The Jewellery Channel
Encyclopedia
The Jewellery Channel is a British falling-price auction-style home shopping
Home shopping
Home shopping commonly refers to the electronic retailing/home shopping channels industry, which includes such billion dollar television-based and e-commerce companies as HSN, QVC, eBay, ShopNBC, Buy.com, and Amazon.com, as well as traditional mail order and brick and mortar retailers as Hammacher...

 channel
Shopping channel
Shopping channels are television specialty channels that present shopping related content, particularly for home shopping enthusiasts.-USA:* America's Store* Home Shopping Network* Jewelry Television* QVC* Shop at Home Network* ShopNBC...

 specialising in jewellery
Jewellery
Jewellery or jewelry is a form of personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.With some exceptions, such as medical alert bracelets or military dog tags, jewellery normally differs from other items of personal adornment in that it has no other purpose than to...

, the primary competitor to Gems TV
Gems TV
Gems TV was a jewellery manufacturer and reverse auction TV shopping network headquartered in Chanthaburi, Thailand. It began its operations in October 2004 in the UK, and then expanded to Germany, America, Japan and China...

. The channel launched on 4 April 2006, and currently broadcasts 24 hours a day.

Background

The Jewellery Channel is part of the VGL [Vaibhav Gems Limited (VGL) group], http://www.vaibhavgems.com/vaibhav2/m.htm. The company mines and handcrafts many of the products sold on its TV networks, hence its claim to cut out the "middleman" and to attempt to undercut high-street prices.

TJC sells the world's widest variety of gemstones and they are one of only 8 sightholder
Sightholder
A sightholder is a company on the Diamond Trading Company's list of authorized bulk purchasers of rough diamonds. DTC is controlled by the De Beers Group, the single largest producer and purveyor of rough diamonds in the world...

s to the Tanzanite
Tanzanite
Tanzanite is the blue/purple variety of the mineral zoisite which was discovered in the Mererani Hills of Northern Tanzania in 1967, near the city of Arusha and Mount Kilimanjaro. It is used as a gemstone...

 One mine. In addition to commonly available gemstones, the channel also sell their own exclusive brands of jewellery including Iliana (18K Gold) and Rhapsody (950 Platinum). The channel occasionally offer themed days such as 'Tanzanite Days'. The channel also has discount days where it reduces the final auction prices by 10% or 17.5% (the latter the equivalent to the UK 17.5% VAT
Vat
Vat or VAT may refer to:* A type of container such as a barrel, storage tank, or tub, often constructed of welded sheet stainless steel, and used for holding, storing, and processing liquids such as milk, wine, and beer...

 charge).

On Monday 14 January 2008 The Jewellery Channel moved from Teddington Studios
Teddington Studios
Teddington Studios is a large British television studio complex located in Teddington, South-West London, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on BBC television, ITV, and Channel 4 along with others...

 to brand-new purpose-built studios in West London, simultaneously switching to widescreen-format broadcasting. It plans to broadcast in HDTV in the future.

On Saturday 11 April 2008 The Jewellery Channel launched delivery to the Republic of Ireland for the first time.

Misleading customers

The Jewellery Channel has been censured by the Advertising Standards Authority for misleading customers in connection with the quality of its products.

Prosecuted by Trading Standards

On 16 January 2008, The Jewellery Channel was prosecuted by Trading Standards for making false claims about the treatment of a gemstone product sold through its TV channel. After complaints were made, the channel discovered that it had been selling jewellery described as natural 'pink topaz’, when in fact it was colourless topaz sprayed pink.

The channel pleaded guilty to 16 offences under the Trade Descriptions Act – eight for applying false trade descriptions and eight of supplying goods to which false trade descriptions had been applied. They were fined £3,200.

ASA complaint

In May 2008, The Jewellery Channel was censured by the Advertising Standards Authority
Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)
The Advertising Standards Authority is the self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of advertising practice broadly reflects legislation in many instances...

 for misleading customers in its broadcasts. Concerns over the inferences of the channel's auction start prices and the "pressure" of the channel's timed auctions were among the problems the ASA found with the channel's remit. In response, The Jewellery Channel plan to remove the start price from broadcasts "for the sake of clarity" from 30 June 2008.

Platform availability

The Jewellery Channel is available on Sky 24 hours a day. On 22 November 2009, The Jewellery Channel was added to Freesat
Freesat
Freesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008...

 on channel 815.

The channel was also carried on Freeview channel 44 between 7pm and 9pm between December 2007 and May 2008. The channel was replaced with a second Gems TV
Gems TV
Gems TV was a jewellery manufacturer and reverse auction TV shopping network headquartered in Chanthaburi, Thailand. It began its operations in October 2004 in the UK, and then expanded to Germany, America, Japan and China...

 stream, which itself ceased in April 2009 as it was used for extended hours of CNN
CNN International
CNN International is an international English language television network that carries news, current affairs, politics, opinions, and business programming worldwide. CNN is one of the world's largest news organizations. It is owned by Time Warner, and is affiliated with CNN, which is mainly...

. On 21 September 2011, The Jewellery Channel returned to Freeview on channel 60.

The Jewellery Channel also simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...

s on 5USA between 6am and 12pm, allowing the channel to be available to viewers Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...

 and TalkTalk TV, in addition to Freesat, Freeview and Sky.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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