RAPAPORT... Round Rock, Texas, a bedroom community of Austin, recently became the home and birthplace of The Jewelry Channel (TJC.)
Following the success of similar 24 hour cable channels devoted to jewelry in the United Kingdom and Germany, the parent company, VGL Group of Jaibur, India, launched its inaugural broadcast April 18, 2007, in an effort to target customers in the United States.
Like its two sister European stations, programming for the Jewelry Channel will mostly market and sell it’s own products, which VGL manufactures in India and in other Asian facilities. The station will also feature short documentaries about jewelry making and other aspects of the fine jewelry business. The channel is currently broadcasting on DirecTV on channel 226, and is in final negotiations to expand into all of Warner Cable’s markets in the United States.
The Round Rock based studio and corporate office is expected to create 700 jobs within the next five years, and has already hired 140 people from the Austin area. VGL senior vice president Manoj Shrimali says the company chose Austin for its Central Time Zone, educated work force, and business-friendly climate.
"Everyone in the U.S. wants to move to Austin," Shrimali said. "Everything that our channel is about we can find here."
VGL expects to invest $3 million in the project’s first year, expanding to $20 million over the next five, with intentions of expanding its current 30,000 square foot facilities into 100,000 square feet during that time frame.
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