| Gems TV | |
|---|---|
| Launched | 8 October 2004[1] |
| Owned by | The Colourful Company Group Limited |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV 16:9) |
| Slogan | "Jewellery that gets you noticed" (2004-2005),(2009-2010) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | Warwickshire |
| Formerly called | Gems.tv (2004-2005) Gems TV Gold (2005) Gems TV(2005-2008) GemsTV 1 (2008-2010) |
| Replaced | FO Factory Outlet (Gems TV) Snatch It! (Gems TV 2) |
| Sister channel(s) | Gems TV Extra Jewellery Maker |
| Website | www.gems.tv |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview | Channel 43 |
| Satellite | |
| Sky | Channel 652 |
| Freesat | Channel 805 |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media | Channel 755 |
Gems TV is a British reverse auction jewellery shopping channel. It is officially the first channel of its kind in the UK. The channel is available on Sky, Virgin Media, Freesat, Freeview and online. The channel operations are based at Eagle Road Studios in Redditch, near Birmingham. The channel currently broadcasts live 24 hours a day.
Contents |
Gems TV first launched at 4pm on 8 October 2004, after the channel was formed by the 5 founders of Eagle Road Studios and Thaigems. The channel replaced Factory Outlet on Sky channel 663. The reverse auction format for the channel was based around Eagle Road Studios now defunct sister channel, 'Snatch It!'.
The channel was an independent company until the merger of Eagle Road Studios and Thaigem, which formed 'Gems TV UK Limited' and the original founders left the company and in 2008 floated on the Singapore Stock Exhange and become a corporate company; Gems TV Holdings Limited.
The channels original mission was to bring affordable handcrafted, genuine gemstone jewellery through the use of its own main gem production facilities in Chanthaburi, Thailand. However, due to the tough economic conditions in recent years, the parent company started out sourcing jewellery from other suppliers and sourcing less from its own factory.
On 1 February 2010, the manufacturing operations at its factory in Chanthaburi, Thailand were closed down due to the change in sourcing and manufacture. The new strategic decision to fully outsource its gemstone jewellery supply was aimed at reducing operating costs, increasing supply, improving manufacturing flexibility and the main reason of increasing profit margins. This was one of the principles the company was originally well known for - going direct to the mines and handcrafting gem set jewellery in their own in-house facilities. The consequence of this has resulted in a large number of redundancies.[2]
On 18 June 2010 Gems TV Holdings sold Gems TV (UK) Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary) to The Colourful Company Group Limited for £3 Million.[3] As a result of the sale, Gems TV (UK) Limited is now back under the ownership of Steve Bennett, one of the original founders of the company, back in 2004.[4]
Since Gems TV has been under original management, the channel has gone back to its original roots of sourcing handcrafted gemstone jewellery.
The channel has now extended its live reverse auctions to 24 hours a day; previously was only available from 6am to 2am.
On 21 July 2010, Gems TV began broadcasting on Fiver again, after it previously ceased broadcasting on 16 June 2010; prior to the sale of Gems TV UK Limited to The Colourful Company Group. As a result, Gems TV is now available again to viewers on Freeview.
On 27 July 2010, Gems TV secured its own separate LCN slot on Freeview channel 43, which timeshares with another; Quest on Mux A. This is in addition to the simulcast on Fiver. On 28 July 2010, Gems TV also extended its broadcasting hours from 8am-2am to 6am-2am to coincide with the launch on Freeview 43. The channel has since expanded to 24 hours a day and broadcast live auctions on Freeview 43 between 1am and 11am.
On 31 October 2010, Gems TV ceased simulcasting as part of the teleshopping block on Fiver.
On 20 February 2011, Gems TV began simulcasting on STV in Scotland, under the name of Genuine Gemstone Jewellery. The teleshopping block aired for 1 hour, starting at around midnight.
On 24 February 2011, Gems TV temporarily secured airtime on The Big Deal which was broadcasting for 24 hours a day in post-digital switchover areas and for only 1 hour between 5am and 6am in pre-digital switchover areas. Broadcasting hours expanded to 24 hours in the remaining parts of the UK on 2 March 2011, when an eighth full stream was created on Mux C. The broadcasts on The Big Deal ended in April 2011.
On 30 June 2011, Gems TV began broadcasting 24 hours a day on Freeview channel 43 after acquiring a new stream on Mux C.[5] As the main Gems TV service is already available to Freeview users on 5* between 9am and 1pm through a commercial arrangement with Channel 5, channel 43 currently carries Jewellery Maker between 9am and 1pm and Gems TV at other times.
Under the ownership of The Coloured Rocks Group, Gems TV has 2 other sister channels.
Gems TV Extra was first launched in July 2008 as Rocks TV. The channel uses the same reverse auction format as Gems TV. Up until 18 June 2010, the channel was previously a competitor to Gems TV. On 2 January 2011, Rocks TV was rebranded as Gems TV Extra and the channel also merged with Gem Collector. The channel currently broadcasts live auctions between 8am and 2am. The channel is available on Sky channel 656, Freesat channel 818 and online.
Jewellery Maker is the first new sister channel since both Gems TV and Rocks TV merged. The channel was launched on 1 May 2010 and solely focuses on jewellery making kits and uses a fixed price format. It is the first channel of its kind in the UK. The channel currently broadcasts live between 9am and 1pm daily, with its shows rebroadcast during its downtime. On Freeview, where Gems TV is available on 5* from 9am to 1pm, Jewellery Maker is available on channel 43 during its live show (channel 43 carries Gems TV at other times).
Gem Collector was launched on 8 October 2010. The channel shared the same studio as Jewellery Maker and broadcast live reverse auctions of loose gemstones between 7pm and 12am daily. Like Jewellery Maker, it was the first channel of its kind in the UK.
On 31 December 2010, Gem Collector ceased broadcasting as a separate channel and merged with Rocks TV to create Gems TV Extra, which relaunched on 2 January 2011. The Gem Collector brand is still used on Gems TV Extra for branded hour programmes.
Under the former management and ownership of Gems TV Holdings, Gems TV did have 2 sister channels, named Gems TV 2 or as it was often referred to Deals Of The Day and up until November 2009, a second sister channel, Gems TV 3.
Gems TV 2 launched on 12 May 2005, after replacing Gems TV's former sister channel, Snatch It!. During the closing down of Snatch It!, it was announced that the new channel was going to be called Gems TV Silver, after a successful trial of Sterling Silver jewellery a few months previous. However, it wasn't until launch that it was decided that Gems TV would become known as Gems TV Gold and the new channel to be simply known as Gems TV. After a few months into the new venture, it became apparent that the venture wasn't as successful as Gems TV Gold. It was then decided Gems TV Gold reverted back to Gems TV and the second channel becoming known as Gems TV 2 and that both channels would show a mixture of Gold and Sterling Silver jewellery. Since launch, the channel has used the same reverse auction format as Gems TV 1 and broadcast live between 8am and 2am. In late 2008/early 2009, the channel reduced its live hours to 3pm to 11pm. During its downtime, it simulcasted Gems TV 3. It was not until 2009 that Gems TV was officially referred to as Gems TV 1 and its hours were extended to 7am to 2am, despite the reduction of the live broadcasting hours on Gems TV 2.
On 31 July 2009, Gems TV 2 ceased all live output and moved the pre-recorded 'Deal Of The Day' material from Gems TV 3 to Gems TV 2. It was then often referred to as the 'Deals Of The Day' channel. Officially, Gems TV 2 ceased broadcasting in January 2010, after the channel began simulcasting Gems TV 1.
On 8 September 2010, Gems TV 2 was replaced with Jewellery Maker on Virgin Media channel 756.
On 8 October 2010, Gems TV 2 ceased simulcasting Gems TV and was replaced with the brand new Coloured Rocks channel; Gem Collector.
Gems TV 2 was previously only available on Sky, Virgin Media and via a live stream on the Gems TV website.
Gems TV 3 or 'Deal(s) Of The Day' as it was known on air, was exclusive to Sky 670 and relaunched on 14 January 2009. The channel was launched using the original Gems TV 2 EPG slot after Gems TV had previously purchased a 3rd EPG slot in the Shopping section of the EPG of 642 from TV Warehouse 1. The company then moved both Gems TV 1 and Gems TV 2 up the EPG from 646 and 660 to 642 and 646 before Sky reshuffled the Shopping section and moved all the channels down 10 slots. The Deal of the Day format was previously available between 2004 and 2005. Its format was different to its sister channels. Gems TV 3 used a fixed priced format to show a number pieces of jewellery for 24 hours, on a loop from 8am till 8am the following day or until the stock had run out. The channel was simulcast on Gems TV 2 when its live reverse auctions were off air, allowing the channels content to be available to Virgin Media viewers. A live stream was also available on the website. The channel was also known as the 'Deal Of The Day' channel.
On 1 August 2009, following the end of live output on Gems TV 2 the day before, Gems TV 3 started simulating Gems TV 1 24 hours a day and the 'Deal Of The Day' content moved over to Gems TV 2.
On 2 November 2009, Gems TV 3 was removed from Sky channel 670.
Complaints have been made to Gems TV and upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority for misleading customers in July and August 2005[6][7] and again in August 2008.[8]
Several allegations have been made against Gems TV. The three main criticisms that were upheld were: that products supplied to customers were of inferior quality to those featured on air; that inferences that prices customers pay on Gems TV are lower than the high street were unsubstantiated; and that suggestions that some products had 'healing properties' were misleading and unacceptable.
Gems TV has also been featured on the BBC's "You and Yours" programme[9] for similar reasons.