After a decades-long rivalry, home shopping’s biggest competitors are joining forces.

QVC will take over the Home Shopping Network in a buyout by QVC’s parent company, Liberty Interactive Corp., according to a Philadelphia Business Journal report by Jeff Blumenthal.

Liberty has agreed to pay a 29 percent premium on HSN’s pre-deal stock price to acquire the 62 percent of HSN stock that it doesn’t already own. The deal is valued at $2.1 billion.

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“By creating the leader in discovery-based shopping, we will enhance the customer experience, accelerate innovation, leverage our resources and talents to further strengthen our brands, and redeploy savings for innovation and growth,” said QVC President and CEO Mike George.

“As the prominent global video commerce retailer and North America’s third-largest mobile and eCommerce retailer, the combined company will be well-positioned to help shape the next generation of retailing.”

Once the deal closes at the end of the year, Liberty will welcome an HSN director to its board. Both companies’ headquarters — QVC’s in West Chester and HSN’s in St. Petersburg — will remain for the foreseeable future.

Read more about the buyout of Home Shopping Network in the Philadelphia Business Journal here, and check out previous VISTA Today coverage of QVC here.

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