HGTV Protest Campaign

HGTV is on facebook. Here's another opportunity to tell them what you think: HGTV/Facebook

Very special thanks to Susan Harris at Garden Rant and Marie Iannotti at About.com:Gardening for helping get the word out.

This Campaign was originally scheduled to happen one day only - April 13, 2009 - but it received such a huge (and I mean HUGE) and positive response, I'm leaving the information here for those who didn't get a chance to participate and still would like to. There are going to be a lot of people not buying a lot of products this summer.
I imagine the execs at Scripps are hoping we'll all just silently fade away - which will never happen.
A great, big thank you to all that joined in on the 13th! Let's all cross our fingers that Scripps finally understands the need for some real gardening shows in their HGTV program lineup and brings back Paul James. Seriously, we love Paul - WHAT are they thinking?

Here are what some angry viewers have had to say about Paul, and HGTV:

Paul James - You've Got Mail, and on the Sorry State of HGTV.
HGTV's Paul James, "The Gardener Guy".
What happened to the "G" in HGTV?
I Want My. . . I Want My GTV.
Guilty of Using "Garden" with no Evidence of Gardening.
Home but not Garden Television.
"HGTV" is a Misnomer.
Where's the G?
Where Did The G Go?
Why HGTV is a sham.
HGTV sucks (once again).
HGTV Has It ALL Wrong.
Even The Wall Street Journal can see a problem with HGTV.


An estimated 40 to 45 billion - yes, that's a "B" - is spent on gardening annually in the US. And this number is set to skyrocket this year with at least 7 million new households saying they'll begin gardening in 2009, a 19 percent increase. Seed sales have shot up by at least 40 percent.
Why HGTV continues to ignore gardeners is beyond me. 40 billion bucks! Talk about a lost opportunity for them to market to the fastest growing demographic in the US.

WHAT:
A group effort to let advertisers on HGTV know we won't continue buying their products if they choose to advertise on a gardening channel that continues to omit gardening content.

WHY:
Gardeners' are mad as hell at HGTV, and they aren't going to take it anymore!
Viewer emails directly to HGTV result in nothing more than a form letter reply or are totally disregarded and receive no reply at all. That silence speaks volumes to viewers. They've cancelled every gardening show they've ever had in their lineup, including one of the best - Gardening By The Yard with Paul James.
OK, one inside guy says he's cancelled, another says he isn't (personally, I think he's full of it), and back in September, Paul himself said his contract was not renewed. He also told someone a couple weeks ago at the Home and Garden Show in Reading, Pennsylvania, that he was cancelled. So, even the people that are suppose to be in-the-know don't know? Anyone else smell something really fishy going on here? And this, from Lauren White Steele, producer at Screaming Flea: Produced "Gardening by the Yard" with host Paul James for the HGTV network until the show was sadly cancelled in 2008. (She's changed the page content since the posting of this link which really makes me raise an eyebrow...or two) And, from March 21, 2009 Enid, OK news article: "(Paul) James reminisced about his 16 years hosting the show and told us he’s been cancelled".

WHO:
Everyone.

WHERE:
Right here.

WHEN:
(original date: April 13, 2009) Join me in contacting these companies in protest of HGTV removing real gardening programming from it's lineup.

HOW:
You can email the people below at Scripps Networks (parent company of HGTV) and also use the list to contact the advertisers directly. Click here to access the list.

******************
John F. Lansing
President, Scripps Networks
and executive vice president
of Scripps Networks Interactive Inc.
lansing@scrippsnetworks.com


******************
Tammy Esser
Vice President of
Viewer services
tesser@scrippsnetworks.com

Quote from Ms. Esser -
"We try to keep our finger on the pulse
of what our viewers are saying or
wanting and turning around and feeding
that same group with more of what
they're asking for." (Oh, REALLY?)

*****************
Ms. Cindy McConkey
Senior Vice President,
Corporate Communications
1-865-560-3976 (not toll free)
cmcconkey@scrippsnetworks.com

******************
Gary McCormick
Director of Public Relations
1-865-560-4143 (not toll free)
gmccormick@scrippsnetworks.com

******************

A single voice may not be able to accomplish much, but together, we can make a difference.






*** Well, well, well. It looks like we got a few hits from Scripps Networks (The Scripps Networks Interactive side) and right from their own HGTV forums to boot! Are you finally paying attention to the fact the viewers want their G back in the programming lineup, guys and gals?! I'm betting not.