HSN

HSN, Inc.

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Retail, Television shopping
Founded	1982 (1982)
Founder	Lowell Paxson, Roy Speer
Headquarters	West Chester, Pennsylvania , United States
Area served	United States
Key people	Mike George (CEO of QVC Group)
Products	Home shopping television programming, retail products
Parent	QVC Group

Overview

HSN, Inc., originally known as the Home Shopping Network, is a United States-based free-to-air television channel. It operates under the ownership of the QVC Group (previously known as Qurate Retail Group), which also manages the catalog retailer Cornerstone Brands. The company’s headquarters are located in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

As of July 2014, Joy Mangano set a record by selling 216,000 pillow sets in a single day, marking the highest number of units sold within one day on the network.

History

The origin of HSN traces back to 1982 when Lowell Paxson, who later founded PAX-TV (now Ion Television), together with Roy Speer, introduced the Home Shopping Club. This initial venture was a local cable channel available on Vision Cable and Group W Cable in Pinellas County, Florida. Three years later, on July 1, 1985, it evolved into the first nationwide shopping network under the name Home Shopping Network, pioneering the televised sales presentation format for consumer products and services. Its main rival, which would eventually become its owner, QVC, launched in 1986.

In 1986, HSN launched a second network that broadcasted free-to-air via several television stations acquired under the Silver King Broadcasting banner. By 1992, HSN separated from Silver King Broadcasting, after which Liberty Media took a stake in the network. In 1996, Silver King Broadcasting—now controlled by Barry Diller—repurchased the station group and completed a merger with HSN, subsequently rebranding the entity as "HSN Inc." Under Diller’s guidance, HSN expanded its portfolio by acquiring the USA Network, Sci-Fi Channel, and Universal Television in October 1997. Following these acquisitions, HSN Inc. was renamed USA Network Inc., with the transaction concluding in February 1998.

The Home Shopping Network officially shortened its name to HSN in September 2000.

Mindy Grossman took over as CEO of HSN in 2006 and led a vigorous transformation and relaunch of the brand. She spearheaded HSN’s public offering in 2008 and managed the company’s extensive retail operations along with its multimedia growth. Grossman departed from HSNi in May 2017 to become CEO of Weight Watchers.

In April 2017, Mindy Grossman stepped down from her role at HSN to lead Weight Watchers. Subsequently, on July 6, 2017, Liberty Interactive declared plans to acquire the remaining 62% of HSN shares it did not own, integrating the company into its QVC Group. Mike George, CEO of QVC, was appointed to lead the merged organization.

By September 2018, HSN had formed a partnership with Pickler & Ben to introduce a "shop the show" feature that enabled viewers to purchase items featured on the talk show through both its website and HSN.com.

In May 2023, Qurate Retail Group—the parent company of HSN—faced potential delisting from Nasdaq due to a stock price decline exceeding 80% over the previous year. Later, in October 2023, CreditRiskMonitor indicated that Qurate Retail Group was approaching a possible Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

On February 21, 2025, Qurate Retail Group officially rebranded itself as QVC Group.

Sister channels

• HSN2, which debuted on August 1, 2010, functions as a timeshift channel by broadcasting delayed presentations of products and shows. It has been available on Dish Network since its inception.
• America's Store, originally known as the Home Shopping Club Overnight Service, served as HSN's secondary channel and operated from 1988 until its closure in April 2007.

Operations

Up until 2025, HSN's U.S. operations were headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, where its corporate offices, studios, and broadcast facilities were located. Additional call center locations exist in Roanoke, Virginia and Toledo, Ohio. Distribution hubs are positioned in Roanoke, Piney Flats, Tennessee, and Fontana, California. In October 2018, Qurate announced plans to shut down the Roanoke distribution facility and consolidate operations into a shared QVC/HSN distribution center based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In January 2025, it was revealed that HSN would be closing its St. Petersburg headquarters and relocating to West Chester, Pennsylvania, the site of parent company Qurate Retail Group’s headquarters along with QVC.

Currently, both HSN and QVC are accessible over digital public broadcast channels, allowing viewers to watch without requiring cable subscriptions or streaming devices. Moreover, a new streaming service has been introduced to cable providers offering a distinct shopping experience compared to traditional online ordering.

Call center

HSN National initially utilized a basic rotary phone system that prioritized calls toward the front of the queue, aligning with the front row of order takers situated in the HSN Studio at the Levitz Center (named after its previous use as a Levitz furniture store) in Clearwater, Florida. After several months, this setup proved insufficient, prompting HSN to adopt a phone system provided by GTE. HSN argued that GTE’s system failed to manage the high volume of calls effectively, causing lost sales. This led HSN to file a $1.5 billion lawsuit against GTE. In response, GTE filed a defamation suit claiming HSN had damaged its reputation; GTE ultimately won a $100 million judgment. The two parties later resolved their disputes through an out-of-court settlement.

Initial order-processing system

HSN created its first order-processing platform on a Burroughs Large System mainframe, utilizing the LINC 10 fourth-generation programming language.

See also

• Home shopping host
• List of over-the-air Home Shopping Network affiliates

External links

• Official website