Buy.com takes to the airwaves

In the latest move to aggressively compete for its share of retail spending, Buy.com is launching a TV shopping channel, founder and CEO Scott A. Blum tells Internet Retailer. Until Buy officially launches the TV channel later this month, the company is being quiet on the details. But Blum has been drumming up interest in the channel, appearing last month on the televised Emmys program where host Joan Rivers interviewed Blum and his wife on their way in to the show. Buy’s p.r. firm is also working on Blum’s appearance on a lifestyle show to take place soon.

Buy is negotiating to produce television programming that will combine talk-show-like interviews of artists, authors and movie stars with product demonstrations and sales pitches. “We’re trying to blend the Home Shopping Network with the Tonight Show,” Blum says. The programming will run most likely on cable networks.

The first shows are expected to air in the fourth quarter. Blum expects to purchase time on cable networks that cater to Buy.com’s prime audience—young men fascinated by technology. Some channels that Blum says he is looking at include E! Entertainment, MTV, and Tech TV. Blum is reportedly planning to spend $12 million—mostly his own money—to get Buy.com TV off the ground. Blum won’t confirm that figure.

While industry observers say the television venture will give the Internet site much needed exposure and drive consumers to the site, the benefits are not without considerable risk. “Right now, Buy.com has trouble getting people to its web site. The site can’t reach out and grab people. TV can get people’s attention and get them to go to the web site and it should generate a lot of traffic for Buy.com,” says Ken R. Cassar, senior analyst for New York-based Jupiter Research Inc. But at the same time, Cassar notes that TV is costly and risky. “It’s too early to tell whether the benefits will outweigh the risks in this situation,” he says.

Adding to the risk is the fact that the Buy.com model for mixing entertainment and commerce is untried. While others have mixed the two before, Buy.com appears to take the use of entertainment farther than what industry veterans such as the Home Shopping Network, QVC or infomercial producers have done, Cassar says.

Finally, Cassar questions whether Buy.com has the financial and other resources to pull off such an ambitious venture. Not only is TV expensive, but it also requires investments to be made well in advance of receiving any revenues. “This is not a public company so it is hard for me to tell how much financial resources are at Buy.com’s disposal. However it appears that the ability of Buy.com to fund these innovations comes down to Scott Blum’s personal ability to fund them,” he says. That said, Cassar is quick to add, “Scott Blum is not afraid to take a gamble.”