UPDATE 1-Jewelry retailer Gems TV files for bankruptcy

* Says struggled to maintain profitability, service debt

* Says being sued by DirecTV for $25 mln

April 5 (Reuters) - Gems TV, which sells jewelry on its own TV channel, filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Delaware court on Monday, a month after saying it would cease operations and wind down its affairs.

In court papers, Gems TV -- wholly owned by Gems TV Holdings Ltd -- said it had struggled to maintain a sufficient level of profitability to sustain operations and service its debt.

"In addition, the company's margins were severely impacted by heightened gold prices, as attempts to fully pass the cost of raw materials increases to customers were unsuccessful," it said.

The company listed assets in the range of $10 million to $50 million and debt in the $100 million-to-$500 million range.

The company is also being sued by DirecTV Inc for $25 million in damages for an alleged breach of an affiliation agreement, it said.

Gems TV owns and operates dedicated jewelry home shopping TV channels in the United States, United Kingdom and Japan and its interactive programs are broadcast to more than 50 million subscribers, according to the company's Website.

The case is In re: Gems TV (USA) Ltd, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No: 10-11158. (Reporting by Santosh Nadgir in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)