Jewelry Television has agreed to buy E.W. Scripps' Shop At Home assets for $17 million, in a deal that will see the TV and online retailer continue operations.
Last month, Scripps announced that the underperforming Shop At Home would cease its broadcasting and Internet business in late June. Since acquiring the asset in October 2002, Scripps has lost approximately $84 million on Shop At Home, the country’s fourth-largest TV shopping operation.
Jewelry TV said it will continue operating Shop At Home part time, collecting the assets––including real estate, satellite uplink facilities and all Web-related operations––under a new company called Shop At Home Network LLC. Jewelry TV COO Joe Fields on Wednesday said that the company would retain a “significant number” of Shop at Home’s 650 employees.
On the executive side, former Shop at Home president Tim Engle will re-join the new incarnation of SAH in that same role. Engle left the network in 2001.
Privately-held Jewelry TV employs more than 2,000 people and is based in Knoxville, Tenn.
