Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 2, 1993 TAG: 9306020047
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C6 EDITION:
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Reaching for a share of the growing home-shopping market, the retailer on Tuesday announced TV Macy's, a 24-hour cable television channel that will compete with Home Shopping Network and QVC.
R.H. Macy & Co. Inc. expects to launch the channel in fall 1994, selling its own private-label lines of apparel, housewares and other items, as well as national brand merchandise.
A partner in the venture is Don Hewitt, producer of CBS' "60 Minutes." Thomas Leahy, a former president of CBS-TV, and Cablevision Systems Corp. also are part of the project.
The venture is an attempt to capitalize on one of the world's most familiar department store names in tapping into a market estimated at $2.25 billion.
Macy Chairman Myron Ullman said the company expects the new channel to increase shopper interest in the 110 Macy's and Bullock's department stores.
The existing networks have been highly successful. HSN, for instance, increased annual sales by about 50 percent to nearly $1.1 billion from 1988 to 1992. But retail consultants believe TV Macy's will reach many consumers who shun home shopping networks, finding their merchandise uninteresting or cheap.
Not all home shopping ventures have succeeded. J.C. Penney Co. Inc. went into the market in the late 1980s but later withdrew.
Macy has been operating under bankruptcy court protection for nearly 18 months.
Ullman wouldn't put a price tag on the project, but said "it fits in with our capital program over the next year or so."
by CNB