Luxe TV: Luxury Television by: Jessica Maldonado

"LUXE TV: LUXURY TELEVISION"

LuxeTV, also known as The Luxury Television network is located in Luxembourg and was created by Jean Stock and his son Jean Baptiste in June 2006. Stock, is a well distinguish media business man who has served as the “co-funder of the French leading channel, “M6” and has held the position of general secretary of the European Broadband Union” (1). He currently, serves as Chairman and CEO of the international French speaking channel TV5 (2). Luxetv is one of the first high definition channels in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It contains production crews in 17 cities around the world and provides high-end coverage of the luxury industry and its diversity (3). It has direct access to more than 385 Million viewers throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, India, Russia, North Africa and the Middle East and transmits in six different languages: German, English, French, Italian, Spanish and Russian. Its website, also operates in 8 different languages which include Arabic and Mandarin (4).

Luxetv, can be viewed free on-air through European satellites found in Astra and Hotbird for its Middle Eastern viewers and is part of Arabsat, Asia-Sat-2 and Eutelsat W5 in Asia. It is on satellite through ABS1 in Russia and is part of regular broadband in the UK (5). During its second year anniversary Luxetv already served as a, 24/7 channel available in High Definition and SD. Its broadcasts reaching more than 385 million viewers using 10 feeds on 7 satellites and was viewed in 40 percent of French households, 1/3 of homes in both the UK and Germany and seen in 30 percent of Italy and 50 percent of the Middle East and Northern African populations (6). Today, its advertisement features over 266 brands and 436 products (7). Since its launch date, luxe.tv has offered an 100 percent original television content from around the world that includes reports from the most extravagant capitals of luxury like Paris, New York, Milan, Dubai and Tokyo (8).

Its context consists of three different formats: magazines, documentaries and news (9). Furthermore, these contents are classified into six sectors of the luxury market: 1) Jewelry and Watches 2) Beauty and Fashion 3). Sports and Leisure 4) Hotels and Gastronomy 5) Cars and Yachting 6) Real Estate and Home Design (10). However, unlike other broadband channels, Luxury.tv has no strict schedule. Instead, it airs different programs during the week while a selection of programs from previous weeks are shown during weekends. Shows are relevant to specific themes or cities and are later placed into sub-groups known as “The Quartet” (11). Here, shows are based on days of the week. Monday: Enjoyment, Tuesday: Style, Wednesday: Technology, Thursday: Concept, Friday through Sunday: includes programing from “This Week”, “The WeekEnd Gallery” and “Press Cut-Outs” (12). After surveying France, Luxembourg, Russia and Morocco, Luxetv, decided to tailor its programs to offer its audience three hours of fresh on-air content. With the help of more than 17 teams around the world and over 2,500 reports, the network has built the largest HD library dedicated to luxury (13). Moreover, on January 2009, Luxetv hit the market with its second version which included: A La Carte, Arts e-motion, shopping, lifestyle, destination, prestige and more events from the week in unique flashbacks and moments (14).

A La Carte: Is dedicated to world tours in search of fine dining. Here, four high skill chefs present acclaimed recipes from their restaurants. Nevertheless, every half hour the show opens with a featured house cocktail, followed by a first class 3 course meal. A La Carte airs for 30 minutes on a weekly/weekend period (15). Arts e-motion: Is a section where viewers are offered events relevant to the world of art. Featuring art from four corners of the world this section is amongst one of the most popular and during 2008 its pilot became an independent program. Each weekend Luxetv devotes half and hour to arts e-motion and sometimes it features one single event (16). Shopping: Explores boutiques and exclusive shops with one of kind creations. It offers exclusive looks at showrooms and runways in the most happening cities in the world (17). Lifestyle: Is the sector that displays the most luxurious lifestyles of the movement. It gives the who, what, when and where of the best in the world. This is compromised of events, places, books, magazines, creators and their creations, new products and new technologies that are most current (18). Lifestyle is also divided into four segments: enjoyment, style, technology and concept (19). Destination: serves as an HD guide to dream destinations that feature world class hotels, restaurants and hot spots. It is compromised of a 60 minute air base broadcasted during weekends (20). Lastly, Prestige is dedicated to five-star world locations. It elaborates on hotels, restaurants, sports gardens, ports, resorts, fascinating city-centre, parades, galleries, golfs museums and more. Its broadcasts lasts about 30 minutes and airs during weekends (21).

Additional Features: Luxetv features a, “unique moments” sector were viewers can see behind the scenes and upfront documentaries of world renown events in high definition. These are featured on a daily basis as events occur and last 30 minutes. On the other hand, “Flashbacks”, refers to the week highlights of the best captured HD photographs and programs and is offered on a weekend basis (22).

Appeal in Audience: In a market research in 2007, Luxetv discovered that its most sought audience are demographic groups that include high income households and young professionals. Its target audience has viewers who purchase luxury goods on a frequent and occasional basis and those who are entertained by luxury (23).

Economical Role: During Luxetv's partnership with China's, “Sun Media Investment Holdings Limited”, China and Luxetv agreed to facilitate television and online purchases to Chinese viewers. The “Luxe.TV Interactive” utilizes the Sun's Media technology to enhance luxury shopping in China. In a press statement Chairman of Sun Media “Bruno Wu” declared, “The Chinese market is ready for the LUXE. TV concept. China is expected to be the world-largest market for luxury goods. At the same time,its has an expanded growth in broadband internet usage. Today, more than 30 million households already have access to broadband internet connectivity.” In other words, this partnership only expands further the viewing rate of luxetv programs to broadcasters through the Chinese media. (24)

Moreover, Luxetv serves as an economic enhancer for various products and companies. One example can be found in its new jewelry shopping network, expected to premiere this fall. After its announced partnership with a design and development jewelry network “Zalemark Holding Co.”, luxtv has gathered the remanding assets of retailer “Germs TV” and will launch a special jewelry line on air and over the internet. Luxtv will provide marketing operations that will reach over 40 million households through its cable stations and proceed on expanding its market to shoes, handbags and other celebrity endorse lines (25).

Review of Channel: LuxeTv caters to a wide range of viewers who enjoy fine living and extravagant shopping. It unites, la crème de la crème from around the world in one network. Unlike, American broadband’s, LuxeTv gives its viewers fine products and offers a variety of options and suggestions that enhance and facilitate their luxury experiences on a daily basis. There is no U.S. network that provides viewers with all the perks of Luxe.tv. While American's have the shopping notwork (for shopping), the travel channel (featuring traveling programs) and the food-network (centers upon American chefs and their recipes) there is not a single American network that features shopping, travel and fine dinning together. Likewise, Luxetv breaks six language barriers and is broadcasted in different parts of the world. It is a successful economical enterprise that promises to advertise products to their fullest. While American media features limited broadband's that appeal to different language and ethnic groups, it has a minuscule at home audience and therefore, does not fully break different language barriers in advertisement and/or marketing.