HSN, a US home shopping channel owned by Barry Diller's IAC/InteractiveCorp, has launched its single-screen interactive TV application, HSN Shop by Remote, on EchoStar's DISH Network satellite TV service. The existence of the application came to light in spring, 2005, when GoldPocket Interactive (which is now part of Tandberg Television) revealed that it had signed an agreement with HSN that called for it to develop a tcommerce service for ITV-enabled US cable and satellite systems. HSN has trialed the app on Time Warner Cable systems in Hawaii since the beginning of 2006 and on Cablevision systems in New York since May, 2006. The app is currently the only live, broadcast-synchronized interactive shopping service in the US, and its launch on DISH Network is its first on a satellite TV platform.
Currently, DISH Network subscribers can access Shop by Remote through the interactive shopping section of the platform's DishHOME interactive TV portal (channel 100). However, EchoStar and HSN say that, in the coming weeks, subs will be able to access it directly through HSN by pressing "select" on their remote when they see an item they want to buy. "HSN is excited to p*artner with DISH Network for the national launch of Shop by Remote," Peter Ruben, HSN's EVP of affiliate sales and marketing, said in a prepared statement. "Our initial trials of Shop by Remote in the New York/tri-state area and Hawaii have generated very favorable results, signaling the great potential this service has as customers across the country now experience it."
HSN claims that Shop by Remote allows viewers to complete most purchases in less than 60 seconds--i.e. in less than half the time it takes via HSN's automated phone service. In order to use the application, DISH Network subs must have an existing HSN account: they can then use their remote to order the item currently being showcased on HSN, as well as the two items preceding it, and whichever item is being showcased as HSN's "Today's Special." Via a series of on-screen menus, the app provides the same order-customization capabilities (e.g. selection of size, color, quantity and features) currently offered by HSN's more traditional ordering methods. Order confirmations appear on the TV screen following each purchase. Shop by Remote is one of a number of multiplatform interactive services that HSN is developing: the channel's other initiatives include podcasts of recorded and original programming, VOD, and streaming live broadband video on its Web site.
Originally Published: May 30, 2007 in [itvt] Issue 7.32 Part 3
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