Home Shopping channels

[NHRadio]

Unless the station is owned by the shopping service like WWDP's Value Vision media, what is a home shopping station's business model? Is it a straight LMA, commission based on the buyer's zipcode, or what? I've always wondered. Thanks.

 

[KML0224]

What about the days when Home Shopping Network had their over-the-air affiliates? I live in New Britain, CT and remember receiving a snowy color signal from channel 67 of Smithtown, NY (sister to channel 68 of Newark, NJ). There was also channel 65 of Vineland, NJ in the Philadelphia market and channel 66 of Marlborough, MA in the Boston/Worcester market. In fact, before they were forced off the air in April of 1991, the old channel 18 of Hartford was home shopping nearly all day! (The station would return to the air under a different situation by 1997 or so. They are our Univision affiliate now.)

 

[NHRadio]

That's what I mean...how did these OTA affiliates keep the lights on?

 

[easttxtv]

IIRR, the old HSN-owned station in DFW, Channel 49 (I've forgotten the calls now, of course), had a a superimposed different 800 number than the one seen by national viewers. It may be that station revenue, at least in part, was based on how much that phone line brought in as far as orders go. I do remember them asking me back then during the order process, how I saw the channel (cable, local station, etc.). Ch.49 may have gotten to run an infomercial or 2 (not sure, could be wrong) in off-hours to bring in extra dough.

Now there's LPTV station Channel 25 (forgot those calls too, >ugh< ) that airs HSN in DFW, but I don't have a good enough antenna (gotta get outdoors but gotta get $$ first) to pick it up, so I don't know what they do programming or revenue-wise.

 

[dave73]

I remember after WPWR-TV moved from channel 60 to channel 50 back in 1987, the call letters for channel 60 Aurora, IL were changed to WEHS. It aired HSN 2 (they changed their name from Home Shopping Network to Home Shopping Club in 1987 or 1988, before going back to their original name, Home Shopping Network). In the day, HSN 1 was strictly cable, & HSN 2 was available on cable, FTA satellite, & OTA TV. I remember one night, when WEHS mistakenly put on HSN 1, & the announcer was shocked that someone was watching them on OTA TV, since HSN 1 was supposed to be only on cable, & they got at least 2 calls from the Chicago market from people who called in about the product that was shown on TV. This went on until about 2001 or 2002, when the station was sold to Univision, & made it a Telefutura (now Unimás) station. I'm not sure if HSN only has one network feed now, but the only way it's available in the Chicago now is if you live within W25DW-D's coverage area (mainly Chicago & south suburbs as their signal is sharply nulled to the north to protect WCGV Milwaukee on RF 25). It's on 25.1. W25DW-D also added QVC recently, & that's on 25.4. I don't believe QVC has ever been available OTA before (especially not in the Chicago market). I don't know how much longer this translator will be on the air, since Marcia Cohen (owner of the translator) has sold her translator, along with KM Communication's WOCH-CA being sold to speculators who are betting they'll make a fortune from buying up LPTV stations, & select full power stations, so the FCC can try to eventually take away channels 31 - 36 & 38 - 51 from OTA TV, just so AT&T & Verizon can continue to lock out competition, & sit on spectrum that they're not already using, but have in small town America.

 

[sshuffield70]

At that time Ch. 49 was KHSX (now KSTR).