STAKES are rising in the TV arena with news Lunn Poly
is launching a digital channel into a market in which current players are
struggling to survive.
Lunn Poly parent TUI UK has struck a
five-year deal to rebrand Travel Channel’s Travel Deals Direct as Lunn Poly
Television, creating 50 Glasgow-based call centre jobs. Launching on June 1, it
will be run with the Travel Channel and headed up by First Resort managing
director Neil Hardy. Travel Deals Direct commercial director Gary Wardrope will
remain.
The news comes a week after Going Places TV closed and
amid rumours TV Travel Shop is under increasing pressure. According to a senior
source, TV Travel Shop’s fate is under review and the company has until June to
show US parent Interactive Corp a turnaround in its fortunes.
Of the big four, only Thomas Cook now has its own TV
channel. First Choice uses the recently launched Teletext Holidays’ digital
channel.
Currently 400,000 holidays are sold via TV, with eight
million homes connected to Sky, three million to Freeview and three million to
cable.
But current players have been branded “Teletext with
pictures” by TV Travel Shop founder Harry Goodman, who said average transaction
prices through TV have fallen to £1,200 from £1,600 when he ran TV Travel Shop.
TUI northern Europe chief executive Peter Rothwell
said Lunn Poly TV was different to GPTV, which was criticised for building its
own expensive studio. “We are not getting involved in production. The TV is
going to pay for itself not on brand or product but on sales,” he said. “Hopes
that TV will take over as a major medium have been dashed over the last four
years, it will be a small but important part of distribution.”
Lunn Poly TV will be on air between 7am and 1am,
selling products from TUI and rivals. A
£1 million marketing drive runs from July 1, with promotion through shops,
leaflets and posters highlighting a ‘call, click, come-in, switch-on’ message.
Goodman said TUI UK was
well-placed to make a success of Lunn Poly TV because of its experience working
with Sky Travel, where it had provided content and fulfilment through The First
Resort.