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Shop! to get put down....

  • 14-03-2002 7:13pm
    #1
    DMC
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,726 ✭✭✭✭


    One less shopping channel :p:p:p

    Shop! is to close.

    (Sorry to hear of these job losses, but there are way too many shopping channels.)

    http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,667398,00.html

    Granada and Littlewoods shut up Shop!

    Owen Gibson
    Thursday March 14, 2002

    Shop!, the home-shopping channel Granada and Littlewoods launched as a rival to QVC, is to come off the air with the loss of 390 jobs.

    The closure at the end of April will result in 140 redundancies at Granada and 250 at Littlewoods, including 169 at the channel's call centre in Preston.

    Union officials are meeting representatives from both companies in the hope of rescuing some positions.

    The demise of Shop!, which began broadcasting in 1998, also raises a question mark over the future of the Granada studios at Albert Dock in Liverpool, where This Morning was filmed before the show relocated to London.

    Shop!'s future had been the subject of speculation for several months. Granada trimmed costs to the bone in the face of the advertising downturn and the continuing financial drain of ITV Digital.

    Susan Murray, the sales and marketing director at Littlewoods, said the company decided to pull the plug on the venture because revenues did not meet expectations.

    "Recent changes in Littlewoods' senior management have led to a renewed focus on the core business and new channels such as e-commerce, which can provide sustainable income and profit growth," said Ms Murray.

    "Our review has concluded Shop! will not meet its shareholders' expectations."

    The channel was designed to provide an additional sales outlet for Littlewoods stock - as well as that of third parties - and beef up the channel line-up on ONdigital, which was rebranded ITV Digital last year.

    Littlewoods, which owns 65% of Shop!, has struggled in the retail market recently and last year recorded a pre-tax loss.

    Shop! is the latest in a line of failed partnerships between broadcasters and retailers.

    Wellbeing, a health channel founded by Granada and Boots, and Taste, a partnership set up Carlton and Sainsbury's, both closed after failing to attract viewers and advertisers.


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