Called CityEats, Scripps’s reservation website prominently displays the Food Network logo. It is already operating on a small scale in Washington and Philadelphia. So far, the service has signed up only about 130 restaurants, but Scripps executives are optimistic about its growth, and said it would be extended to several other markets, including New York and San Francisco, by the end of the year.

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Instead of searching for hotels based on a destination or maybe a few keywords, users can see photos first, after entering search terms such as “best pools,” “Miami infinity pools,” “kid-friendly,” “Hawaii cabana beach hotels” or something as simple as “workout rooms.”

Ariel Charytan, Oyster’s co-founder and chief creative officer, and Eytan Seidman, co-founder and VP of product, said it reverses the traditional travel site, which buries the photos within the editorial content.

What’s even better is that photos are taken by photographers hired by Oyster, so none of them will be deceiving or doctored to make a small pool look bigger or a sandy beach more pristine.

The co-founders argue that the authenticity of the photos is critical in order for travelers to make informed decisions. If the main purpose of your trip is to sit by the pool or hit the gym between business meetings, you don’t want an out-of-commission pool or a treadmill in the janitor’s closet.

In addition to seeing photos first, Oyster Shots will return pricing information right on the photograph. The new search engine officially launches today.

Right now, the three-year-old company is mainly focused on building the site and will evolve how it makes money over time.

There’s no advertising on Oyster.com now. Today, it primarily makes money when visitors book a hotel reservation on its site. Ironically, the photos sometimes talk people out of booking a place.

“That’s our value prop. You can always come to us to get the truth,” Seidman said.

In the future, they also anticipate working closely with the Travel Channel, which will send viewers to Oyster if they are inspired to travel after watching a show. The channel, which invested $7.5 million in the site back in April and is owned by Scripps Networks, will not be able to start integrating Oyster into its programming until next season, when new content starts to air.

Here’s an example of results when searching for “Hawaii cabana beach hotels” on Google Images. Random pictures show up, like a helicopter and a sandwich:

The second photo is when you search for the same thing on Oyster:

A lot of video! AOL says that 5Min’s library and distribution deals, along with its existing video offering, gave it a total of 493 million video streams in October. Which is a pretty big number–and bigger than any other U.S. Web property except for Google’s YouTube.

Comparing AOL’s homegrown video with the stuff that 5Min offers–content other publishers (including CBS, Hearst and Scripps Networks) make that it syndicates out–isn’t apples and apples: Different video has different costs, and the amount AOL will be able to get for the stuff will vary widely depending on the property it runs on, and the real estate it gets there.

But making all of that work will now be Ran Harnevo’s responsibility. Harnevo ran 5Min up until the sale, and he has now been named senior vice president of AOL Video, a unit that didn’t exist prior to the deal. Harnevo will report to AOL content boss David Eun; he says that all 45 of his former 5Min employees are staying on at AOL, too.

Near term: Expect to hear more from the company about other partnerships designed to get high-quality video on the site, along the lines of deals it has already announced with Next New Networks, Vuguru and Electus.

Here’s a deal we can confirm: AOL is buying Web video start-up 5Min Media.

The price for the deal is between $50 million and $65 million, sources close to the situation said. AOL (AOL) plans to announce the deal Tuesday morning. UPDATE: Here’s the press release.

5Min has raised some $13 million in three years, and last spring CEO Ran Harnevo told me he was being offered the chance to raise more money at very attractive valuations.

The deal is at least part of AOL’s secret video strategy–the one that CEO Tim Armstrong acknowledged, but wouldn’t disclose–earlier this month.

5Min is a video middleman: It takes video clips that other people make and distributes them to other people’s Web sites. It says it has a library of 200,000 clips that generate 110 million views a month across 800 partner sites.

The videos come from people you’ve never heard of, and those you have, including CBS (CBS), Hearst and Scripps Networks. 5Min isn’t focused on getting the clips on Google’s (GOOG) YouTube–it’s trying to strike deals with conventional publishers that don’t have video, but would like some.

I don’t know whether 5Min’s deals allow it to retain distribution rights if it gets acquired, but I’m guessing that they do. Otherwise, 5Min is a much less attractive acquisition.

But in any case, you can see how the company would fit together with StudioNow, the video-creation platform AOL bought for $36.5 million earlier this year.

The first deal gives AOL a way to make lots of videos at low cost; the second gives it the ability to distribute those clips widely. At the right price, it’s not a head-scratcher.

No comment from AOL. I’ve left messages for Harnevo, who can be seen in the video below:

Why does this week’s Disney-Cablevision fight feel familiar? Because it is: “Cable Fee Fight” is TV’s most annoying show, but it never goes off the air.

The characters change, but the script is always the same. A programmer wants more money from a cable provider and threatens to pull its shows. See: Viacom (VIA) versus Time Warner Cable (TWC), News Corp. (NWS) versus Time Warner Cable, Cablevision versus Scripps Networks (SNI), etc., etc.

Spoiler Alert! The conclusion is always the same too: Both sides compromise, and cable subscribers get to watch their shows–in exchange for paying ever-increasing fees.

If you’re really craving some variation, be patient: At some point this year, it’s likely that one or more of the networks–Fox is a good bet here–will start a similar brawl with local broadcast station owners. But we can come back to that later.

Meantime, since Time Warner Cable has resurrected its “Roll Over, Get Tough” spin site, this seems like a good time to remind you how to watch TV on the Web, without using cable at all.

Time Warner has yet to bring back this video and brochure on its own site–perhaps it thinks encouraging customers to learn to live without its service is a bad idea–but if you want a refresher course, happy to oblige:

The characters change, but the script is always the same. A programmer wants more money from a cable provider and threatens to pull its shows. See: Viacom (VIA) versus Time Warner Cable (TWC), News Corp. (NWS) versus Time Warner Cable, Cablevision versus Scripps Networks (SNI), Etc. Etc.

Spoiler Alert! The conclusion is always the same too: Both sides compromise, and cable subscribers get to watch their shows–in exchange for paying ever-increasing fees.

My interest here is whether either side wants to use the Web as a weapon in the fight given that the Internet is an increasingly plausible alternative for TV watchers who don’t want to pay for cable. Last year, for instance, Time Warner Cable showed its customers how to get Fox shows–and everything else–onto their TVs via the Internet (you can still see those instructions here).

The problem, of course, is that by highlighting the Web option, both sides run the risk of undermining their market power in the long run. If couch potatoes really do get used to the idea of consuming their shows using their PCs, it makes it easier for them to tell both programmers and the cable guys to pound sand.

For now, though, both sides are leaving the Web alone while they rattle their swords.

Disney (DIS) reminds Cablevision’s three million New York-area viewers that they’ll still be able to get ABC shows via an old-fashioned TV antenna. But the network doesn’t mention ABC.com or Hulu, its joint venture with Fox and GE’s (GE) NBC. And Cablevision (CVC), at least so far, hasn’t brought up the Web either.

Both sides are clearly betting this gets resolved before Sunday night when ABC is set to broadcast the Oscars–not coincidentally, one of the only programs you really have to watch live.

Here’s Disney’s opening salvo:

[Image credit: Alexindigo]

This week, I took a look at just a few Web sites that make finding these videos easy, including Howcast Media Inc.’s Howcast.com, WonderHowTo.com from WonderHowTo Inc. and eHow Inc.’s eHow.com. Howcast.com, which launched in February, encourages users to make and share good-quality, entertaining videos by providing tools on its site, and has about 5,000 videos so far. WonderHowTo.com, launched in January, used a different strategy by aggregating over 110,000 videos from various sources — including Howcast, YouTube and Scripps Networks (SSP) — rather than publishing its own content. EHow, a site that started in 1999 with text-only content, contains over 100,000 instructional articles submitted by its users or eHow editors, and has a small catalog of videos.

Howcast videos can be seen in full-screen mode using a player that illustrates step-by-step text instructions beside video screens.

After testing each of these sites, I found that my favorite how-to videos had steps that were clearly labeled and numbered and the ability to fast forward to or play back specific parts in the video — tools that Howcast included in almost all of its videos. At least some of the videos on the three sites simply illustrate things you could likely figure out how to do without watching a video, such as “How to Make Green Beer.” (Add food coloring.) Howcast.com and WonderHowTo both require users to sign in, which confirms their date of birth, before looking at what they consider “mature” content.

These three free sites are advertisement-supported, and Howcast’s ads run alongside videos. WonderHowTo.com runs ads at the top and side of its own site, on which it will play certain videos. But because videos on WonderHowTo come from other sources, those other sites can show video-embedded ads according to their rules. EHow’s videos run pop-up text advertisements displaying names and links of other related (and sometimes unrelated) Web sites. But I couldn’t get the pop-up ads to stay closed.

Overall, I preferred the look of Howcast’s site and its well-organized videos. But its content paled in comparison to WonderHowTo’s 110,000 videos and even eHow’s 100,000 instructional articles. WonderHowTo.com does a nice job of gathering content from across the Web, though the inconsistencies of other sites (including advertisements, layout and video player) were a bit frustrating. EHow’s articles were useful, as were its few videos, but I couldn’t get over the site’s unyielding video pop-up ads.

Howcast.com’s content was informative with an amusing edge, including a video titled “How to Tell If Your Boyfriend’s A Psycho.” (If he calls 50 times a day, for example.) Other videos on the site are more serious, like “How to Make Sushi” by an executive sushi chef in New York City.

The founders of Howcast Media formerly worked in Google’s (GOOG) video department, including during the acquisition of YouTube. All of Howcast’s content comes from one of four sources: written and produced by Howcast in its studios; emerging filmmakers who apply and are accepted into the Howcast Directors Program to receive $50 a video and 50% of the advertising revenue generated from videos that generate over 40,000 views on the site; content partners like Popular Science; and Howcast users’ personal how-to videos.

In order to make it easier for average users to upload better-looking videos, Howcast provides an Upload and Enhance tool that simply and quickly adds professional-looking graphics and printable steps to go along with how-to videos. This formula makes videos more enjoyable to watch.

Videos made in the Howcast Studios include accompanying music, good narratives and actors who add humor to an otherwise humdrum how-to. Among its helpful features is a video player that has smart blue markers to show where facts are sprinkled throughout the video and green markers to illustrate where tips appear. For example, the fact at the end of a video for beginner guitarists called “How to Play a Basic Bar Chord” is “The late Kurt Cobain claimed he was trying to rip off the Pixies when he wrote ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit. ‘” In full-screen view, users can zoom in on any part of a video, and written-out steps and thumbnail stills of the scene appear to the right of the screen.

Howcast tries to run ads alongside videos that relate to the content. A video titled “How To Clean Your Dog’s Teeth” has an ad for PetSmart (PETM) Stores running on its page.

WonderHowTo.com was developed by a former television executive with the intention of using the site to produce its own video, like Howcast.com. Instead, WonderHowTo.com opted to tap the vast selection of how-to videos already available on the Web.

A Browse button pulls down 35 categories from which users can sort content, including Spirituality, Dating & Relationships and Fitness. In the Fashion subcategory under Beauty & Style, I found 290 videos including one on “How to Tie a Windsor Knot” and another titled “How to Turn Old Underpants Into a Bra” — neither of which I’ll be using anytime soon. Other categories include Clip of the Day, Recommendations (for users who are logged in) and Fresh, where new videos are listed. Users can grade videos to help others tell which they think are the best, and a Top Grade category compiles the top-ranked videos.

WonderHowTo’s content comes from over 700 sites, according to the company. I used the site to find a video on YouTube about how to do a front-flip, clips on VideoJug.com that provided terrific tennis tips from a coach, and a video from EasyBarTricks.com about how to stick a beer bottle to a wall without glue or gum. (Hint: You’ll need a corner and a wall you don’t mind marking up.) WonderHowTo made it easier to find these videos than by performing a general search on the Web.

I submitted a non-how-to video to this site by simply entering a URL, without logging in. I never found the video I submitted on the site; WonderHowTo explained that it screens all videos prior to posting them, so it must have found my video.

EHow.com uses its database of articles to encourage people to watch videos, when they’re relevant. This site uses calm, pastel colors to give a relaxed feeling — especially compared with WonderHowTo, where banner ads surround the page. EHow’s 26 categories include Parenting, Parties & Entertaining and Weddings. Twelve subcategories within Weddings led to 23 articles about Bridal Party Responsibilities — a popular topic was “How To Deal With a Bridezilla.” Related videos, such as “How To Get Rid of Wedding Day Jitters,” ran along the right of the page.

Videos can also be found on eHow within a marked tab at the top of the page. But unlike the articles on eHow, these videos weren’t well organized or as easily searchable. I watched one of eHow’s Featured Videos called “How to Know if Your Toe Is Broken,” but after closing a pop-up ad for UPS (UPS) during Step One of the video, another ad popped up during Step Five. Neither ad had anything to do with broken toes.

But the eHow videos were professional-looking and included quite a few tips that I didn’t know. That broken toe video was submitted by the eHow Health Editor, and a link at the top of the page led me to hundreds of other health-related articles. I found another video on “How To Remove Wallpaper,” which was posted by the Home & Garden Editor and included a list of things I would need to proceed, along with numbered steps.

It isn’t always easy to learn from the information you find online, and how-to videos can be a big help — especially when they’re well-made and easy to find using one of these sites. Howcast.com has well-presented content that was enjoyable to watch, but WonderHowTo.com offers a better variety of instructional videos.

• Email mossbergsolution@wsj.com