17 contestants will be tested in Las Vegas on the Emmy-winning show.

Real estate shows aren’t vanishing. They are taking a new tack to reflect the times.

‘Real Estate Intervention’

In the second quarter, Scripps Networks’ HGTV introduced “Real Estate Intervention,” a program “that helps home sellers face the difficult reality of the current real estate market,” Lowe said on the Aug. 6 call.

The popularity of food as entertainment is extending beyond the television screen.

Nora Ephron’s “Julie & Julia,” Tokyo-based Sony Corp.’s film about a woman who pledges to make every dish in a Julia Child cookbook, opened in second place at U.S. and Canadian theaters in its first weekend and has collected $46.9 million in sales through Aug. 18, according to researcher Box Office Mojo.

Two years ago the Food Network started a line of kitchen products for Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based Kohl’s Corp., Johnson said. It also opened a restaurant at Yankee Stadium in New York and started a Food Network magazine, now in its fourth issue with a one-million subscriber rate base.

Programming goes in cycles, Cheskin said in an interview. Cooking shows are the latest trend, supplanting hot real-estate shows that spawned imitators during the housing bubble, he said.

“You have one or two shows that are hot and people look at that and they try to do different versions of it,” Cheskin said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net; Sarah Rabil in New York at srabil@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 20, 2009 18:18 EDT