Carlton, Sainsbury End Venture

Aug 10 2001

LONDON, - British broadcaster Carlton Communications and supermarket group J. Sainsbury have ended their Taste Network multimedia venture because of weak advertising and revenue growth, the firms said on Friday.

At its launch 11 months ago, the pair pledged to make the business the leading food brand on the web and digital television, profiting from people's love of food and cookery programmes. But it failed to flourish.

"Taste was an innovative project but has suffered from weaker-than-expected growth in advertising and e-commerce revenues in a generally difficult market for niche channels," Matthew Kearney, Carlton's director of business development, said in a statement.

Around £10 million was jointly invested in the venture, which incorporated a website and a television channel and featured TV personality Anthea Turner.

The Taste Network website, taste.co.uk, will close. On September 1, Carlton will take back the TV channel, whose future is under review, and Sainsbury's will resume control of the web-based recipe and wine assets, merging them with those of Sainsbury's websites.

Around 20 jobs have been lost, a Carlton spokeswoman said.