HSN Expands Its Morning Show, ‘HSN Today,’ To Weekends

HSN is extending its “HSN Today” morning show to weekends, according to show host Adam Freeman.

We caught that tidbit watching the ever — and sometimes annoyingly — chipper Brit Tuesday morning on the show, which airs from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Currently, “HSN Today,” co-hosted by Freeman and Tamara Hooks, only runs Monday through Friday.

We’d like to tell you why HSN is expanding “HSN Today,” or when the weekend edition starts or who will host it, but we can’t.

We e-mailed two PR people at HSN this morning with those questions, and never got a response.

High-End Jewelry Designer Sonia Bitton Returns To ShopNBC — Hawking Cubic Zirconia

Well, luxury jewelry designer Sonia Bitton is back on ShopNBC — selling a line that’s in sterlng silver and cubic zirconia!

French Bitton, who once brought ShopNBC glorious pieces that were thousands of dollars — with high grade diamonds and set in gold — now has the Sonia Bitton for Brilliante Collection on the No. 3 home shopping network.

Brilliante is ShopNBC’s simulated diamond line, i.e. cubic zirconia, the item that gave home shopping a bad rap. QVC’s brand name for this fake bling is Diamonique, while HSN calls its Absolute.

Exiled ShopNBC host Charla Rines was a huge fan of Bitton’s work, and always wore one of her huge diamond rings on-air.

But when Rines got the boot in January, Bitton became MIA from ShopNBC, too. We believe Rines was working with Bitton at an Australian home shopping channel for a bit earlier this year.

This is all part of the de-evolution of ShopNBC, which once targeted affluent customsers with high-end jewelry.

Former Jailbird, And Jersey Girl, Martha Stewart Is Coming To HSN July 19

Lifestyle doyenne Martha Stewart, who hails from our former town of Nutley, N.J., is coming to HSN, debuting her Martha Stewart Living line July 19.

Stewart, who did jail time for a little criminal charge involving stock trading, several years ago had a line on QVC. We remember seeing her on-air with Kathy Levine, that’s how long ago it was, and ol’ Martha was quite prickly and nasty. She didn’t last too long on the No. 1 home shopping channel.

On Facebook Sunday HSN host Colleen Lopez posted about Stewart’s debut July 19, and we checked the HSN website and several of Stewart’s items are already on there.

Those include an American flag, “patriotic” tubs, handheld flags and banners. The stuff is perfect for the Fourth of July, so we’re surprised that Stewart’s debut isn’t until July 19.

Lopez said she can’t wait to meet Martha.

This HSN deal isn’t all that Martha has cooking. Her company did a deal earlier this year to produce daytime programming for the Hallmark Channel. That programming starts airing in the fall, with Stewart’s signature “The Martha Stewart Show” moving to Hallmark.

We have a soft spot in our heart for Stewart, and not because we’re into cooking or home decor. She is from Jersey, and you know that endears her to us. She is from the working class town of Nutley, where we lived for about a dozen years while we were working for The Herald-News.

And we like Stewart because her birthday is Aug. 3, the same as our niece Sydney. Two Leos.

HSN Rock Star Jay King’s Buddy Marty Colbaugh, Owner Of THE Kingman Mine, Doesn’t Play Favorites: He Sells Turquoise To HSN Rival QVC

Kingman Mine owner Marty Colbaugh (on the right, we think)

Marty Colbaugh, the owner of the Kingman Mine in Arizona, doesn’t play favorites in terms of which home shopping network he sells his turquoise to.

QVC’s Today’s Special Value Saturday is a blue Kingman turquoise necklance and enhancer made from Kingman turquoise that was found in a huge vein in the mine last year.
So Colbaugh is appearing in on-air promos on QVC and on videos on the network’s website.

But Colbaugh is also a business associate and friend of Jay King, who does the Mine Finds line for QVC rival HSN.

HSN's Jay King, Marty's friend and business associate

Just over a month ago, Colbaugh appeared live on HSN with King when the Today’s Special was a Kingman turquoise ring.

The blue Kingman turquoise used for both pieces is apparently from the same “find” last year, and there has not been such a turquoise score at the Arizona mine since the late 1960s or early 1970s, Colbaugh said on both HSN and one of his QVC videos.

When QVC host Jill Bauer said that the Today’s Special Valyue was manufactured in Albuquerque, N.M., we almost jumped out of our chair, because that’s where King’s factory is. But of course he is not making the QVC necklace.

Veteran QVC Southwestern jewelry vendor Carolyn Pollack, who like King is based in Albuquerque, is making it.

Diva Liza Minnelli’s New HSN Apparel And Jewelry Line Is Not As Colorful As Her Past

Liza Minnelli

Believe it or not, Liza Minnelli will be appearing on HSN next Wednesday to kick off the home shopping network’s 33rd birthday in July. Ms. “New York, New York” will be premiering an apparel and jewelry line inspired by her own wardrobe and baubles.

HSN announced back in May that it had rounded up Minnelli for its big birthday festivities, in which it is partnering with Harrah’s for a multi-million dollar promotion that will be shot on-site in Las Vegas.

HSN has already begun running promos with Minnelli for her June 30 appearance, and those eager to see what The Liza Collection is all about can now find her mechandise on HSN.com.

Jewelry is our thing, and we think Minnelli’s fashion jewelry pieces for HSN are OK, but nothing particularly different or earth-shattering. She has one of the largest collections of Elsa Peretti jewelry in the world, and several of her jewelry items appear to have been “Inspired” by Perretti, including two pendants on cords.

Peretti now designs for Tiffany & Co.

Minnelli’s HSN clothing includes a black velvet halter jumpsuit, black velvet pants and a velvet jacket, an odd assortment of items to be selling when it’s 95 degrees out with 90 percent humidity.

It’s interesting that HSN is partnering with a scandal-stained, albeit talented, figure like Minnelli. She’s been keepig a pretty low profile, but several years ago she was constant fodder in the Big Apple tabloids. That was when she “married” David Guest in 2002, where singer Michael Jackson served as best man and Elizabeth Taylor was maid of honor.

We just don’t believe, and not that there’s anything wrong with that, that Guest plays on the same team as Liza and The Homeshoppingista, if you catch our drift. And they both filed for divorce in 2003, after just over a year of marraiage.

And then in their incredibly nasty divorce proceedings, Gest alleges that he was a victim of domestic violence during their ill-fated marriage. There were lots of other ugly accusations.

However, in January 2007 Minnelli and Gest finally settled their bitter differences and had a no-fault divorce.

Minnellli’s had a rocky life, like her mom legend Judy Garland. And she’s got talent, and is a survivor. So in the end, that’s all that matters.

Will NBCU’s Plans To Keep Its ShopNBC Stake Derail Any Sale Of The Home Shopping Network?

What's Keith Stewart got cooking at ShopNBC?

ShopNBC was put up for sale in 2008, and then was taken off the block a few months later. Well, we heard it’s for sale again.

ShopNBC declined to comment, by the way.

There’s been a lot of talk about possible home-shopping-network sales this week, so we’ll add this to the mix.

The ShopNBC-sale scenario we had heard about would potentially have been made easier because of NBC Universal’s plans, announced in May, to sell its 20 percent stake in the home shopping network. But on Thursday NBCU threw a monkey wrench into that possibility. Citing ShopNBC’s low stock price, NBCU announced that it wasn’t going to unload its share in the network.

Wall Street Journal blogger James Altucher was bullish on ValueVision Media, ShopNBC’s corporate parent, in a blog earlier this week. The home shopping network has 75 million subscribers, and Altucher values it at $270 million to $300 million in his blog.

He bases that price on payment of $3.92 per subscriber, which he says is “the cheapest price paid for any network on a subscriber by subscriber basis” in the past.

Altchuler, who says that Barry Diller unsucessfully bid on ShopNBC twice, has the inside dope on the initial attempt to sell ShopNBC. ValueVision shopped the network to more than 100 companies. It wound up with four serious suitors, two of them strategic buyers and two financial sponsors, according to Altuchuler. But a deal was never struck

“I think the clearing of the NBC Universal stake finally bring buyers into the loop here,” Altchuler wrote.

Well, that’s off the table now.

There’s been a lot of buzz on Wall Street about home shopping networks this week, following news that Liberyr Media Corp. was spinning off two companies to leave Liberty Interactive, which QVC is part of, as essentially a standalone company. That fueled speculation that this move by cable legend-cowboy-God John Malone was a prelude to merging QVC and HSN.

We’ll see about that one.

ShopNBC chief Keith Stewart has said that with NBCU selling its take in the home shopping network, ShopNBC will rebrand itself next year. The network has been working for months on coming up with a new name, according to Stewart.

Would you go through that trouble if you were selling your network? Or is it an attempt to dress up the property to attract suitors?

We haven't seen too much of Suzanne Somers on ShopNBC

Meanwhile, people familiar with the situation say that ShopNBC’s infrastructure, like its call centers, are not big enough to support the network.

As one sign of the times, ShopNBC is ordering a just a fraction of the amount of merchandise a month from vendor Suzanne Somers that HSN used to order, according to sources. In fact, although Somers initially said she would be on ShopNBC once a month, her visits have been much less frequent.

And we’re told some apparel vendors have to carry orders, meaning if their merchandise doesn’t sell ShopNBC can return it to them.

We wonder if they can only return it within 30 days?

NBC Universal Shelves Plan To Sell Stake In ShopNBC

NBC Universal, citing the low price of the stock, has dropped its plan to sell its 20 percent stake in ShopNBC, the home shopping network said Thursday.

In May NBCU, one of ShopNBC’s largest shareholders, said it planned to sell its 20 percent stake in the the network.

In a press release Thursday, ShopNBC said that NBCU “has decided not to pursue its offering of 6,452,194 common shares in the company at this time due to prevailing prices.”

The stock of ValueVision Media, ShopNBC’s parent, was trading at about $1.95 Thursday morning, with the company’s 52-week high being $5.27.

NBCU is one of the company’s largest shareholders.

Closet QVC Addict Leaves Her Widowed Husband An Unpleasant Surprise: Tons Of Home Shopping Jewelry And Lots Of Unpaid Bills

Hi everyone, my name is The Homeshoppingista, and I’m a shopaholic.

There, we’ve admitted it. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Jewelry is our narcotic of choice — not shoes, or handbags or clothes or illegal drugs or alcohol (although sometimes we’ve imbibed too much on appletinis, margaritas and Bombay Sapphire martinis).

But what we’re about to tell you is a very sad story, all kidding aside, about a closeted QVC shopaholic who hid her addiction from her husband, much to his unfortunate surprise.

It seems that last weekend when we were having our yard sale Paul’s Jewelers in West Allis, Wisconsin, was holding a Jewelry Estate and Rummage Sale to raise money for widower Don. After his wife passed away, he learned that over the years she had spent thousands of dollars ordering jewelry from QVC.

Paul’s Jewelers ran an ad promoting the sale.

Here’s part of the ad, which was headlined “One Man’s Treasure”:

Our friend, Don, recently lost his greatest treasure, his wife of 40 years. She spent most of her last years collecting jewelry from the QVC Channel which, unbeknownst to her adoring husband, added up to thousands of dollars. Now she is gone but all of her earthly treasures have remained along with many unpaid bills.

All of the proceeds from the sale of our friend’s jewelry will go directly to offset some of his expenses incurred through these purchases!!!

We look forward to seeing you get some great buys! (Pennies on the dollar!!!!)

The jewelry store said that it had “exceptional pieces” from QVC “from fine to fashion to everything in between,” set with gems such as topaz, tanzanite, turquoise and garnet.

Paul’s Jewelers said that Don was “a good friend and customer of ours who we are trying to help.”

We made about $260 at our yard sale. We hope poor Don did better.

ShopNBC Names Director Of Consumer Electronics, Quality Assurance

ShopNBC has hired Stephanie Juaire as director of consumer electronics and Tom Long as director of quality assurance.

Juaire previously held a number of senior management roles in consumer electronics at ShopKo, Circuit City, Best Buy and Imation.

Long previously held a variety of quality assurance leadership positions at QVC, Bentley-Harrison Manufacturing and Kiwi Brands.

Perish The Thought: Is Cable King John Malone Looking To Merge QVC And HSN?

Mr. Malone, your highness, please don't merge QVC and HSN

Well kiddies, is QVC really looking to buy HSN? Que horror! That’s the New York Post’s take on Liberty Media’s announcement Monday that it plans to spin off two of its companies, Liberty Capital and Liberty Starz. That leaves Liberty Media with its Liberty Interactive unit, which includes QVC, as “an asset-based stock,” Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei said in a prepared statement.

You can read the boring details of the news here. Thank God we’re not at a trade paper anymore where we have to write that boring financial crap.

Because cable cowboy and legend John Malone is chairman of Liberty Media, anytime the company burps the press is on it like flies on dog doo. So Monday’s announcement got lots of ink. And the cable industry fawns over Malone and thinks he walks on water.

The interesting angle here is whether this complex financial transaction and spin-off is a prelude to Liberty Media, which already owns 35 percent of HSN, trying to acquire the rest of the Southern Channel. Or maybe Liberty Media will go after struggling ShopNBC, which is rumored to be up for sale. After all, NBC Universal is dumping its stake in the ShopNBC, No. 3 home shopping net.

We know one thing, which is that home shopping aficionados wouldn’t welcome a merger of QVC and HSN. Many fans buy from both networks, and like having selections from two channels. People who don’t watch QVC or HSN may think they are the same, but the networks have distinct visions and are quite different.

Since we are jewelry addicts, we love HSN and its willingness to mark down items. We also like what HSN CEO Mindy Grossman is doing to the network, bringing in top name designers such as Badgley Mischka.

As for QVC, we enjoy (or used to, before layoff) its Affinity Diamonds and Artisan Crafted jewelry.

And we want our Colleen Lopez on HSN and our Rick Domeier on QVC, please.

The Post’s Claire Atkinson, a vet of our former sister publication, B&C, plays up the QVC-HSN merger angle in her story. The New York Times even picked up her article.

The Post story in the newspaper has one of those great Post photoshop graphics: Malone’s head superimposed on the body of a guy wearing a Liberty sweat shirt, standing in front of the company’s headquarters in Colorado carrying two shopping bags: One says QVC and the other says HSN.

Atkinson writes that “speculation” is that Liberty is seriously going after HSN. That’s a much sexier story than writing what Maffei actually said on a conference call yesterday, which is that Liberty is not pursuing HSN.

“The market doesn’t believe us; watch August come and go,” Maffei said. “There’s no plan or intention to do anything other than to keep our options open.”

Our former colleague at Multichannel News, Mike Farrell, wrote about Maffei’s denial of the HSN rumors. According to Mike, while the new Liberty Interactive structure makes it easier for the company to go on a buying binge, Maffei said HSN is not a target right now.

“We’re certainly not going to chase HSN stock,” Mike quoted Maffei as saying.

Malone tried, and failed, to merge QVC and HSN back in 2007.

If he’s got any sneaky plans to go after HSN again, we hope he fails this time, too.

And liar, liar pants on fire if Maffei’s denials turn out not to be true.