Actually, the issue of the profitability and viability of selling products on television brings to mind the series Pitchmen, which followed =Anthony “Sully” Sullivan and the late Billy Mays, highly regarded (and very successful) infomercial hosts. Truly, if there’s any TV format more denigrated than home shopping, it’s got to be the infomercial, and yet that series demonstrated how incredibly successful and lucrative the field actually is!

On the reality side, ABC’s Shark Tank has Kevin Harrington, who runs the Home Shopping Network, as one of its “Sharks” who offers business opportunities to entrepreneurs. I was admittedly a bit thrown when he started talking about how big certain products would be on television, as I hadn’t really thought of that as a true 21st-century way to sell products.

And on the drama side, Margene on Big Love has transitioned into a new career as a personality on a QVC-like channel, and the negotiation of her on-screen persona has become a plot point as she deals with the rest of her family drama.

In both examples, these channels are held to a fairly high standard: Margene rakes in the dough, viewership is high, and Kevin is a huge success story. Sure, it’s in the best interest (or the sole interest) of both shows to establish that sort of image of home shopping, but it’s interesting that despite my initial skepticism I sort of bought it at the end of the day.

Nonetheless, you’re right that the model is changing. QVC seems to be attempting to develop other methods to get our attention, including placing ads on other channels–something I don’t ever recall seeing prior to a couple of years ago. So now you could be watching Project Runway (or whatever) and see an ad for QVC. That’s definitely new and marks an attempt to move away from the channel surfing model you describe so nicely above.

The USA TODAY link raises an interesting question. QVC pays a fortune for its “prime real estate”, as you put it — its low channel number. The idea is that you flip past it while on the way to watch something else, some awesome item (or celebrity) on QVC catches your eye, and suddenly you’re on the phone with your credit card in hand.

In that USA TODAY article, a former QVC marketing exec wonders if this strategy still works in today’s “on-demand” TV landscape. Beyond that, I wonder if people are still channel-surfing like they used to. With digital cable and satellite TV, you browse using the on-screen guide, so you’re not really getting a look at what they’re selling on QVC.

I’m sure it’s still preferable for QVC to be channel 4 (like in Madison) than snuggled amongst the digital music channels in the 200s, but I wonder if QVC will have additional trouble attracting new customers as more people switch to digital cable and satellite.