*QVC will offer an assortment of Obama items this month in special broadcasts to be taped in Washington D.C. in honor of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration.
According to the Associated Press, the retail network has already sold more than 100,000 items related to Obama's election, and will this month bring along plenty of coins, stamps, jewelry and even a small handbag to sell, among other trinkets.
Execs at the network see the inauguration as an opportunity to reach far beyond the group of people regularly interested in political collectibles.
"Frankly, if we were not at the inauguration, we would feel like we were not doing our job," said Doug Rose, vice president of multichannel programming for the retail giant, which is available in 94 million American homes and had sales totaling $7.4 billion in 2007.
QVC will show portions of the parade and conduct interviews with spectators, then air live on the night of Jan. 20 from the Creative Coalition's inaugural ball.
"We're trying to give the audience a flavor of what the event is like, from the event," Rose said. "We will try to give them a sense of the electricity in the air."
Several products are set to debut within the next few weeks. A gold presidential pocket watch with Obama's image will sell for $90. A coin and stamp set commemorating Martin Luther King Day and Obama's inauguration is $20. And QVC will also sell a portfolio of newspaper front pages from inauguration day.
QVC's competitor, the Home Shopping Network, isn't going to Washington, but it will telecast eight one-hour specials the weekend before the inauguration selling medallions, porcelain plates, pocket watches and other Obama collectibles. HSN offered an Obama coin set the weekend after the election, with $3 million in sales over a few hours, spokesman Brad Bohnert said.
Meanwhile, ShopNBC is offering Obama coin sets and throw blankets. The New York Times Store offers framed photographs, a framed copy of the front page announcing Obama's election victory and an Obama jigsaw puzzle. NBC is also selling a DVD compilation of Obama speech highlights and NBC News coverage of the campaign.