Cutting the Cord: Good Housekeeping crafts a new video-centric online home

Good Housekeeping has a new home online.

And this new digital hearth has some special accommodations for those in the mood to cook, stitch, decorate, plan parties and do other crafts.

GoodHousekeeping.TV launches today online and on social sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest. The new video service is stocked with an extensive library of free two- to three-minute how-to videos as well as half-hour to 90-minute paid classes ($2.99 to $5.99).

Apps are in the works for Android and iOS devices, as well as Net video streaming products Amazon Fire and Roku.

This new approach caters to individual viewers, said Neeraj Khemlani, president of Hearst Digital Studios and co-president/group head of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication. "Lots of people just want good ideas," he said. "Some people want to actually pay for classes."

"Good Housekeeping has always been in the business really of tested service journalism," Khemlani said. "This is an opportunity to connect that to the explosion of digital video education online today and to marry the two together."

Among the initial variety of offerings there's video projects on how to make edible lollipop cake toppers, decorate your own gallery wall and create a homemade decanter lamp. The Good Housekeeping Institute and Test Kitchen will be involved in videos, as will GH editors.

And then there's a new roster of experts, including Jodi Levine, founder of the Super Make It website and former 19-year craft editor for Martha Stewart, and Bright.Bazaar decorating blogger Will Taylor.

GoodHousekeeping.TV will deliver "a constant stream of genius ideas" for those wanting to cook, decorate and make things for themselves, said Good Housekeeping Editor in Chief Jane Francisco.

This new online presence amounts to "the evolution of Good Housekeeping as a brand," Francisco said. Connecting the outlet's past and future, she said, "is this maker movement, this slow living and this embracing of domesticity ... (as) a sense of expression, as well as necessity. Video is a really amazing way for us to express that and to expand our brand."

This is Hearst Digital's second premium online expansion. Last year, the company launched CosmoBody, a $9.99 monthly fitness and lifestyle video subscription service. "We have a lot of our engagement on mobile," Khemlani said. "You're talking about people working out to their phone. We want to be wherever people can access it and as we move into a world of the connected home and Internet of Things, who knows when the next screen is on the fridge or above the stove?"

"Cutting the Cord" is a regular column covering Net TV and ways to get it. If you have suggestions or questions, contact Mike Snider via e-mail. And follow him on Twitter: @MikeSnider.