EchoStar Communications is launching an interactive service called HSN Shop by Remote that will permit its Dish Network customers to order goods from the electronic retailer via their remotes.
HSN Shop by Remote will provide more than 12 million Dish subscribers who have interactive-TV-enabled set-top boxes to buy the latest fashions, beauty products and items for the home with just a few clicks of their remote controls.
Currently, customers can access Shop by Remote through the interactive shopping section on DishHOME channel 100. In the weeks to come, subscribers will be able to access the service directly through HSN, via Dish channels 84 and 222, by simply pressing select on their remote when they see an item they want to purchase.
“HSN is excited to partner with Dish Network for the national launch of Shop by Remote,” HSN executive vice president of affiliate sales and marketing Peter Ruben said in a prepared statement. “Our initial trials of Shop by Remote in the New York tristate area and Hawaii have generated very favorable results, signaling the great potential this service has as customers across the country now experience it.”
Shop by Remote is one of the advanced services HSN is developing. Other initiatives include podcasts of recorded and original programming, video-on-demand and streaming live video via its Web site. Through this multiplatform approach, HSN enables customers to interact and shop with the network through their medium of choice when, where and how they want.
HSN designed Shop by Remote with the support of interactive provider Tandberg Television. Most purchases take less than 60 seconds to complete -- less than one-half the time it takes via HSN’s automated phone service.
Dish customers with existing HSN accounts can use their remote controls to immediately order the items currently being shown on HSN, as well as the two items preceding them and HSN’s Today’s Special.
The interactive application has the same order-customization capabilities (selection of size, color, quantity and features) currently available through traditional HSN ordering methods. Order confirmations appear on the TV screen following each purchase.
HSN has been testing the remote-control-ordering service with Cablevision Systems subscribers in the New York market and with Time Warner Cable in Hawaii. HSN home shopping competitor QVC, owned by Liberty Media, is trialing a similar service.
