HSN’s St. Pete campus closing after more than four decades in city: Parent company

The Home Shopping Network (HSN) will be closing its campus in St. Petersburg after more than four decades in the city, the parent company announced Wednesday. 

Dig deeper:

Qurate Retail Group, the company that owns HSN and QVC, said it is consolidating its QVC U.S. and HSN operations into Studio Park in West Chester, Pennsylvania. It's what led the company to decide to close the HSN campus in St. Pete. 

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"The HSN brand will continue to be an integral part of Qurate Retail Group as we activate our growth strategy and position the company for sustained success moving forward," said Stacy Bowe, the president of HSN Brand and U.S. Merchandising. "We have the deepest appreciation to the state of Florida and the St. Petersburg community for their support and dedication over HSN’s 47-year history.  We look forward to continuing to delight our customers as we make this transition to our new home."

Company officials said they remain committed to the HSN brand. They said HSN and QVC U.S. will continue to maintain distinct brand voices and focus on growing their customer bases. 

Big picture view:

The move comes as Qurate Retail Group works to centralize broadcast operations and content production at its Studio Park in Pennsylvania. According to the company, they are building a next-generation content engine at Studio Park that will help them capture content for things like social media and streaming for both HSN and QVC. 

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HSN will continue to operate its TV channels and digital platforms with the upcoming changes, Qurate Retail Group said in a press release. 

What's next:

Company officials said they expect the new consolidated operation to begin over the coming months. HSN will eventually begin live broadcasting from Pennsylvania, but they have not released an exact date. 

What they're saying:

"When we didn’t have anything going, HSN was bringing tremendous professionals here to the U.S. It’s a great success story," said Chris Steinocher, the president and CEO of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce. 

Steinocher said the city has a great film and commercial film industry in the community, and credits HSN for that success. He said many people learned their profession in the HSN studios and created their own commercial operations in the community. 

The Source: The information in this story was released by Qurate Retail Group, the parent company of HSN and QVC U.S.

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