Cellcast Interactive, the first of VC Firm Canaan Partners' TV shopping investments, has introduced a tele-shopping show called Bargain TV, which takes the group buying concept, currently a rage online, to television. The show is aired between 6pm and 7pm, on Imagine Showbiz , a 24-hour Bollywood Music Channel from Turner. How Bargain TV Works While it isn't exactly a prerequisite for certain number of people to buy the product for the sale to be valid, in case of Bargain TV, the price of the product decreases as more and more people buy it, up to a maximum of 75% discount. The final price is what all buyers have to pay. Bargain TV claims to provide useful home products to the viewers rather than 'products like sauna belts and spy pens'. Some of the products that are featured on these shows are digital cameras like Kodak, Olympus, Nikon, Sia fashion jewellery, mobiles like VOX, Mi and Acer, perfumes brands like Armani, Gucci, Hugo, Ferrari, Nina Ricci, Davidoff, Burberry, Azzaro et al. Products on the show are directly sourced from manufacturers, thus reducing the cost of the product. Cellcast also runs the reverse auction show Bid2Win on multiple channels. Group Buying In India The group buying space in India has seen a flurry of deals (no pun intended) in the recent past - Group Buying Global AG (promoted by Dr.Klaus Hommels & Oliver Jung) and Harish Bahl of Smile Interactive, acquired group deals startup WanaMo.com, to launch Deals and You. Taggle, a group buying startup founded by John…
