by Graham Parker
The auctions industry is to become the latest to bear the unremitting scrutiny of the small screen. Plans are well advanced to launch a satellite and cable TV station dedicated solely to non-stop coverage of auctions.
In fact, The Auction Channel’s first broadcast will include a property element. The channel is to carry Allsop & Co’s and Bonham’s sale of Beatles memorabilia in Tokyo and London on March 22, which will include the terraced house where Ringo Starr was born – with a guide price of £10,000 – and the barber’s shop in Penny Lane, Liverpool, which has an estimate of £200,000.
Trojan TV – the company behind the plan – is aiming for a seven day a week service, and in order to fill so much air time, it is targeting 1,700 auction houses worldwide. “We intend to cover 800 sales a year. Property will definitely be part of the schedule,” said Jason Gleave of Trojan.
One who has already expressed an interest is Tim Weale of Healey & Baker. “It’s something we want to know more about,” he said. “Clearly the speed at which IT is taking over our business lives means that one cannot afford to ignore it.”
Trojan intends to encourage viewers to bid by telephone and even the Internet, a move which Weale welcomes. “One of the problems with telephone bidding is that the bidder does not feel part of the ‘theatre’ of the auction. TV coverage could help overcome this.”
But he cautioned that the process could go too far. “At the moment the auction room is the closest thing property has to a trading floor, unlike some chattels sales where you have only 20 people in the room and the rest’s done by telephone.”
And auctioneers could find themselves working in the studio as well as on the rostrum. Although the programmes will be fronted by experienced TV presenters, Trojan plans to bring in staff from the auction houses to act as resident experts.
