Dish Network subscribers can now buy items from the Home Shopping Network by simply touching a few buttons on their remote.
HSN and Douglas County-based EchoStar have teamed up to offer “HSN Shop by Remote Interactive TV service.” More than 12 million of Echo Star’s 13.4 million subscribers have the ability to use the feature.
“It’s a continuation of our strategy to make Dish Network more immersive to our subscribers,” said Scott Higgins, director of interactive TV services for EchoStar. “ITV is all about better depth and more convenience.”
Customers who want to use HSN Shop by Remote must have their set-top box plugged into a basic telephone jack. Higgins said that set-top box models distributed after 1998 can be used to access the service. Users do not need an Internet connection for their shopping orders to be sent to the Dish Network and HSN, Higgins said.
St. Petersburg, Fla.-based HSN is looking for new ways to connect with viewers and attract new, younger viewers. Other HSN initiatives include podcasts of recorded and original programming, video-on-demand and streaming live video on its website, hsn.com.
“Apparently, there’s some stress in the home shopping content sector,” said Jimmy Schaeffler, senior multichannel analyst for The Carmel Group. “Something like this service could help jump- start a drive towards better numbers.”
Competing home shopping network QVC – owned by Douglas County-based Liberty Media – said that it launched a similar interactive product, QVC Active, in the United Kingdom in 2001 and is exploring such initiatives in the U.S. QVC is based in West Chester, Pa.
“We have conducted and will continue to conduct tests in other markets, including the U.S., and will expand on this technology when our customers are ready for it,” said QVC spokeswoman Bonnie Clark.
HSN is an operating business of IAC/Interactive Corp., in which Liberty also owns a 24 percent stake.
While the deal is important and needed for the Home Shopping Network, operators like EchoStar are constantly trying to validate their position as the key source in the minds of consumers, Schaeffler said.
“Subscribers are less likely to go over to a competitor because they get these bells and whistles that EchoStar (or someone else) provides them,” he said.
Traditionally, providers have held to the notion that viewers don’t care whether they’re viewing programs from a cable provider like Comcast, or a satellite service such as DirecTV, Schaeffler said. “That mantra … is turning out not to be the case,” he said. “What Dish is trying to do is offer things like DVRs, high-definition TV and interactive TV that create a unique relationship with the subscriber.”
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-954-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com.
