News Corp. Confirms STAR Reorganization

HONG KONG: News Corporation has finally announced its long-awaited restructure of its Asian operations, with the key territories of India and China carved out, while its Star World, Star Movies and Channel [V] International pan-regional brands will be managed by Fox International Channels.

The restructure divides up the broadcasting behemoth into three units: STAR India, STAR Greater China and Fox International Channels (FIC). The move sees a considerable downsizing at STAR’s Hong Kong headquarters, and the exit of CEO Paul Aiello.

"We are now reshaping a big, regional organization into three highly focused business units, each of which will be intensely competitive in its target marketplace," said James Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive for Europe and Asia at News Corp. "While it was once natural to have a larger, regional headquarters, the company has now reached a scale in its key local markets where we are ready to empower the teams on the ground and move a number of functions to be closer to viewers.”

As part of the restructure, a News Corp. office will be established in Hong Kong with a number of executives from the current STAR team. Their mandate is to support News Corp.’s interests in the region, as well as manage the ESPN STAR Sports joint venture. The local team will be in charge of business development, legal, government affairs and corporate communications functions, with each function reporting directly to the corresponding heads in News Corp.’s London base.

STAR India will manage the sales and distribution of 19 channels in eight languages, as well interests in joint ventures: DTH platform Tata Sky, cable system Hathway, channel distributor STAR Den, news channel operator MCCS, South Indian broadcast businesses Asianet and STAR Vijay, film producer and distributor Fox STAR Studios India and STAR CJ Home Shopping. STAR India will be led by CEO Uday Shankar, now reporting directly to Murdoch. STAR India will also be responsible for sales and distribution offices in the Middle East, the U.K. and the U.S. Shankar will also gain responsibility for managing the sales and distribution of all FOX-branded channels in India.

STAR Greater China will have oversight for Star Chinese Channel, Xing Kong, Star Chinese Movies, Star Chinese Movies 2, Channel [V], the Fortune STAR movie library and joint ventures Phoenix television and Fox STAR Studios Chinese film production. As president of China and Taiwan, John Lau will report to Murdoch. Jack Gao, CEO of STAR China, and Daniel Cheung, CEO of STAR Taiwan, will continue their leadership roles in those markets.

FOX International Channels, which oversees the FOX and National Geographic Channel brands, will add to its bouquet Star World, Star Movies and Channel [V] International. This now brings the portfolio to 37 channels under 17 brands, reaching more than 426 million cumulative households. In addition, FIC will become responsible for the regional distribution of the STAR India and STAR Greater China channels outside their home markets in Asia and continue to distribute its channels in the Middle East. At the helm is Ward Platt, president for Asia, reporting to David Haslingden, the CEO of FOX International Channels and National Geographic Channels Worldwide. The senior team includes Zubin Gandevia, FIC’s COO for Asia. This long-awaited streamlining should substantially lower operating costs for the company, and expands FIC’s high-definition portfolio from the current four brands to eight or more next year.