Jewelry Television is an American

television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

specializing in the sale of

jewelry Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

. On-air and online, the network is mainly branded by its jtv initials in lower-case letters. It has an estimated reach of more than 80 million U.S. households, through cable and satellite providers, online streaming and limited over-the-air broadcasters. The headquarters of Jewelry Television are located in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. It has manufacturing facilities in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

History

Jewelry Television was founded as America's Collectibles Network (ACN) in 1993 by Jerry Sisk Jr., Bob Hall, and Bill Kouns. Sisk was a graduate gemologist, Kouns was a jewelry expert, and Hall had existing television industry experience. The fledgling network began broadcasting from a studio in Greeneville,

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, with just one television camera. ACN initially sold

gemstone A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewellery, jewelry or other adornments. Certain Rock (geology), rocks (such ...

, and collectible coins. Sisk, Hall, and Kouns later moved the network to a larger headquarters and

television studio A television studio, also called a television production studio, is an installation room in which video productions take place, either for the production of live television and its recording onto video tape or other media such as SSDs, or for ...

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. In 2002, the company re-launched as Jewelry Television and has since focused on selling gemstones, jewelry and jewelry-making kits. In 2006, Jewelry Television bought competitor

Shop at Home The Shop at Home Network (also called Shop at Home, Shop at Home TV and SATH) was a television network in the United States, owned and operated by the E. W. Scripps Company from 2002 to 2006, then by Jewelry Television. It primarily aired home ...

and its assets from Scripps. It then served as the replacement for the latter network on a group of Shop at Home-specific Scripps-owned stations while it looked to sell them off. In 2008 and 2009, Jewelry Television experienced multiple rounds of layoffs, due to both precious metal price increases and the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

. Jewelry Television has approximately 1,400 employees, as of May 2019. The network added permanent coverage through the subchannels of

Ion Television Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American broadcast television network and FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August ...

on March 27, 2023, coincidentally returning the network to the station group which brought it further coverage with the wind-down of its competitor. Scripps wound down the operations of the

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

network TrueReal (which merged with fellow OTA sister network

Defy TV Defy (also known by its original name Defy TV) is an American digital multicast television network owned by Free TV Networks in partnership with A&E Networks, airing primarily reality shows from the latter company, having launched on July 1, ...

) and began to carry JTV under the common arrangement where Scripps will be paid for any sales made through their Ion carriage, with Scripps also carrying the network in markets where no Ion station is available but they do own a traditional television station. On December 5, 2024, Scripps abruptly removed JTV from all of its stations, replacing it in some markets with

getTV Get (Great Entertainment Television, stylized as get. since 2023, and formerly stylized as getTV) is an American Digital subchannel#Commercial networks, digital multicast television network owned by the Sony Pictures Television#Sony Pictures Tel ...

Canadian expansion

On September 7, 2022, Jewelry Television announced that the network would officially pursue further Canadian pay-TV carriage and facilitate easier shipping into the country from the United States, after years of streaming

grey market A grey market or dark market (sometimes confused with the similar term "parallel import, parallel market") is the trade of a commodity through distribution channels that are not authorised by the original manufacturer or trademark proprietor. ...

coverage.

Overview

Jewelry Television airs 24 hours a day, although programming hours vary between each region, based on the local TV provider. In October 2008 the network began broadcasting in high definition. The network also streams online through its website, like most home shopping networks. In April 2012, Jewelry Television launched the Titanic Jewelry Collection. Created in partnership with Titanic Museum Attractions, this proprietary collection offers pieces in the Art Nouveau and Edwardian styles typical of that era.

Lawsuits

On March 26, 2008, Jewelry Television filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Tennessee against

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is a insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gover ...

, as a result of a criminal scheme that took place in 2006 and 2007. A person had used a bank account of the Office of the Comptroller of the City of New York to buy more than $3.5 million in jewelry. On May 23, 2008, a $5 million class action lawsuit was filed in California against Jewelry Television. The suit alleged that since 2003, the shopping network has sold a gemstone called andesine- labradorite, without disclosing its treatment, while promising buyers that this stone was rare and untreated. On June 2, 2008, Jewelry Television said andesine-labradorite has been sold in the gem trade since 2002 as a natural and untreated material. "Lab reports from major laboratories have consistently confirmed these gemstones as natural and untreated. Jewelry Television, like other major retailers, relied upon the lab reports and general industry information". On May 19, 2009, an age discrimination lawsuit was filed against Jewelry Television alleging an employee had been terminated as part of a company-wide reduction in workforce the previous May.

References

External links