A Smorgasbord Of Channels

To start your own cable channel, you have to be willing to do all kinds of jobs. Take Reese Schonfeld, who runs the fledgling Television Food Network. On Nov. 15, Robin Leach was set to tape a Thanksgiving episode of Talking Food. But one of Leach's guests, Paula Zahn of CBS News, hadn't shown. So Schonfeld rushed off to track her down himself. She soon showed up, and Schonfeld relaxed.

These days, Schonfeld has plenty of reasons to breathe easier. The Federal Communications Commission recently allowed cable operators to increase their basic rates if they offer new channels, such as his. Most operators have added virtually no new services since the FCC clamped down on basic cable rates in late 1993 because they have feared such services would not be profitable. Schonfeld's network, for example, has been frozen at 7.5 million subscribers--far short of the 25 million it needs to make money.