Homeshopping channel Ideal World has brought in insolvency experts after suspending broadcasts and leaving the majority of its 275 staff under threat of redundancy.
Ideal World had already been removed from the Sky and Virgin Media programme guides, though maintained its slot on Freeview.
“Over the last few years, the Direct Response TV sector globally has suffered a decline in viewer and customer numbers as consumer spending habits changed,” said Michael Lennon, Kroll Advisory UK’s managing director of restructuring.
A document released by Kroll and seen by Broadband TV News said Ideal World had 120,000 daily viewers, generating an average of 500,000 customers and around 1.4 million orders a year. It was forecast to make £70 million revenue in 2024.
Ideal World, which was based in Peterborough, launched in 2000 as a British alternative to the US-style QVC that had launched in the previous decade.
Over the years, it had several owners, and in February 2022 was sold by the asset management firm Aurelius Equity Opportunities to investor Hamish Morjaria.
