A fledging jewelry television shopping channel based in Texas announced that it will cease operations and lay off its entire staff of 106 workers.

The Jewelry Channel Inc., launched out of a television studio in the Austin suburb of Round Rock in April, 2007, filed papers with the Texas Workforce Commission saying it will close August 4, the Austin Business Journal reports.

The 24/7 direct-sales broadcast channel owned by VGL Group of Jaibur, India, debuted in April 2007 and at the time, unveiled an ambitious growth plan that was to bring 700 jobs to Round Rock by 2012, the newspaper reports.

At the time of the channel’s launch, Manoj Shrimali, senior vice president with VGL, said the company wanted to establish its U.S. channel in the central time zone and have access to an educated work force in a business-friendly environment, the newspaper reports. The Austin area, he said then, provided all of the above.

JCK