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purpose. In addition, the Local Software was continually
modified, improved, and expanded throughout this period to handle
HSC’s changing needs.
Initially, all member orders were accumulated at the end of
the day and sent to Pioneer to be keyed into the Local Software
on Pioneer’s IBM System. The Local Software would determine the
location of inventory and determine which items needed to be
moved from the warehouse to the marts and among the marts so that
a sufficient quantity of inventory was on hand by 6 a.m. the next
morning at the mart where the member was to pick up the
merchandise. The Local Software also generated a picking slip,
which provided the HSC personnel with the member’s order and the
specific location of the items so that member orders could be
filled quickly. Eventually, computer terminals were placed in
the broadcast studio and in the marts so that inventory could be
tracked more quickly and accurately.
In 1985, Mr. Speer and Mr. Paxson were exploring ways to
expand HSC’s market. At this time, televised home shopping was
new outside the Tampa Bay area. Mr. Speer and Mr. Paxson
organized Home Shopping Network, Inc. (HSN), in order to try to
exploit this new, but uncertain, business opportunity. HSN is a
Delaware corporation that was organized to conduct the business
of selling merchandise at retail prices through televised
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Last modified: May 25, 2011