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iBuy was a British satellite-based home
shopping channel Shopping channels (also known in British English as teleshopping) are a type of television program or specialty channel devoted to home shopping. Their formats typically feature live presentations and demonstrations of products, hosted by on-air pr ...
. Created & launched on 18 April 2005, by Andy Sheldon, who was one of George Spitaliotis's senior management figures at
Auction World.tv Auction World.tv was a British television channel which auctioned a variety of products by telephone bidding. The channel claimed to sell high-quality products at very low prices and promised reliable delivery, however doubt was cast over the ...
and also created their sister channel Chase-It.tv. iBuy launched from the ex-AuctionWorld studio at Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington. It was later relocated in early 2006, to Studio 1, Unit 1A, Hogarth Business Park, Burlington Lane, Chiswick, London. iBuy operates as a falling price auction channel, similar to that of the 'original' auction shopping channel idea used by
bid TV Shop at Bid was a British television shopping channel that ran daily auctions and later fixed price demonstrations. It was the world's first channel of its kind. It launched as ''Bid-Up.tv''. The channel was owned by Bid Shopping. History Bi ...
,
price-drop TV Price Drop is a British television shopping channel based in the UK, that ran daily live reverse auctions. It was the first reverse auction channel of its kind in the world. The channel was owned by Bid Shopping. History 2003–2005: Price-Dr ...
, and airs between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM, 7 days a week on Sky. Towards the end of 2006, was also broadcast between 9:00 AM–12:00 PM on Freeview, as part of
Five US 5USA is a British free-to-air television channel. It is owned by Paramount Networks UK & Australia and is a sister channel of Channel 5 (UK), Channel 5, 5Action, 5Star and 5Select. It was launched on 16 October 2006 as Five US and was the secon ...
. iBuy2 broadcast 7 days a week on Sky 632, also broadcasting live falling price auctions from a separate studio, which was the home of the defunct HSN owned quiz channel
Quiz TV ''Quiz TV'' was a popular British television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmissi ...
. iBuy2 ended on 18 February 2007, with the channel now only showing pre-recorded iBuy Choice. iBuy Unique was broadcast every day during iBuy's off-air hours, on Sky 631 from 12:00 PM midnight to 9:00 AM and on Sky 632 from 12:00 PM midnight to 3:00 PM, and then from 6:00 PM onwards. iBuy Unique operated on the similar "original" channel idea of the HSN financed Bid2Win where the 'Lowest Unique Bid' auction, where bidders are invited to place a bid by phone, by SMS text message or online at www.ibuyunique.tv. However, this is an auction with a difference, as only one person can win. For example, if two bids are placed, at 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM, 1:00 PM is the currently the lowest unique bid, however if someone else comes in with a bid of 1:00 PM, 1:00 PM is no longer a valid bid, and therefore 2:00 PM is now the lowest unique bid. On iBuy, viewers are invited to bid in 'Freefall' auctions by picking up their landline phone or mobile phone and dialling the number on screen, or logging onto the iBuy website at www.ibuy.tv and bidding online. The price of the item up for auction falls until all the quantity is sold, and at the end of the auction (when the quantity is sold out,) everyone pays the lowest price. iBuy was also the subject of the BBC Three ''Welcome To My World'' documentary "Porno, Preachers and Peadlers" alongside
Television X Television X (TVX) is a series of adult pay-per-view television channels in the United Kingdom owned by MG Global Entertainment (Europe) Limited. Until 2020, it was owned by Portland TV which was a subsidiary of Richard Desmond's publishing com ...
, Girl Fever and
Revelation TV Revelation TV is a UK Protestant Christian television channel started by Howard and Lesley Conder in 2003. It broadcasts on Freesat channel 692, Freeview HD channel 264, Sky channel 581, the Roku box and is also available online on iOS and And ...
.


Closure

Following speculation, it has been reported in St. Petersburg (Florida) Times that the parent company of iBuy,
HSN HSN, an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Qurate Retail Group, which also owns catalog company Cornerstone Brands. Based in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg, Flo ...
are to close the troubled channel sometime in May 2007, and 85 jobs will be lost. The possible reasons for the channel's closure are cited to be connected to financial difficulties at the channel, due to their failure to successfully break into a market already dominated by shopping channels such as
QVC UK QVC UK is a television shopping channel broadcast from the United Kingdom to the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was formed in 1993 when QVC, Inc. agreed to a deal with Sky TV to create a UK version of the US channel. "QVC – The Shopping Chan ...
, The
sit-up Ltd Sit-Up Ltd., traded as Bid Shopping, was an English broadcaster which launched in 2000. It operated a portfolio of falling price shopping television channels to over 12 million homes in the UK. History On 1 April 2009, it was announced that S ...
channels (
bid TV Shop at Bid was a British television shopping channel that ran daily auctions and later fixed price demonstrations. It was the world's first channel of its kind. It launched as ''Bid-Up.tv''. The channel was owned by Bid Shopping. History Bi ...
,
price-drop TV Price Drop is a British television shopping channel based in the UK, that ran daily live reverse auctions. It was the first reverse auction channel of its kind in the world. The channel was owned by Bid Shopping. History 2003–2005: Price-Dr ...
,
speed auction TV Bid Plus (formerly Speed Auction) was a British television shopping channel owned by Bid Shopping. The channel ceased broadcast on 1 July 2013. History The channel launched as speedauction on 27 July 2005, replacing the original Screenshop ...
),
Ideal World Ideal World is a British TV shopping channel, broadcasting on Freeview, Satellite, Cable and online, with transactional websites, broadcast from studios in Peterborough. History Ideal World has its origins in the 1980s as a mail order compan ...
and
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. Gems TV was formed fr ...
. It has also been suggested, that there is a growing number of customer complaints over products, and mounting controversy over the channel allegedly selling fake products, in particular Tiffany. On 18 March 2007, Senior Presenter Adam Freeman, revealed while on air, that it was to be his final shift. It was also revealed, that unlike many of the other staff at iBuy, he wasn't to be out of a job. As like the previous iBuy Head of Broadcasting, Andy Sheldon, Freeman will in fact be moving over to parent company
HSN HSN, an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Qurate Retail Group, which also owns catalog company Cornerstone Brands. Based in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg, Flo ...
for employment in the USA. On 27 March 2007, it was officially announced on the iBuy website that the channel has now ceased live broadcasting. In its slots, iBuy will be offering a variety of programming over the coming weeks, which include pre-recorded iBuy Unique, and Rye by Post Collectibles.


Criticism


Possible links to Auction World.tv

iBuy was launched shortly after the collapse of
Auction World.tv Auction World.tv was a British television channel which auctioned a variety of products by telephone bidding. The channel claimed to sell high-quality products at very low prices and promised reliable delivery, however doubt was cast over the ...
, and features many Auction World similarities namely in channel ideas, products, contacts and employees.iBuy TV / Auction World - Broadcasting - Digital Spy Forums
/ref> * Andy Sheldon: Head of Production at AW - now involved at iBuy, as the Head of Broadcasting. And has recently been promoted to Senior Vice President of Broadcasting, at the parent company HSN in the USA. * Tim Cochran: Company Director at AW - now involved at iBuy * Sandy Sandcaster: Operations Director and George Spitaliotis' business partner at AW - now involved at iBuy * Simon Stedman: Customer Services manager at AW - now involved at iBuy iBuy also launched with most of the production, and floor staff from Auction World, as well as initially using AW's Studio, Production Office & Warehouse at Teddington. However, although iBuy is primarily run on a daily basis in the UK, by the ex-workforce of
Auction World.tv Auction World.tv was a British television channel which auctioned a variety of products by telephone bidding. The channel claimed to sell high-quality products at very low prices and promised reliable delivery, however doubt was cast over the ...
, iBuy is not from the same company that created
Auction World.tv Auction World.tv was a British television channel which auctioned a variety of products by telephone bidding. The channel claimed to sell high-quality products at very low prices and promised reliable delivery, however doubt was cast over the ...
. It is financed and owned by US Home Shopping Company
HSN HSN, an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Qurate Retail Group, which also owns catalog company Cornerstone Brands. Based in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg, Flo ...
, whose parent company are competitors with the QVC network in the USA. The
Auction World.tv Auction World.tv was a British television channel which auctioned a variety of products by telephone bidding. The channel claimed to sell high-quality products at very low prices and promised reliable delivery, however doubt was cast over the ...
links have stemmed from the channel being set up by Andy Sheldon and Adam Freeman, both long-term friends and ex-Auction World employees. Who after the collapse of Auction World, found new monetary backers, and decided to create iBuy and in doing so, used the redundant auction-world.tv employees, products, channel contacts and studio equipment.


Dropped by NTL

On 28 August 2006 Britain's biggest digital cable outlet
NTL NTL may refer to: Companies * NTL Incorporated and NTL Internet, later Virgin Media, communications media company ** NTL Ireland, later Virgin Media Ireland * Arqiva, UK company formerly ''NTL Broadcast'' and ''National Transcommunications L ...
made the decision to drop the iBuy channel from its platform. Prior to termination, iBuy complained to UK regulators that NTL, which owns competitor sit-up Limited, owner of channels bid TV, price-drop TV and speed auction TV, was abusing its dominant position in the cable market. Both the UK Office of Fair Trading and Ofcom declined to take any action due to a ‘lack of resources’ and 'unproven accusations' made by iBuy. It has also been suggested on a number of media websites, that NTL decided to drop the iBuy shopping channel from its cable platform, due to financial problems at the
HSN HSN, an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Qurate Retail Group, which also owns catalog company Cornerstone Brands. Based in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg, Flo ...
financed iBuy, although these allegations are unproven.


Connections to Ideal World and OneTV

In early October 2006, presenter Debbie Flint appeared on the iBuy shopping channel, as a 'guest' host. The same presenter who was directly involved with
Paul Lavers Paul Lavers (born 1950) is a British film, television and stage actor. He has been a presenter for Anglia television and for several shopping channels. Early life and career Paul Lavers was born in Bristol in 1950, the son of Josephine (née Ri ...
&
Steve Whatley Steven Rae "Steve" Whatley (11 July 1959 – 7 November 2005) known as 'Gadget Man', 'Mr Diamonique', 'Whatters' and 'Mr Zhuzh!', was a British theatre actor, consumer expert, journalist, and television presenter. Early career Whatley spent sev ...
to create, and present on the British shopping channel Ideal World. Flint and Lavers would later join-up with mutual friend Paul Price, to present on the British shopping channel OneTV. Paul Lavers presented for only a short time on OneTV, before he later joined iBuy (again, only for a few months) in 2005. Debbie Flint although continued to present, and be involved with OneTV, right up until the major problems reared their head which eventually forced the channel to close in disgrace. OneTV had its broadcast licence revoked by Ofcom, after it failed to pay its fee. The OneTV channel had previously been under investigation from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after a number of viewers complained that orders had not been fulfilled, and refunds equalling to thousands of pounds had not been returned.


Presenters

* Adam Freeman * Darren Simons * John Hammond * Craig Rowe * Alex Knowles * Mike Mason * Mark Stuart * Paul Lavers * Greg Scott * Elisa Portelli * Gemma Scott * Caroline Artus * Victoria Showers * Fayon Cottrell * Anoushka Williams * Genevieve Mullen * Georgina Burnett * Zilpah Hartley * Polly Parsons * Laura Hamilton * Debbie Flint * Roshanth Gardiarachchi


References

{{Reflist


External links


Former website
Shopping networks in the United Kingdom Defunct British television channels IAC (company)