David Atherton, the founder of dabs.com, is launching his own interactive shopping channel on digital TV.

Technology TV goes live from 18 October on the Sky platform. The station claims an equal divide between editorial and interactive sales programmes. It hopes to tempt viewers looking to learn about new technology and generate revenue through direct sales to those viewers.

Andrew Milligan, managing director at Technology TV, told The Reg: "We're still finalising our retail partners. Dabs.com will provide computing products and we have best-of-breed internet retailers for the other areas - gaming, home entertainment and mobile phones.".

Retail partners will provide all logisiics and delivery services. They will also help push viewers to the channel by marketing it to their existing customers.

Milligan said: "We want to be informative and educational - to make Top Gear-style magazine shows."

The company will employ about 30 people and use an existing studio in Manchester to make the shows. It will start by making between 12 and 14 hours of original programmes a week. It hopes to introduce live content by the end of the year.

The company is backed by Atherton's personal cash, but it is expected to break even within 12 months. No figures have been released on the size of his investment, but Milligan described it as "several million pounds". ®

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