TELEVISION TALE

Television tale

Title Annotation:
Jun 12, 2006
Los Angeles Business Journal
ISSN:0194-2603 100 - 731

Like its brick and mortar retail counterparts often do, luxury television shopping company USN Corp. is mixing up its assortment to draw customers. It's looking for eyeballs, not foot traffic, however. The company, which broadcasts Ultimate Shopping Network to 30 million households on DirecTV, the Dish Network and other outlets, is adding to its core of jewelry, collectibles and watches. USN has tried out women's accessories--it has sold 20,000 Channel sunglasses at $149--and is expecting to strengthen its health and beauty offerings. Michael Reinstein, co-founder of the Century City-based company, said such a product mix could help the network broaden its audience from upscale luxury shoppers to the masses. The company is also encouraging this shift by lowering prices; its average ticket now is around $400, down from $1,100 in its early days. The company was established three years ago and began to be publicly traded on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board last year. But television shoppers aren't the only customers USN has to attract. Reinstein said cable companies are scanning its products to see if they're suitable material for broadcasts. Since its founding, the company has gone from broadcasting nine hours on the weekends to providing live feeds all day, everyday. "Certain cable companies want to see that you have a lot of depth of product in order to get carriage on their platforms," he said. "The more variety that we have, the more appeal we have to cable companies."

Staff reporter Rachel Brown can be reached at rbrown@labusinessjournal.com or by phone at (323) 549-5225, ext. 224.

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