Shop at Home Network Sold – WOAC/67 Not Included

As we mentioned yesterday, the folks at Jewelry Television have taken over the Shop at Home network…and the details are now official.

A press release says Jewelry Television is taking over a large number of Shop at Home assets, including the network’s satellite equipment and website. Another release says Jewelry Television will operate Shop at Home on a “part-time basis”, presumably in combination with their current branding. But the $17 million dollar deal, as expected, does not include SAH’s owned-and-operated TV stations.

Here in Northeast Ohio, that means Cleveland market SAH O&O station WOAC/67 Canton is still on the sales block. Quoting the release: “Scripps has retained the services of a broker and is actively seeking a buyer for the stations.” The list of broadcast outlets includes not only WOAC, but stations in Boston, San Francisco, Raleigh-Durham NC and Bridgeport CT.

We don’t know who will eventually buy WOAC, but our suspicions from last night are confirmed in the press release: “In the meantime, as part of the transaction, the five broadcast television stations will air a combination of Shop At Home and Jewelry Television programming.”

Considering that Scripps has no intention on keeping the stations, running the new SAH programming from Jewelry Television in the interim would certainly be the easiest programming route. And this news would presumably shoot down any rumors that the company would do anything with WOAC in tandem with sister station WEWS/5, Cleveland’s ABC affiliate…