May 17, 2004

Digital Cable Enters the Stone Age

By Shirley Brady

The jewelry business has changed—even Tiffany now sells the majority of its silver baubles through its website.

Following the march of jewelry shoppers out of the storefronts is digital channel Jewelry Television by ACN, formerly ACN TV: America's Collectibles Network. After rebranding this spring, Jewelry Television revamped its on-air look and website and added more screens of information.

"Our focus groups show that shoppers, even jewelry lovers, who go into jewelry stores often feel intimidated," says Mike Mason, VP of business development for Jewelry Television. "That's why our viewers don't start buying within five minutes of watching us, but watch and learn or check out our website before they make a purchase."

Jewelry Television is being launched on Comcast's digital lineup in Philadelphia this summer, and also will begin a VOD test with Comcast in that market. On the broadband side, it's already available on Comcast.net's shopping section and is discussing developing an ITV version with another operator.

Jewelry Television began in October 1993 as America's Collectibles Network, selling baseball cards and "basically anything anybody wanted to collect," says Harris Bagley, SVP of affiliate relations and formerly an area VP for Comcast. "We evolved into jewelry and gemstones over the last three or four years, and changed our name to Jewelry Television because ACN wasn't very catchy, and we don't do collectibles anymore. Now we are the fourth-largest shopping network [after QVC, HSN and ShopNBC] and are helping bring women 45-plus—the majority of our buyers—to digital cable. That demographic tends to be overlooked by many other networks, and they're responding to our sole focus on jewelry and gemstones."

Another new network eager for a piece of the $7 billion home shopping business and the $19 billion luxury goods market—Luxury TV Network—quietly is ramping up for a launch later this year. Transactional Marketing Partners and Foglight Entertainment are involved in crafting Luxury TV's high-end strategy, according to president and co-founder Jeff Stier.

Could be time for Tiffany to launch its own network and start peddling its wares via cable.