According to this article is losing one of it's biggest stars Mario Batali. While they have made him, frankly I don't think he needs them as much they do him. Anthony Bourdain has proven you can have a food related TV career without the network. But I think there is a real possibility here for something more interesting. Mario has to be on the go, between his restaurants in New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. So I think an interesting and innovate idea is a weekly or perhaps daily video podcast. Part cooking show, part travel show, all Mario, the podcast network that signs him should give him total creative control and respectable share of the profits. A savy group would pick up the cost of the camera and handle the web-side of distribution as part of their buy-in. Even a couple years ago I am not sure a video podcast would work, but due to the success of TikibarTV, Ask A Ninja, and most recently the Webb Alert there is an opportunity here. As a regular podcast listener/viewer I think the success of online video tells me the time may be right.

Is the Podcasting world up to the challenge?